Ocean Rafting

When diving ahead of the boat to try and set up a float-less mooring (I was advised not to use a float as it would be lucky to live there a week before taking up alternative accommodation in some random fisherman’s boat), I also found an old raft and needing a better way of getting to the boat than swimming decided to refloat and repair it. The cunning plan was to tie drums to it and fill them with air from dive compressor.

After getting it to the house, removing the old drums, grinding off the crap, a spot of strengthen, a lick of paint and putting in some plastic drums (traded for the construction of a BBQ), wa-la! no more dog paddling around brown floaties and recycled disposable nappies.

Amanda in the mean time was hard at work flying to Goroka to sample local coffee in the sipping room and buy locally made handbags. To her horror it turns out one of these was made from a cute little fluffy possum called a Cuss Cuss. There was also the trips to Bougainville to see if that’s really where the Bogans came from. It’s possible. Probably she slipped in some accounting alone the way.

 Hard at work back in Madang I was left to my own devices volunteering at the fishing club to help put in mooring lines without floats and anywhere else that contained the word fishing.

With Amanda needing a work permit and me wanting a stamp in my passport advertising my official status as not "not permitted to work" we booked our tickets to NZ as the formalities have to be completed once you are outside the country. The plan was to meet Amanda in Port Moresby and carry on together however the plan all fell apart when the only stamp I got was "not permitted to leave" not that I could anyway, they took my passport. Apparently there was a mix up in the paperwork (customs fault) and according to the computer I had stayed to long. And so I now can't leave? Only in PNG. Anyway all was not lost; I got to go back to Madang to ensure Andrew was keeping up with his studies.

5 days later it was all sorted and I moved on my next project, the repair and repainting of a rental property in Nelson. It’s good to be home.

The big smoke of Madang

After locating a world war 2 wreck out in the bay, finding some chain and buying some rope our mooring was established allowing us to tie up stern to without the hassle of anchoring after each weekends outing. 

 We have now well and truly moved off the boat and into the house becoming real land lubbers for the first time in 12 years. At first we sat wondering at nights what people that live in houses do? Hannah from Amanda's work kindly gave us a TV.

 Phil, a local expat from Napier kindly offered to give us a tour of his work, British American Tobacco. The first tour had to be postponed due to an evacuation. A Tsunami warning, that Amanda remained at work for even though you could spit a mouthful of Buai (beetlenut juice) into the sea from her office chair. Luck was with her, and as she wasn't swept away by a large wave she got to attend the second scheduled tour.

Its hard to find a doctor here, impossible to find a vet. Sarah trys to come once a year from Oz to do vet stuff. This year she roped in a friend to also come and needing a helper I put my name forward thinking I would do the driving, animal holding and lunch getting. It was a little bit more hands on than I expected with jobs like monitoring heart beat and administering anesthetic also falling into my capable (?) hands. The upside is If you need your dogs or cats nuts chopped off, I'm the man for the job. Its probably the only time Sloops glad his are already history.

 Not knowing where to turn for a much needed haircut, I suggested to Amanda to find someone with a style she liked and ask her where she has it done. Hayden an operations manager at her work ended up multi tasking one evening and it didn't end in tears so it can't have been too bad.
Andrew the only other yacht owner for probably 200 plus miles has always been keen to race on Sundays. He won the first race but having technical problems like... a bit of wind on the next 3 occasions resulted in a current 1 : 3 result.

 Where is Madang? at the end of the red line.

Back to Civilisation

We left the Hermits and motored most of the 200 and something miles across flat seas to arrive in Madang Christmas eve. Yes Christmas was a while ago and Amanda now working claims not to have enough time to continue with her literary genius. The heavy burden once again falls upon my shoulders.
We had Christmas lunch at the fancy Madang Resort impressing the locals with my new look before heading out to Pig Island for diving and BBQ ing. I discovered a really long vine while looking for fire wood and during my demonstration on how to remove a leaf from a branch at 20 feet somehow managed to get a cut under my right eye.

We returned to the Monpi wharf our new home where the security guards helped us tie up. Amanda then immediately hoped on a plane to Australia where she managed to squeeze in a second Christmas lunch before departing to Singapore.

The trip to Singapore (where you can be fined for having a puddle in your back yard) was work related and came as a bit of a shock after floating about almost aimlessly only a week before. 

Somehow she avoided a fine for J walking and after a 6 day visit it was back to Australia to collect some stuff and a little entertainment paying her niece and nephew to eat Wasabi peas. I understand although Brock really wanted the money he was disqualified for throwing up and it was Hayley who walked away all cashed up.

Arriving back in Madang meant moving off the boat and up to the house where we met our guard dog Knuckle and our house mary, Cathy. Apparently all house keepers are called house marys.

We had been told to make sure everything is always locked but were surprised that this also included the fridge and the pantry. It must be a hungry business being a burglar. I questioned Cathy about this but was told that the painters had been in the week before and stolen a frozen chicken and a mop head so she locked everything up.

The paradisical Hermits

It was another calm and beautiful day that saw us sail (read motor) into the Hermits.

