The next morning we again went ashore so that Paul could visit the school and Mary, Bob and Julia could continue on to the next point and visit a Mission.  This time we purposely landed the dinghy on the beach (although hard to find a landing spot amongst the coral) to include a 30 minute walk to the school.

The walk took longer than we anticipated and just after 0900h, we encouraged Paul to go on ahead as he was a few minutes late.  This he did, after agreeing to meet up with us later, somewhere on the pathway.  Mary, Julia, and Bob continued to follow the shoreline to the Mission.  A while later, Mary was in the lead and approaching an older woman who was walking on the beach.  Mary and the woman stopped dead in their tracks when a voice was heard coming from the bushes calling “Where is the school?”   Mary was even more surprised when she realized “That’s Paul!”  Sure enough, a hot, sweaty, and scratched Paul came crashing out of the bush to the beach.  He had taken a wrong turn and had actually climbed to a high peak before he turned back, totally missing the school.  We laughingly pointed him in the right direction and continued on our way.

At the end of the beach and at the next headland is the Nimoa St. Alphonsus Catholic Mission.   
This is a large community that houses a catholic church and school, a hospital, a canteen (that is empty until the supply ship arrives again) and several family houses for the people who work at the mission. 

There we met Sister Geraldine, the administrator of the Mission, who was our tour guide.  We especially enjoyed the church and the hospital.  The church is a lovely 5-sided building with louvered glass windows, linoleum on the floor, and murals on the walls all depicting island life.  The church, as all of the buildings, is surrounded by lovely gardens, swept sandy pathways and lots of flowering bushes. 

At the hospital, called “St. Gerard Majella – Patron of Expectant Mothers”, we met three sisters (fully qualified nurses) and two assistants.  There is no doctor present. The hospital was primitive but very clean.  There were two new mothers and babes and a couple of children in the pediatric room.  They receive their medication and supplies from the capital on the mainland, Port Morseby.  Outpatient service is free but patients pay 5 kina if admitted for inpatient service.  They do not do surgery in the hospital and have to send surgical patients to another island by boat, accompanied by a nurse.  It can be a harrowing trip if the weather is bad.  We had not arrived at the mission expecting to leave gifts, and didn't have much with us.  Julia had a small sewing pack put together and Sister Geraldine was most appreciative.  Mary asked if it was okay to make a donation of some money to the hospital and Sister Geraldine said that she would give it to the nurses. 

We said our good-byes to the people at the Mission and made our way back along the beach to meet up with Paul.  We found Paul sitting in the shade of a tree, conversing with a couple of men.  When we got back to the boat, Paul told us that one of the fellows that he had been talking to had asked if we had any navigational books that we could give him.  Apparently he has been working on his captain’s papers.  Paul asked Mary if she could part with her Canadian Power Squadron piloting textbook and it was agreed that this would make a good gift.

June 27 and 28, 2007

We travelled 5 miles to our next anchorage, a deep harbour with good protection, called Hati Lawi Harbour.

Shortly after anchoring, Bob and Paul decided to go fishing and Julia asked to be dropped off for a walk on a small island that we had passed on our way in to the harbour.  On the way to the island they got their first sighting of a crocodile.  It looked like a floating log until they got closer and it sank underwater.  We have since learned that there are a lot of crocodiles around.

Later, when Mary and Julia were sitting on the boat, they heard loud wailing coming from a canoe quite a ways away.   Several boats came by all afternoon and offered to trade vegetables.  There is no village in this bay but several gardens that belong to people from a neighbouring village.  When the people come to their gardens, they usually spend the night in a shelter.  One of the fellows explained the source of the wailing as he told us that his wife had a fever and was feeling poorly.  We gave him some Tylenol with some simple instructions. 

It was pouring rain while we were having dinner and we were discussing the sick wife and hoping that she had adequate shelter from the inclement weather.  Paul suggested that he go and try and find them and bring some leftover food from our dinner and a t-shirt.  It was pitch black out and Paul promised that he would not go ashore.  We could hear him calling out several times and eventually he returned.  It turns out that the wife and husband were spending the night in a more substantial and dry shelter of a relative and that the wife was feeling better.  The husband came out to the boat the next day to thank us again for the medication and food and shirt.

June 29 and 30, 2007

We had a great fast sail to the next anchorage.  We anchored in Robinson Harbour on Abaga Gaheia Island.  We intended to anchor at Gigila, which is a smaller island almost adjoining Abaga Gaheia, but we couldn’t find a large enough patch of sand.  Anchoring in coral is something that we try and avoid as it definitely keeps us awake at night because of the anchor chain growling and grinding on the coral.

