Hermit and Ninigo
01/12/2019 Hermit Islands, Papua New Guinea
We made it to the Hermits. Woohoo! At about 11am this morning while looking at the charts on the iPad we realised that we were going to arrive at midnight if we didn’t do something. Since there is no wind and none forecasted, the only thing we could do was speed up the engine-ing. So we decided to run both engines at a little over the usual RPM’s to see if we could get there before dark. With both engines running our eta was looking like better, at 6:30pm, but that’s just after sunset so probably won’t help us. We called ZigZag and let them know our dilemma. They said their eta was about 5pm, so I asked them to really pay attention to the accuracy of the maps. This way, if the maps are accurate, we should be able to just drive on in using our charts. He got back to me at 5:30pm saying the maps were way off, so instead he would come out and meet me with the track on his tablet which we could then follow in. Sweet.
The rest of the trip was nice, though very hot with no wind to cool us down. We had 2 more pods of dolphins come by to swim with us. One was huge pod of 2 different kinds of dolphins, we think either striped or spinning dolphins and definitely pygmy killer whales. The pygmy killers were awesome. They have this white stripe around their mouths which make them look like they’re wearing white lipstick. They kept swimming across our bow on their sides with their mouths open. It was like they were trying to say hi and give us a wave. We absolutely loved it. Lara said that it was moments like these that make the trip worthwhile. And we all totally agreed.
Then of course I came inside to find the saltwater pump fuse had blown. I cursed the thing and went looking for another fuse. Once fitted, I did the dishes only to see the cursed thing blow another fuse. Bloody thing! I went back to the engine compartment and made room to have another look around. There was no water bursting up into the boat, so that’s good, but my hose fitting remedy showed a very clear trickle of water leaking down the side. That water must be running over the terminals and causing the fuses to blow. The wretched thing. I’ll fix it tomorrow.
When we got close to the Hermits I gave George and Chris a call on the VHF to let them know we were almost there. They came out in the dinghy and with the tablet in hand, jumped on board. We started heading towards the entrance when George’s tablet froze and he had to restart it. While he was doing that we could all hear the left over typhoon swells breaking violently on the reef either side of us. So much fun. The tablet came back to life, but for whatever reason the track they had taken had disappeared after the restart. So basically we were going in by memory. Chris has done the pass twice and George once, so should be fine, right? Well thankfully there are a couple of markers on the reef so Chris was up the front shining the spotlight looking for them and shouting directions back to Vanja who relayed them on to me. At one point Chris shouted ‘hard to starboard!’, then ‘reverse!!’. As we glided past he shined the spotlight down to show a clearly visible reef 1m from our starboard hull. Yikes. After making it through without a scratch we dropped the anchor behind Family Circus and I went to change my undies. Chris handed us a huge bag of freshly caught marlin that he managed to catch along the way. Have I mentioned how nice it is to travel with other boats yet? We said our thanks and see you in the mornings. It’s so nice to be at anchor.
2/12/2019 Hermit Islands, Papua new Guinea
A bit of a work day here at the Hermit Islands. Vanja and the kids took a trip to the ZigZag, so while they were away I took the chance to strip the boat down for a bit of fiddling. I managed to fix the saltwater pump… again. It turns out I just didn’t tighten the hose clamps enough. Well it’s definitely not too loose now after my efforts with the ratchet. If anything, the hose will come off now because it’s too tight. Let’s see you try you mongrel.
Next was the electrical components. The fuse for the saltwater pump was a simple inline fuse, because I didn’t have enough space on the switchboard. That is until I realised I could put the radar on the 24v system. You see our boat is a mix of 12 and 24 volt electronics. I have only 4 x 12v switches on the switchboard, and with the radar going there they were all used up. I double checked the radar documentation and it can in fact run on 24 volts. Perfect! I have 3 spare spots on that panel. So, I moved the radar to a 24v switch, then took out the inline fuse of the salt water pump and connected it to the previously owned 12v switch, and voila. No more blown fuses that need replacing. Good thing too since I have none left.
