Google maps shows a place called “Simon’s Nature Reserve” in a bay on the Florida Islands just north of Honiara and intrigued by the name we anchored, not knowing what to expect. An eco lodge? A nature park with a guard? Turns out Simon is just a local man living in a hut ashore, but he has dedicated the past 20 years to protecting the reef off his (and his father’s and uncle’s) land.
He tries to make sure nobody goes fishing there, has collected different types of coral from around the bay and has tried to keep them safe from locals breaking off bits to grind and burn into lime (needed in combination with beetelnut) and from crown of stars invasion. He talks about concepts like bio-diversity, coral bleaching and effects of climate change without ever having had the chance to get any higher education. He has just talked with everyone who came to visit his reef and sucked up information like an eco-sponge.
He warns us ahead that his reef has suffered during the last summer (“I cry when I see my coral…”), then takes us snorkeling, points out special exhibits (red coral, a dark-blue anemone, etc.) and we are happy to find that even though this well-tended reef doesn’t have much large fish (too many poachers come at night), the coral looks much better than any reef we have seen since leaving the Bougainville Strait.
We take many pictures and when we discuss them with him and his family the day after ashore, his face lights up when we tell him about the positive state in comparison to the rest of the Solomons!
Simon would like more nature-lovers to come, visit his reef and support his project. He’s only asking for a 50 SBD (6 USD) donation from visiting sailors to go snorkeling or diving and the local dive operator that occasionally brings tourists pays even less: just 25 SBD (3 USD) per person–not enough to buy equipment to mark the protected zone, patrol it or even buy a flashlight to check for poachers at night or to buy a new diving mask. He has tried over the years to get support from NGOs, but none were interested (a phenomenon we know all too well from trying to get conservation organisations aboard projects that would really deserve funding…), but it’s hard to get visitors for several reasons:
- Sailboats: We are really experienced in anchoring in precarious places (without damaging coral), but it took us a long time to find a spot on the steep slope that goes from the very shallow healthy reef down to 35 m within a short distance. To attract sailboats, Simon would need at least two moorings. We are getting new chain and can donate our old chain, but we don’t have the necessary shackles and rope to finish moorings.
- Visits to snorkel (from Honiara): Simon and his family have an old solar panel, but they would need a battery and an inverter in order to charge a smart phone (which they also lack) in order to be able to get online and have a webpage (or at least a facebook page) and email contact so that people could get in touch with them and arrange a visit… We can donate solar panels, but we would need a battery and an inverter to charge a smart phone that we also don’t have yet 
Of course it would be easier to just shrug and tell him that he’s doing a great job and wish him good luck instead of getting involved and trying to help this great initiative. But this is an opportunity to support a project that can make a big difference in this lagoon as
- a breeding ground for fish that can prevent the villagers from selling the last fish before realising that it’s too late for protection
- an opportunity to give corals beneficial conditions (lots of herbivores to keep them clean, someone to remove threats like crown of thorn and adding species to see if they can cope with the rising temperatures) so resilient coral may adapt here and hopefully repopulate other reefs elsewhere.
Please get in touch if you are sailing towards the Solomons this year and would like to donate or actively help, or if you live nearby and would like to support Simon’s Nature Resort!
We start by donating 50 m of 10 mm galvanized chain for the moorings.
Additionally needed:
- shackles
- swivels
- rope
- floats
- someone with scuba gear to lay a number eight around two boulders to attach the mooring to (a weight might tumble down the drop-off, so not ideal).
In order to get Simon connected to the world, we can donate solar panels, but additionally we would need:
- a battery
- an inverter
- an old smart phone
To patrol the reef and keep nightly poachers out, a strong flashlight would be good.
In order to keep up his work Simon will need a dive mask–his is broken.
If you cannot come to the Solomons to actively help, please consider making a donation! All the equipment needed to make Simon’s nature reserve more widely known and accessible and keep him going comes up to about 500 EUR–very little money to make a big, positive impact in a world where nature is struggling with our pollution and shortsighted exploiting of resources and where even less funding than before is available for conservation projects. Within Europe bank transfers are ideal as there are no fees. If you live elsewhere in the world you can donate with PayPal
