A month lost and tossed around in the ocean, this man calls a moment of rest

PORT MORESBY – Two men from Solomon Islands who spent 29 days lost at sea after their GPS tracker stopped working has been rescued offshore Papua New Guinea or 400 kilometers away from where they started their journey.

Livae Nanjikan and Junior Qoloni departed from Mono Island, in the Western province of the Solomon Islands, on the morning of September 3 in a small 60 horsepower motorboat.

The couple plans to travel 200km south to the town of Noro on New Georgia Island, using the west coast trails of Vella Lavella Island and Gizo Island on their left as guides.

“We have traveled before and should be fine,” Nanjikan said as quoted by The Guardian, Saturday (9/10/2021).

But even for experienced sailors, like Nanjikan, the Solomon Sea, which separates the Solomon Islands from its neighbor, Papua New Guinea, is notoriously fierce and unpredictable.

Only a few hours into the journey, heavy rain fell accompanied by strong winds. This condition makes it difficult for them to see the coastline they are supposed to follow.

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“When bad weather comes, it’s bad, but it gets worse and becomes scary when the GPS goes out,” he said.

“We couldn’t see where we were going, so we decided to stop the engine and wait, to save fuel,” he added.