There was quite a bit of confusion surrounding the names of the islands – the charts show that we were at Abaga Gaheia Island but the locals all called both islands Gigila.  A cruising guide that we have also calls Abaga Gaheia Island Kawanak Island and we received different answers from the locals.  We soon stopped asking!

 

July 1 – 3, 2007

We asked Bob and Julia to choose the location of the next anchorage as they were due to fly back to Australia in a few days.  Julia chose to go to Pana Numara and this we did.  We were quite excited when we neared the island and saw two boats anchored in the crescent-shaped bay.  We had not seen any other boats since leaving Australia.

One of the boats was “Meridian of Sydney” and is owned by Paul and Judy from Australia.  We had been talking to them on the ham radio net for a year but had never had a face-to-face.  Paul and Judy had weathered the cyclone season in the Solomon Islands and were on their way back to Australia.  The other boat was called “Two Up” and is also from Australia.  Both boats had connected in the Solomons and were travelling together.  We had everyone over that afternoon for sundowners and enjoyed the swapping of stories.

 

July 4-7, 2007

The time came for us to go outside the barrier reef (10 miles away from Pana Numara) and go to a large island (20 miles away) called Misima so that we could check into the country and Bob and Julia could fly back to Australia.  We had a great spinnaker run to Misima and settled at anchor behind the only other sailboat in the harbour.  We had expected Bwagaoia harbour to be much bigger than it is, considering that it was a thriving port until 2004 when the gold mine closed. 

We knew from the yachty grapevine that Misima had stopped being a customs port a year or two ago because of the mine closure.  The nearest customs port for clearance from the archipelago was Samarai, close to the mainland of Papua New Guinea.  Getting there in the tradewinds would not be a problem but getting back into the archipelago would be difficult sailing.  We were thrilled when we learned at the PNG Consulate in Brisbane that Misima was back on the list of customs ports and we were told that we would be able to check in there.

The first thing that we did in Bwagaoia Harbour was raise our quarantine flag and Paul went ashore with our documents to check in.  He was directed to the police station where Paul met Police Chief Stanley who informed Paul that we could not check in at Misima.  When Paul explained what we had been told at the consulate in Brisbane, Stanley said “they lied!”.   Very disappointing indeed.   This created a problem for Bob and Julia who needed a clearance stamp in their passports in order to fly back into Australia.  Stanley told them that he would call Alatoa (a mainland customs port) and ask about the situation.  Paul also asked Stanley to explain our situation as well and would the Alatoa officials permit Stanley to write us a letter stating that we had tried to check in, and hopefully that letter would get us back into Australia.

The next day we all returned to the police station.  Stanley gave a letter to Bob and Julia, which would be all that they needed to get back into Australia.  As an extra precaution, they had decided that when awaiting a connecting flight in the capital, Port Moresby, they would look for an Immigration desk and formally check in and out of the country.  Our situation was definitely different.  Stanley told us that he could not give us a letter, however, Alatoa officials said that we could take our time cruising to Samarai and would be able to check and check out of the country at the same time.  Not the answer that we would prefer, but better than nothing. 

Bob and Julia left the next day for their flights back to Australia. We said fond farewells with promises to connect when we are back in Australia later this year.  They left aboard the carvings and shells that they had collected so we will definitely be looking to meet up with them.

 

We did not enjoy Bwagaoia Harbour.  The water was muddy and we could not use our watermaker, thus we were in water conservation big time.  Because the gold mine has closed, the people of Misima no longer have that income to rely on and there is definitely a sense of unrest in Misima.  People for the most part are not as friendly as on the islands of the archipelago.  We were stared at a lot and it was sometimes difficult to receive any answers from our questions.  The outdoor market, which we were told used to have vast supplies of fruits and vegetables when the mine was open, had mostly betel nut for sale.  We did manage to buy some pumpkin and bananas and bread.

We had to wait out a few days of strong winds before we could cross back to the archipelago.  It was in Bwagaoia harbour that we saw the most sightings of crocodiles to date.  Three times, we saw a croc swimming behind the boat, and often heading for a group of children playing at the shore in the mangroves.  The children appeared to be very unconcerned about the crocodile but it definitely put an end to Paul’s practice of jumping in the water to cool off while we were in this harbour.  We were later told by a Papuan at another island that the croc in his bay is afraid of humans.  We don’t want to test that theory!