While I had all the electrical equipment out I thought I might as well tackle job number 349, which is to make the computer/radar connections more sustainable. The radar screen is actually my laptop. Using a program called OpenCPN I can look at charts as well as overlay the radar on the map. It’s really cool. But anyway, that’s beside the point. To make the radar effective, the screen (laptop) needs to sit somewhere in view from all angles so we can get a good look at what’s about to hit us. We’ve found that the nav station is the best place for it. Of course we don’t have a powerpoint in the area, so we’ve been using an extension cable from a powerpoint across the room. Needless to say this is not only annoying, but marginally unsafe given that trip hazards are a real thing on a boat. Anyway, after a couple of holes were drilled and a bit more electrical spaghetti installed we can now plug the power and radar into the laptop with no mess or fuss. Zing!
When Vanja and the kids returned we (all 3 boats) pulled up our respective anchors and motored in closer to the islands. We read about a channel between the islands that have a constant flow of manta rays, so it seemed as good a place as any to anchor up for a day or so. We arrived after a couple of hours of pretty uninteresting motoring. When we arrived though, I jumped in the water to check the anchor and was blown away by how clear the water was. The depth sounder was saying that we were in 20m of water, and when I look through my goggles I could clearly see the bottom without any issue. It was incredible!
Within 10 minutes of our arrival, Bob, the head man of the village at the beach, came by in his canoe. He said that the price for looking at the manta rays was $K20 per person. Vanja and I looked at each other and scoffed thinking that was a little ridiculous. We asked who the money goes to and he said it goes to the community. We asked if kids have to pay, and he said no. We said ok and asked if we could pay him later, to which he said that he would come out to the boat tomorrow after our swim. 7-8am is the best time he said. After Bob left we went snorkelling to see if the manta rays were around. Irene from ZigZag yelled out that she could see one, but by the time we made it over to them it was gone. Oh well, I guess we’ll have to wait until tomorrow.
There was a bit of talk between the boats about how these islands are seventh day adventists and that crayfish is forbidden in that religion. We thought then, that it would be a good idea to go lobster hunting tonight. Chris picked me up at about 6:30 as well as George and Romeo from the village and off we went to a reef over yonder to find said lobsters. I brought my speargun as if I knew what I was doing, but of course I didn’t bring a torch which makes hunting in the water at night sort of impossible. Luckily, George had a torch and not a spear, so we managed to make it work. We spent 2 hours swimming through the reef dragging the dinghy behind us in the dark shining the torch about looking for lobsters. Not only did I not catch any of the things, I didn’t even see one. Romeo the local expert caught 3, while Chris caught one. George and I, a big fat zero. No worries though, night snorkelling on it’s own is so much fun, I would do it again any time.
03/12/2019 Hermit Islands, Papua new Guinea
What an amazing day today. We woke up early today, with an alarm, to go find these manta rays. It didn’t take long! As soon as we jumped in the water and swam to ‘the spot’ we saw them. They were absolutely incredible. So big, yet so graceful. The rock that they, and us, swim around is apparently a cleaning station for them. They line up next to the rock waiting for the cleaner fish to come and eat all the parasites off of them. It’s really cool to see actually. The manta opens it’s mouth and a fish the size of my arm swims in and way down, staying in there for a few minutes, then emerges and swims around the rest of the manta’s body sucking, biting, cleaning the rest of it. All the while the manta ray just lazily swims around enjoying the treatment. Occasionally it jerks away, like the cleaner fish touched a nerve or something, but generally it looks as if it really enjoys it. After a few minutes of this the manta swims off to restock it’s belly in the current of the channel for a while, then returns for another clean. It was really cool to see.
When we got back to the boat Bob arrived a few minutes later requesting payment for the snorkel. A part of me really thinks it is annoying to have to pay someone to see animals in their natural environment, but I also can see how this is just someone with not much money seeing a way to exploit their natural resources, just like the rest of the world. We ended up paying him $K20 plus a bag of rice, some soap and fishing hooks and line. Not too bad.
The rest of the day was pretty relaxed, all the kids came over to play on the mat, then after that I hung up the hammocks for a bit of hammock time, then we had a pot luck on our boat with everyone. Such a good day.
