The Solomon Islands are open to a wide variation of different swells. The North Pacific provides anything from north-west to east but its southern coasts are sheltered from all but the most directional south swells. The Australian East Coast blocks most Southern Ocean energy making its way north, while New Caledonia and Vanuatu shadow energy from the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean.

As such, pumping groundswells are somewhat rare, especially across southern coasts. But things are about to change over the coming week, with Tropical Cyclone Donna developing directly south-east of the region.

Tropical cyclones in isolation are not always reliable swell generators for locations positioned some distance from their immediate area, but TC Donna will squeeze against a broad supporting high pressure ridge to the south-west. This is modelled to create a sustained fetch of strong SE winds aimed towards the Solomons and the south-east tip of Papua New Guinea which alone should create a decent trade-swell for the region.

Donna is forecast to drift south-west while strengthening towards a Category 4 cyclone, with stronger storm to hurricane-force winds developing over the active sea state, persisting throughout the whole weekend.

The best feature of TC Donna (relative to its surf potential) is that after it initially crosses Vanuatu, it is expected to remain very slow moving for a few days. And because of this, the hurricane force fetch on its south-western flank will have much more time to work upon the existing sea state, compared to a cyclone that transitions rapidly through the area. This will translate to larger, stronger swells across distant coasts.

Unfortunately for Vanuatu, Donna is forecast to swing back to the south-east along the island chain, likely causing widespread damage. One hopes the forecast track changes slightly so Vanuatu is spared from the destruction seen by Severe Tropical Cyclone Pam only two years ago.

New swell from TC Donna will arrive across the Solomon Islands from the south-east and come in large through the weekend and early next week, lighting up numerous unnamed reef breaks scattered across the southern shores of the Solomon Islands under variable breezes. Open up Google Earth and run along the southern coastline of San Cristobal - the potential is endless.

Much further to the north-east of the Solomons, New Britain Island will receive slightly less swell (due to the extra travel distance) though the potential here remains equally impressive. Fresh east-southeast trades will probably limit surfing options across the south-east tip of Papua New Guinea, though there's no reason for great waves across sheltered bays, coves and points.

If you were keen to chase this swell you'd have to already be deep in preparations sourcing a chartered boat out of Honiara - it's one heck of an expensive, risky mission to a coastline that doesn't get seen by many people, let alone surfed very often.

For the rest of us, we can only dream of the endless empty reef passes rifling off unattended over the coming week.