The fishing here was crazy - we were catching so much fish the freezer was full, the locals had stopped fishing and we discovered the dingy was too small for Hermit Island fish.

 With the weather remaining calm we headed to the south western rim of the atol to a place we called Bird Island. All eyes were underwater as we dived the outer edge of the reef. We saw turtles, spotted eagle rays, white tip, black tip and grey reef sharks, a huge array of reef and schooling fish as well as an abundance of critters. The water was so clear, at 30m you would think you were still in 10m.

When we weren't diving we were exploring brid island. Covered in Noddy's, Booby's and Frigates nesting. It was a bird lovers and photographers paradise - here are some of Simons shots.

Still hot on the trail of fish, our table was always full.

I guess all good things must come to an end and while waiting for some wind we've let time get away from us. It's Xmas in 3 days - if we were to leave now we could get to Madang by Xmas eve but we'll probably motor all the way. Do we want fish and lobster with tinnned veges for lunch? What to do...

Chilling & Diving Heina Atoll

Heina is a small reef atoll on the eastern edge of Ninigo. The entrance is narrow but we made it through with a few centimetres up our sleeve at low tide - definitely one for good light. The water here was crystal clear and we wasted no time in getting our feet wet.

A bit quieter here, our lazy days were spent diving, swimming, eating crayfish and collecting coconuts.

We had varying techniques and degrees of success on the coconut tree climbing, including one tree being felled under the weight...

 Not content with eating turtle - we decided to move onto another precious species - the coconut crab. They might look bad, but wow, they taste incredible. Besides if they make us as cut as Rellen and his brother, bring me more!!! After a final BBQ we were waved out of the atoll and sailed south east to the Hermits.

Ninigo Islands

The tall tales of the wonderful Ninigo group were all true! We've truly reached the South Pacific. We were welcomed on arrival by Slim and invited to anchor off Mal Islands where we befriended Steven and family. Our friends here were unbelievably hospitable - we thought we might stay forever.

We were always invited to share in treats - one morning this happened to be freshly caught turtle. Caught by spear - vegos be warned - and while the butchering was a little startling, the taste was really delicious. The Ninigo Islanders have been eating turtle since forever, with such a small population to feed, turtles and food are in abundance. Not one part of the animal was wasted too - even the intestines were used - as balloons for the kids!

One day we were invited to sail with Dominic and his father aboard their hand built sailing canoe. With logging on the increase on mainland, stray logs washing up on the Ninigo beaches has brought about a resurgance in the use of traditional sailing canoes. This boat could move - even with the 4 of us we were skipping over the water at over 10knots.

Mr Krein took us on a tour of the local school, traditional style buildings with wide open windows looking over the clear blue sea. Not sure I could focus on the blackboard here!

The launch of a newly built canoe was a big affair including Steven, our host on Mal Island blessing the new boat, singing, flowers, a feast and a canoe race in which we featured as guest crew. What an amazing day spent with beautiful people. Steven even gave Simon the shirt off his back - the one he is wearing while blessing the canoe.

Steven's fmaily taught us how to make coconut milk and oil, grinding the coconut then squeezing the grindings. It was hard work but the oil was delicious, flavoursome  and super useful - cooking, oil lamps, the body... Like I need an encouraging on the benefits of a daily coconut! Thyme was now bursting at the seams with fresh food too. Everyday piles of produce would be rowed out to us, while the families expected nothing in return we had stocked up on some supplies for trading and basic goods are in desperate need here. I hate to confess for fear of backlash but a packet of ciggies buys a lot of crayfish!

A supply ship arrives only once or twice a year, and as you imagine money on a small atoll a few hundred miles out to sea is not easy to come by, nor much use most of the time so trading was well received. Max and Nadine's bag of clothes has finally run out.

Tears were definitely shed departing Steven and his family on Mal Island, Ninigo, but with no wind on the near horizon we had better bite the bullet and keep moving closer to our destination - next stop Heina Atoll.

Leaving Jayapura

Our departure from Jayapura was a little hectic. We were supplying the boat for an unknown time in a new country. The fact that the Jayapura supply ships were delayed or broken down did not help our cause. Fuel and gas was particularly challenging, the fuel being solved in the cover of darkness as the police assisted us in getting the fisherman to purchase jerry's and transport them to the boat... all for a small fee and a few beers.

 

In between running around Sloop was revelling in the re-supply and the local ladies led by english speaking Selfi were keeping us entertained.

Our new crew, 2 young Swedes, Johan and Anton joined us just in time for a haircut and to experience the gas supply issue . The final challenge on the list was achieved by a combination of begging, bribery and law breaking. We were almost pipped at the post when a local discovered the illegal bottle filling and threatened to pull the pin - a few sob stories later and we're stocked ready to go.

Our clearance into PNG in Vanimo was completed without a hitch and we were free to depart for the fabled Hermit Islands. We set sail on the 2 day passage with no wind but took advantage of the opportunity to clown around. Antons backflip turned out to be a flop... maybe safer to stick with fishing.