04/12/2019 Heina Atoll, Papua new Guinea
A bit of boatlife drama today. We woke up early to go for another snorkel with the manta rays who were amazing again of course, but when we went back to the boat Bob paddled out in his canoe to ZigZag, who were the closest to his village. He then paddled over to Family Circus. We were waiting for him to paddle over to us, but for reasons we only found out later he never made it over to us. Apparently he came out requesting another fee for swimming with the mantas. Both ZigZag and Family Circus told him where to go, and I guess he didn’t have the stomach for 3 rejections. I mean come on. I understand that he is trying to do what he can to survive, but that is just too much. Yachties will stop coming if he’s not careful.
The rest of the day was quite nice, we actually got to sail to Heina Atoll, where we are now. We had a nice 12kt breeze right off the nose and ZigZag and we sailed together within 500m of each other. It was really nice. Heina Atoll is a perfect little circular atoll with an entrance through the reef the width of our boat. Chris somehow got through on his own, but when ZigZag and we arrived some locals jumped on board to help us through.
05/12/2019 Heina Atoll, Papua New Guinea
Another amazing day today, tiring, but amazing. We woke up and had breakfast only to find Sayo from Family Circus on our doorstep saying that the locals want to put on a sailing race for us. Sounds good to us, so we got ready and headed into the beach where they all were. It turns out that ‘the locals’ were actually visitors that come here to fish, just like on Punawan. Anyway, we met them and they were so incredibly friendly, offering us everything they had. They climbed trees to get us some coconuts to drink, then we walked with them to find some coconut crabs so they could cook them for us. It was so nice of them.
Michael, the father, has a couple of nasty infections which ZigZag kindly cleaned, dressed and gave antibiotics for. We asked him what they were from and he said the one on his leg was a boil and that the one on his hand was from his wife Connie biting him. We laughed it off as a joke, but then later when Connie was serving us some food we asked again and she laughed and said it was true. No biting!
After eating the crabs and playing in the absolutely perfect sandy beach they took us sailing in their sailing canoes one at a time. Vanja and Sayo went first, then Jake and I eventually had a go and it was absolutely thrilling. These canoes are certainly the best ones we’ve seen so far. Very sleek and fast, though quite cumbersome to tack. Jake was screaming the whole time how terrifying it was even though he was clearly loving every minute of it.
The village from the other side of the atoll came over in their 2 masted, 12 person sailing canoe to see what all the excitement was about. One of the daughters had already visited ZigZag in the morning and gave them 10 fish that they had caught. They also invited us all over for dinner at their village in the afternoon. Sweet.
We were all pretty exhausted after what had already been a very active day, but we headed over to the village to meet our hosts. They turned out to be the family of the church representative from Pihun Island in the Ninigo Group just Southwest of us. Pihun Island is too small to cater for gardening (farming), so islanders go in search for places to grow and harvest foods. Well this is one of those families. They were extremely friendly and welcoming to us yachties. They cooked us up a meal of chicken, fish, banana and sago pudding. It was delicious, though could’ve used a little salt. Seriously though it was great. The chief asked us if we could keep the kids quiet so he could say a prayer and Lara yelled out, ‘What’s a prayer?’ which we thought was pretty funny. The kids had a great time too as the village was filled with chickens with chicks, piglets and roosters. It’s certainly going to be hard to leave this place.
06/12/2019 Heina Atoll, Papua New Guinea
Another fun day in the islands today. Connie and her kids came out for a visit which went quite well until a squall ripped over us and set loose which drift quite a ways away before anyone noticed. I went after it in the dinghy, but by the time I reached it, it was completely filled with water. Rafa, Connie’s son, jumped in and spent 20 minutes bailing out the water, then said, good as new.
We then went to the beach to hang out. Chris brought his kite surfing gear along as the wind was quite strong now after the squall. He has a training kite with him, so James, George and I had a good go of it. Great fun, and for a little kite it packed quite a punch. Can’t wait to try the real thing!
After lunch, the men, yes me included, went on a hunt for some coconut crabs. Michael and his cousins came with us to one of the islands within the atoll and we landed on a tiny beach amongst some of the thickest jungle I’ve ever seen. I asked Michael if there was a path and he just smirked, lifted his machete in the air and said yes. So there we were, 3 locals who knew exactly what they were doing leading us 4 goof balls into the jungle who knew less than one of the local babies. We really were clueless. Just yesterday, Phillip from the village last night was telling us a story about how he almost speared one of the huge crocodiles living in the lagoon, and here we were walking through what could only be described as the perfect crocodile habitat. Tepid slow moving creeks winding through thick vegetation offering one perfect ambush site after another.