July 8 – 17, 2007

Finally we could cross back to the archipelago and left Misima.  We had an exhilarating ride back with strong southeast tradewinds but couldn’t quite lay the anchorage back at Pana Numara.  Our course took us to a choice of either Bagaman Island or Bobo Eina Island.  Bobo Eina we were told is a very picturesque setting with no villages and is a favourite spot of the yachty who told us about it.  When we neared Bobo Eina it just didn’t look sheltered enough in the strong winds so we went 1.5 miles north to Bagaman Island.

The bay on Bagaman Island is quite large but, as usual, the challenge was to find a sandy patch free of coral.  Our charts and cruising guides often show an anchor symbol and we usually check out these spots first.  In this case, we were heading to one spot and it looked quite acceptable except that there was a woman sitting under a tree who was wailing loudly.  This wailing went on for quite a while and she could be heard over the sound of both engines.  We don’t know why she was wailing but we decided to move to the other side of the bay.

We settled in the biggest patch of sand that we could find and Paul went ashore to meet the villagers and give them a gift of one of the two fish that we had caught that morning.  He came back to the boat with a young man named Moses, whom we had met at Pana Numara Island.  Moses had offered to show us the exact spot where most yachts anchor and we took him up on his offer.   Even with the help of Moses we still had a sleepless night as we had too much chain out and lots of chain growling occurred.  We made some adjustments the next day and with the help of a second anchor attached to the primary anchor (to act as a kellet) we slept much better for the remaining 10 days that we spent at Bagaman.  The wind at Bagaman is such that at times there will be no wind and then all of a sudden it comes roaring out of the hills and sends the boats swirling.

At first we were the only boat at Bagaman but then one morning two new boats came in and we learned that they had just arrived in the Louisiades from Australia.  The next day one more boat arrived from Australia and then our friends from Meridian and Two Up also arrived at Bagaman.  The natives were giddy with excitement at the thought of having all of these boats with which to trade.

We have mixed feelings about our time at Bagaman Island.  The village was not as well kept as at Ayden Dominic’s village at Dumaga Bay.  The Bagaman Island people didn’t have the pride in their houses that we had previously experienced.  The people at Bagaman Island seemed to have much less and thus need a lot more, especially health care.  Mary spent a week tending a large, very severe, burn on the foot of the chief’s wife (and Moses’ mother) – she had burned it with hot water a week before.  Mary used the burn medication that we had brought and our sterile dressings and fortunately saw some improvement after a few days.  As we are believers in teaching these people to be more self-sufficient, Mary taught Moses how to change his mother’s dressing every day and apply more medication.  We left them with 10 days supply of medication and dressings and later heard that her foot was feeling much better.  This was a very distressing time for Mary as the burn was very severe, we were limited with what we could do, and she felt that the woman really needed hospital care.  That is a severe limitation of life in this archipelago – especially as shoes are never worn and feet are always dirty and/or in salt water.

It was while we were at Bagaman in the company of other boats that Paul had the brilliant idea of trying to arrange for a Customs agent to fly to Misima to check a group of boats in to the country.  Our alternative was to sail to Samarai, which is almost at the PNG mainland, and sailing back to the Louisiades archipelago would be against the wind.  If we left the check-in and out process in Samarai until September and then sailed back to Australia, the wind angle would not be as favourable as if we left from the archipelago.  With this in mind, we set out to make contact with other boats and see what we could arrange.  We realized at this time that progress would be slow as we were the frontrunners of the boats arriving in the Louisiades this season.  As well, communication with other boats would be limited to email and the VHF or HF radio – very few boats offshore have telephones.

It was also at Bagaman Island that we realized that we had another problem.  We have already written about the large amount of meat that we purchased in Bundaberg before we left Australia.  We really thought that Paul would not be able to eat any fish in the Louisiades due to the danger of eating a fish with the ciguatera toxin again (like last year in Vanuatu).  This is why we brought so much meat.  It turns out that the people in the Lousiades say that there is no ciguatera here.  We are still being cautious (we eat a very small piece of the fish one night and if we feel okay, we eat the rest another night) but we are very happy that we can eat the fish here.  Unfortunately, we knew that we now had too much meat in the freezer and it would be taken away from us when we arrive back in Australia.

We asked Peter and Donna from Two Up and Paul and Judy from Meriidian if they could help us out by taking some of our meat.  Peter and Donna were preparing to leave in the next few days for Australia but Paul and Judy were hanging around for another two weeks before heading home.  We really didn’t want any money for the meat but neither couple would agree to that so we negotiated a fair price for the meat. 

