The Komodo fits quite nicely on the foredeck, split in two part and there is still enough room to move and pull up anchor comfortably. At first, we launched the two half separately and paddled them ashore, one each. It was kind of fun paddling backwards!!!! After experimenting, we have found a great way to assemble the two halves canoes from the boat: easy as lego, standing on both parts, we clip them together in the water and paddle ashore (hoping to put some video on the web!) and then place the bolts and plates to secure them.
The Komodo always gets quite a bit of attention from the locals whenever we pull in on the beach. They are quite interested on how it breaks down in four parts. Some think it is a racing canoe (because of the color maybe) but we just tell them it is just our custom Australian canoe, just made of plastic!
Looking around filming crocs in the Russel islands, we were relieved to have a 7 meter long canoe, as it was most likely to be longer than a crocodile. The locals reported to have seen some large ones (see www.kunayacht.blogspot.com for details on Liapare Island). On the other side of Nukufero, the village where we pulled in, a young man diving for fish got eaten by a crocodile just last week, suggesting this danger is very real. Crocodile populations have certainly been increasing in the solomons as they are not hunted anymore and meanwhile, population has been increasing with new settlements and people impending on the crocodile habitat.
While we were paddling deep in a mangrove river, a local coming back from its garden, warned us not to go to close to the banks because of crocs…
The kayak was the perfect working platform to get low angle tracking shots of the mangrove, getting really close to the network of tree roots, all in silence to not frighten the bird life. One person on camera and one person at the rudder, lining the shots and paddling at the right speed.
1 comment:
beautiful pictures!
Post a Comment