July 18, 2007

We said goodbye to Meridian and Two Up and went around the corner to Bobo Eina Island, only 1.5 miles away.  This is a very small anchorage and has excellent holding.  There is not very much protection from the wind and it is probably best not to be there if the wind is blowing over 20 knots.  The winds had been quite strong for several days, which is why we stayed in Bagaman for so long.  When they started to abate, we decided to go to Bobo Eina.  We had 25-35 knots of wind while we were there, which kept the boat at anchor headed straight into the wind and we had absolutely no swinging of the boat.  Paul dove on the anchor and was pleased to find that it was completely buried in heavy sand.  We were very comfortable, however, the sound of the wind never stopped and at times it sounded like a freight train was coming.  We walked on shore every day for an hour, which gave some relief from the sound of the wind.

On our third evening there, Mary had just about had enough with the sound of the wind and was ready to suggest that they move on the next day when, all of sudden just before dark, the anchor broke out in a strong gust.  Before we knew it, our GPS showed that we were 300 feet from where we had been just a few moments before.  Luckily any coral reefs around us were father away than 300 feet.  We quickly turned the engines on and reset the primary anchor, and then set our secondary anchor.  After dinner, Paul went out in the dark and set a third anchor.  We slept reasonably well that night.

In the morning, Mary definitely wanted to move and, as the strong winds were predicted for a few more days, we went back to Bagaman.

July 22 – 25, 2007

We didn’t really want to be back to Bagaman as we felt that we had traded quite a bit with these villagers and we were running out of trading supplies.  Mary requested that we only trade for crayfish and fruit and vegetables from now on and no longer for shells.
Since we were now back at Bagaman we were able to spend a last few days with Peter and Donna from Two Up before they headed back to Australia on July 26.  We also spent some time with new acquaintances Robyn and Robert from “Bardoo” who were buddy-boating back to Australia with Two Up.  Two Up’s HF radio was not working and communications about their progress back to Australia would be transmitted to Meridian via HF radio from Bardoo.  This worked well as we had daily reports of the progress of the two boats and were pleased to hear that they arrived safely in Cairns 4 days after leaving the Louisiades.  We hope that we meet up with Peter and Donna and Robyn and Robert on the east coast of Australia.

July 26 – 30, 2007

We left Bagaman Island in the morning in the company of Meridian of Sydney.  We were heading for a lagoon at the barrier reef that Paul and Judy had once visited and said was a beautiful place.  Unfortunately, just after we were underway, Paul and Judy received a call from another boat via VHF radio who said that they were leaving the lagoon as it was blowing 35 knots out at the reef.  The four of us had a quick conversation and decided to pass on the lagoon and we headed west to the island of Moturina.

We found a nice, protected anchorage at Moturina and stayed for 5 days. Meridian was there as well.  Lots of canoes came out every day for trading, which gets tiresome after a while.  The locals stated that we were the first yachts of the season to visit.  We did spend some time with Rueben and his wife Jocelyn and son Michael.  Here are a few pictures from our time at Moturina:

July 31, 2007

It was time to say good-bye to Meridian as we were heading back to Bwagoia Harbour on Misima Island – we were going to attempt to arrange for a Customs official to fly to Misima to clear a group of boats in and out of the country.  Through two ham radio nets, Paul had confirmation from several boats who would like to be part of this endeavour. 

After several meetings with the police who were strongly encouraging us not to go to the mainland due to reports of piracy, and several telephone calls to the Customs office in Alatoa, it was finally arranged that a Customs official would be available in Bwagoia Harbour from August 27 – 30, 2007.  Good news indeed.

August 3, 2007

We left Bwagoia Harbour and continued on up the west side of the island to a very small anchorage that we had been told about by another yachty.  It was so small that, without the waypoints, we may have missed the spot all together.  The anchorage is just before Bagga Bagga point and is only a small cut in the shoreline with a couple of villages.

Although it was not a very sheltered anchorage and open to sea swell, the winds were predicted to be light for a few days so we decided to try it.  However, when we slowly went in we had trouble finding anything shallower than 300 feet so we bailed out and started to leave.  Paul talked Mary into giving it another try as it really looked like an interesting place, so back we went.

By this time, there was well over a hundred people standing along the shore who paused in their daily activities to watch us as we entered this little harbour. Some helped us locate the exact spot to drop the hook by shouting and pointing.  We were so close to shore that we could call to the people and be heard.  Paul asked if there was a primary school nearby and was told that it was “close”.

As it was already Friday afternoon and we wanted to donate some storybooks and school supplies to the school, we quickly went ashore.  Mary popped two bags of popcorn and this was a hit for all ages as we walked to the school.  We had lots of company and the walk that was supposed to be “close” turned out to take 60 minutes one way.  And what a walk it was – over rocks in a stream, over a log bridge, and around a cliff face with only a two-feet wide path.  Our most rugged walk yet but one that we thoroughly enjoyed.

Saturday, August 4

We woke up this morning expecting to spend a few more days at Bagga Bagga.  When we checked our email shortly after arising we were dismayed to learn that Paul and Judy had run Meridian of Sydney hard aground on a coral reef at the entrance to Panasia Island.  This was to be their last anchorage before heading to Australia.  We could not believe what we were reading.  On the Comedy Net that morning Paul talked to Paul of Meridian and told him that we were on our way to help.

We motor sailed at top speed for five hours and made it through the narrow gap in the reef with Paul up the mast and the sun shining and Meridian lying on its side just to the right of us.  The day before, when Paul and Judy went through, it was an overcast day.  In was in everyone’s mind just how easily it could have been any one of us in the same situation.

It was so sad to see Meridian of Sydney on the reef.  Luckily Meridian of Sydney is a steel boat – a fibreglass boat, like Bella Via, in the same situation would have been destroyed.  There were four other boats already in the anchorage when the grounding happened and everyone worked for several hours to try and stabilize the boat on the reef to minimize the damage to the hull. 

By the time we arrived mid-day, 24 hours after the initial grounding, the boat was stabilized, however, the pounding of the surf the first night actually moved the boat further onto the reef than when it first landed.  After we anchored, Paul filled our dinghy with all of our spare anchors and extra lines and headed out to Meridian, approximately a half mile from the anchorage.

Paul and Judy had stayed aboard one of the other boats the first night but that boat already had four people aboard and they were crowded.  We were glad that we were able to offer our extra cabin and Paul and Judy moved aboard for a few days.

Here is Paul’s first-hand account of the “rescue of Meridian of Sydney”:

“When I arrived with the dinghy full of anchors, chain and rope, the steel-hulled Meridian of Sydney had been on the reef for 24 hours.  She was lying on her starboard side in two feet of water on a hard coral bottom.  The reef on which she lay was thumb-shaped.  She had first hit the reef on Friday afternoon near the tip of the thumb, however the wind and waves had driven her a good 30 metres further onto the middle of this thumb-shaped reef until she was stopped by a bommie a metre in diameter.   Although the starboard side was badly scraped and caved in by the bommie, the hull had not been holed and the boat was not taking on water. During that Saturday morning, just prior to our arrival, the yachties anchored at Panasia and a few of the locals had set two anchors off the bow, the main halyard had been attached to a third anchor abeam of Meridian, and the metre-sized bommie had been labouriously rolled away from the side of the hull.

This is a very remote area and efforts to find a large tug that could pull Meridian off the reef were not successful.  We now numbered 9 yachtsmen from 7 yachts and a half dozen native men.  We all knew that if we were to get the boat off, it would have to be up to our efforts, as puny as they seemed, given the weight and size of Meridian.  Efforts to use Meridians electric winch to pull her forward toward the tip of the thumb were not successful.  Shortly after my arrival on the scene Saturday afternoon, a decision was made to drag her sideways toward the side edge of the thumb, a distance of about 20 metres.  With this as our goal, we set two more anchors, one from the bow leading to a winch on the mast and one from the stern leading to the starboard primary winch.  These anchors were set abeam of Meridian with the intention of dragging her sideways toward the edge of the reef.  All of these anchor lines, and the line leading from the top of the mast, were tensioned as much as possible using the winches.  Additional lines were added to the bow and stern and all 15 men winched and pulled for over an hour late that afternoon with little apparent progress made.  All we accomplished was to pull Meridian out of a foot-deep trench that her keel had ground into the coral on which she lay.

Both the sun and the tides had fallen so there was little left to do until the next high tide expected late Sunday afternoon.  The lines were left as taut has possible and we all returned to our respective vessels for the night.

When we returned to the wreck site Monday morning, despite being high and dry, we were amazed to see that Meridian had moved 3 metres closer to the side edge of the reef overnight.  Our excitement rose with hope and anticipation that it just might be possible to move her the additional 17 metres after all.  As the tide began to rise later that afternoon, everyone once again gathered at the wreck site.  This time, we were prepared with an additional strategy to assist in moving her.  Two 9-foot logs, each 6 inches in diameter, had been prepared to act as jams that could be thrust under the bow and stern sprits as they were momentarily lifted by the waves.  These 'jams' were heavy and green and it required two to three men to thrust them in place at just the right moment when the bow or stern lifted.  The wave would pass and the bow/stern would come down heavily onto the newly placed jam, thereby preventing its return to its previous location.  In this way we were able to duck walk the boat gradually toward the edge of the reef, while two men on deck were keeping tremendous pressure on the anchor lines that had been set abeam the previous day.  So much pressure was kept on these lines that they parted three times during the process.  These were quality three strand 1" diameter lines.  The men on the winches kept them rod tight using all the strength they could put into the primary winches on deck.  Others were using a large pry bar to roll large pieces of coral away from the intended path.  I think that I'm making the process sound easier than it actually was.  With the 'jams", most of the time the base of the jam would just slip away from the boat with nothing to grab.  It rook tremendous effort and determination to hold that log in place and get it to bite into the coral as the weight of this behemoth came down onto the top of the log.  Many times it looked like it would splinter in the face of those holding it in place.  Our strength and determination was swelled by the progress that we could see Meridian making, first 5 metres then 10 and by nightfall she had been moved 15 metres.  She was now so close to the edge that we kept falling off of the edge of the reef as we tried to move around her in the water.

We all knew that Tuesday would be Meridian's last day on the reef.  Everyone returned to Bella Via, the largest party boat available, for a huge celebration with lots of food which had been prepared by the women during the afternoon.  Everyone was in a very festive mood.

The next day was almost anticlimactic except that it seemed to take forever to move Meridian that last two metres.  Understandably so, because they were then the shallowest two metres that Meridian needed to traverse.  Much thought and preparation went into those first few moments when Meridian dropped into deep water and floated upright.  Two dinghies were in place to act as tugs to keep her away from the reef until her motors could be started and steering tested.  Sure enough, she had lost her steering, as the linkage had come loose on the inside of the boat due to the constant wave action on the rudder over the last four days. So the two little "dinghies that could", one at the bow and one at the stern, took Meridian under tow, around the coral reefs and into the anchorage.  That night champagne was poured aboard Bella Via as we celebrated with Paul and Judy from Meridian, and Peter and Ilona from Lode-Star.

Although Meridian was now afloat, things were a mess down below, so Paul and Judy stayed aboard Bella Via for another three days before moving back aboard a battered but liveable Meridian of Sydney.  Over the next week all systems were checked.”

End of Paul’s personal account of the rescue of Meridian of Sydney.

August 11 – 19, 2007

It was now time to leave Panasia.  Meridian had been safely rescued from the reef and needed a test sail before leaving for Australia.  Meridian, Lode-Star, and Bella Via all sailed for Nivani, a small island beside a larger island called Panapompom.  We joined several other boats (all who had also helped in Meridian’s rescue) at anchor at Nivani.  These islands are part of a group of islands called the DeBoyne Group.  We were looking forward to our stay at Nivani because we had been told by other yachties that it is possible to arrange a sailing canoe trip to another island in the group, Panaete, to watch the canoe builders.

Sure enough, our sailing canoe trip occurred on the 15th of August.  What a great day!  There were 11 yachties and 4 Papuans on the large sailing canoe.  We had a mostly wet one-hour ‘run’ (wind at your back sail) to Panaete and a one and a half hour ‘beat’ (wind in your face sail) back at the end of the day.  On Panaete we spent a few hours at the elementary school and some time was spent watching a few men building a large canoe.  Panaete is known as the island where locals go to obtain the wood for their canoes, or they buy the canoes ready-made. Payment is usually made in pigs.  Here are our pictorial memories of the “day we rode the sailing canoe”.

The sailing canoe ride was not the only bit of excitement that we had during our stay at Nivani Island.  We had been spending quite a bit of time with new friends, Peter and Ilona, from Lode-Star.  Peter and Paul had been comparing the size of each other’s dinghies and the size and performance of the outboard motors.  We have a 15 HP 2-stroke Yamaha and Peter has a 15 HP 4-stroke Mercury.  Each believes that his dinghy and outboard is faster – so, that meant that we had to have a race!

On Thursday morning, everyone in the anchorage gathered on Bella Via for morning tea as we had declared ourselves the official spectator boat for the “Nivani Dinghy Race”.  Peter and Paul set a triangular racecourse and had a few practice runs.   Again, here are our pictorial memories of that morning.

 

A great time was had by all that morning.  We were surprised that the Papuans were not out in their canoes watching the racing.  Later, when one of the yachties asked if they knew about the racing the Papuan answered that they were all along the shore cheering as they watched the dim dims enjoying themselves.

A couple of days later we said good-bye to Paul and Judy from Meridian as they headed off to Cairns, Australia.  The night before they left we had everyone (14 people plus the two of us) in the anchorage over for sundowners for a good-bye party.  We kept in touch with Paul and Judy by HF radio and they had an uneventful 5-day passage. 

August 20, 2007

As the winds were predicted to be light for a few days, we decided that this would be a good time to stay at Kamatal Lagoon, which is at the barrier reef.  Peter and Ilona from Lode-star also decided to go there.  We had a wonderful sail back into the reef from the DeBoyne Group and settled at anchor in the lagoon by mid-afternoon.  What a lovely picturesque place.  Except for a small opening, which the Papuans had marked with two sticks, we were totally surrounded by coral.   We spent almost a week there as we waited for the time to head back to Bwagoia Harbour for Customs clearance.

We had a wonderful few days at Kamatal – lots of snorkelling, diving, fishing, and walking on the nearby islands.  We became very close to Peter and Ilona as we share many of the same interests.  They borrowed our vast movie DVD collection and overdosed themselves by watching 2 or 3 movies almost every day (we can only manage 1 in an evening).  Mary and Ilona also decided to combine our dinners as both yachts were running out of fresh food and other items, so we took turns hosting dinnertime.  We also taught them to play the card game “Frustration”, which was taught to us by Paul and Judy from Meridian, and is fun to play.

We haven’t yet mentioned about the tendency of the Papuan children to hop onto the boats without being invited but this is what has happened several times since we have been here– a practice which we do not like and will try and explain that this is not acceptable.  Unfortunately the children do not learn English until about the age of 7 or 8 and we have to rely on hand and body signals.  We have a bit of a disadvantage by having a catamaran as the stern of the boat is very accessible to people in their canoes.  Monohulls are much higher out of the water and harder to get into.

Even though the adults do not hop aboard without being invited, they often will ask to come aboard as soon as we meet them.  In this circumstance, we usually reply, “No, we just met you”.  Once we get to know a local, we are more inclined to ask that person aboard for a cup of tea.

It was here at the lagoon that we had an experience with one of the Papuans.  On the first morning at the lagoon, it was barely 0630h and Paul was at the computer and Mary was eating her breakfast and reading when a man approached us in a canoe.  We forget how we knew that he was there but before Paul could even step out into the cockpit, the man had climbed aboard.  Paul quickly stepped onto the steps and sat down so that the fellow could not advance any further and they had a friendly conversation.  Paul ended up trading a sailing magazine for a small pumpkin.  After a while the fellow said good-bye and that he would be back the next day.  Paul asked him nicely not to step aboard again without being invited as this is our house and he also said that 0630h is a bit early for a visit.  We never had a visit again from that fellow, even though he went back and forth to Lode-Star every day thereafter.  We discussed what happened with Peter and Ilona, and they agreed that our response to the man had been appropriate.

August 26, 2007

The time had come to head back to Bwagoia Harbour for customs clearance into Papua New Guinea.  We had a marvellous sail to Misima and settled at anchor in the small harbour, amongst ten other boats.  Everyone was quite close to each other and we hoped that with the southeast tradewinds, everyone would stay pointing in the same direction and no one would swing contrary to the others.  Most of the boats would only be staying one or two days so that they could check in and get back into the archipelago.   As there were 14 boats hoping to check-in, Paul had contacted most of the boats by radio and had set up a tentative schedule so that the harbour would not be overloaded with boats.  We felt that we would have to stay all week, as we were the organizers of this endeavour.

Here is an excerpt of an email that Paul sent to his brother Alan, explaining how all of these arrangements came about:  “Last week was quite interesting because it was the culmination of a month and a half of planning special arrangements to get Customs Clearance here in the Louisiades for a one week window of opportunity.   According to the Papua New Guinea (PNG) consulate in Brisbane, we should have been able to clear in and out of PNG here in the Louisiades.  When we arrived we were told that the Customs and Immigration Officer had moved and we would have to travel 150 miles to the mainland for customs procedures.  Officials are so relaxed here that they said we could take our time getting there, which is exactly what we were planning on doing, until I got the idea of getting a group of yachties together to pay for the Customs Officer to fly to Misima Island in the Louisiades for a week so that we wouldn't have to make the trip to the mainland.  The hardest part was making contact with the Customs Officer who has no email.  The short version of this story is that he agreed to come to Misima if I was willing to pay for all of his expenses (approximately $900 Cdn) and wire to his bank account the cost of the airfare, (approximately $400 Canadian).  We gambled that we would be able to find enough yachts interested in sharing this cost.  We set a date and began advertising by the various radio nets that this service would be available the last week of August in Misima.  Word spread throughout the south pacific and Australian east coast.  In the end we had 14 yachts arrive in Misima last week for Customs clearance bringing the cost per yacht down to less than $50.  Phew!  In the end, it was great fun organizing this and it was very much appreciated by the yachts who participated because none of us wanted to travel the extra distance east which would make the trip back to the Louisiades against the wind.”‘   End of excerpt.

August 31, 2007

Thankfully, all went well in Bwagoai Harbour and on Sunday, August 31, 2007, we sailed back to Kamatal Lagoon to relax for a few more days.  We shared the lagoon with a few of the boats who had been at Bwagoia Harbour.

Now we began to think about when we would look for a weather window to cross back to Cairns, Australia.  We like to do ocean passages with a full moon as it helps with nighttime visibility.  The next full moon would be on Friday, September 28, so we targeted that week to start looking for a weather window.  This date would also give us an opportunity to participate in PNG Independence Day celebrations on September 16. 

The passage is approximately 550 miles and should take us 4 days or less, depending on wind strength.  We planned on leaving from the far eastern end of the archipelago (the same way we came in) and that meant that we needed work our way, against the prevailing wind, back to the most eastern island of Tagula (also called Sudest).

September 3 – 12, 2007

We spent a few enjoyable days back at Bobo Eina and were by ourselves.  We were visited by only two canoes and were able to trade and stock up on vegetables.

Continuing east, we spent a few days each at Gigila Island, Panawina Island, Grass Island, Hati Lawi Harbour, and then on September 12, arrived back at Liji Liji Bay on Sudest where our Louisiades adventure started three months ago.

Sometime during these two weeks, Paul raised the question of leaving for Australia before the full moon – the reason being that the Dragons Abreast World Dragon Boat competition was being held in Caloundra, near Mooloolaba, on September 28-30.  Mary’s team from Windsor, Ontario, Canada, was participating as well as the team that Mary joined in Redcliffe.  As well, Mary was responsible for getting our friend Betty from the yacht JAMS involved in dragon boating and she has joined the Kawana Lakes team in Caloundra, where the Dragons Abreast Worlds were being hosted.  We had known all along about the competition but because of our nomadic lifestyle and the vagaries of the sea and wind, we could not predict where we would be at the end of September.  As we approached that date and our plans became more firm, we knew that we could at least be in Cairns before the end of the month. 

We contacted Bettye from JAMS and asked if Mary could stay with them for a few days and be a spectator at the Worlds.  Of course they agreed and plans were finalized so that Mary would be able to fly from Cairns to Brisbane, be picked up by Steve and Bettye, and then go on to Caloundra for the competition and the celebrations.  At last word from Bettye, we excitedly learned that Mary’s name would be added to the spare paddler list and there may be an opportunity to be a paddler for a race or two.

September 15, 2007

The weather forecasts looked good for the next few days so we decided to head for Cairns.  We said good-bye to the Louisiades with mixed feelings about our experience.  The country was beautiful, especially the clear waters around the many reefs, and the tall mountains.  The Papuans are very friendly and seem to appreciate everything that we give them in trade.  What disturbed us most was the poverty – we certainly did not bring enough clothing to give away in trade for vegetables.  These people have very little and we didn’t see a lot of opportunity for them to better their situation.  We are still wrestling with this and probably will for many years. 

The trip to Cairns, Australia, could be considered a “dream cruise”.  The winds averaged 10-15 knots for the first day and then only 15-20 knots for the next two days.  The seas were kind to us in that they were no greater than 1 to 1.5 m metres.  We were not seasick, although, only because we were taking our usual seasick medication.  We did get our “sea legs” but only after two days and then the trip ended after three days and seven hours.  We had a painless clearing back in to  Australia and we are looking forward to continuing our cruising on the east coast of Australia over the next year.  And next week, Mary flies to Caloundra for the Dragons Abreast Words!!!