We walked for about 20 minutes noticing a slight increase in mosquito activity, at which point someone asked, did anyone bring any mosquito repellent? Can you believe that not one of us brought any? Did anyone put any on before they left? No. Does this island have malaria? Yes. Were the mosquitos ravenous? Yes. Do I now have more bites than freckles? Yes. So, now we are all counting down the days of incubation. I think James said we should start a malaria pool to bet on who goes down first. Not a bad idea.
After 2 hours of hot sweaty crocodile dodging malaria ridden walking we headed back to our boats with 14 coconut crabs. Michael tied them up on long branches like you see in the movies sometimes when the triumphant hunters carry their bounty back to their villages to be cooked over open flames. It was a strange way to carry the little crabs, especially in a dinghy. To prove the point one of them slipped off on ride home.
Did the day end here though? No, it’s only 5pm at this stage. Today is St. Nicholaus day in Germany (and elsewhere probably, I don’t know), so ZigZag put on a bit of a do at their boat for the kids, and us. George dressed up as St. Nicholaus for the yearly ceremony of telling each child all the good things they’ve done and all the things that they could’ve improved on. It was great fun and George did a fantastic job of entertaining everyone and it really was a nice ending to a very fun day.
07/12/2019 Heina Atoll, Papua new Guinea
I think this is probably the busiest we have ever been. Since arriving at this little atoll in the middle of basically nowhere we have had one social engagement after another. It’s not something we’re generally used to, but it has been great fun. We started the day with some boat chores while Lara and Jake played on Family Circus. Washing clothes could almost be an all day activity if you wanted it to be, even though you’re only washing a few pairs of undies and some towels. It’s definitely one area of life where machines made a real difference.
While I was doing that Vanja was cooking up a storm in our little 40° kitchen as we have a dinner party to get to tonight. We felt it would be nice to put a dinner on for Phillip’s family at the village since they were so nice and welcoming to us the other day. We moved our boats over to the other side of the lagoon in the early afternoon and anchored just off the village. When we arrived we got a nice game of casual volleyball going to work up an appetite. Dinner was of course delicious and afterwards we returned to the volleyball court for a few more rounds of fun.
Vanja whipped up a vegetable curry as well as her now famous fish curry and a truck load of rice. The other 2 boats did some pasta and pumpkin soup. The village went and caught some coconut crabs earlier in the day and cooked those up, so there was no shortage of delicious food.
Speaking of crabs, remember how we went on the crab hunt yesterday, well there are now 2 crabs at large, one somewhere on Family Circus and the other on ZigZag. They are quite the escape artists! Everyone is a little bit on edge about it, since Michael’s parting words were that you don’t want them to get away as they’ll find you in your bed in the middle of the night. Haha.
09/12/2019 Pihun Island, Ninigo Islands, Papua New Guinea
Yesterday we had a nice relaxing morning before heading to the village again for more volleyball. I guess we have found a nice way to spend some time with the locals. Shame I’m hopeless at it. Vanja holds here own though and even Lara has been playing with us. It’s been fun, though my body is not used to this particular set of movements, so I’m waking up soarer every day. Old man syndrome.
Anyway, around lunchtime we all set sail for Pihun Island in the Ninigo Group, which incidentally is where Philip’s family is from. Thanks to fate, we were all heading in that direction at the same time, so we gave them a lift. We had the pleasure of taking Stanley, his wife Mevelyn and son Newton. They were very nice passengers. Newton seemed to feel a bit seasick towards the end, but slept through it. Vanja played cards with Lara, Mevelyn and Stanley which sounded like fun.
After 5 hours we arrived in what would have to be the most dangerous entrance we’ve ever encountered. We had no maps and were relying solely on Stanley’s not so perfect memory on where the reef was and his little understanding of how deep we are in the water. At one point he told us to go straight over a light patch of sand and said it would be fine. Halfway across I looked at the depth sounder and it was reading 0cm below our keel. Yikes! Long story short though, we made it without wrecking our boat, yet again. Surely we’re going to run out of luck at some point.
Of course the passage wasn’t without issues, the saltwater pump caused our boat to fill with water again. Yep, my last infallible fix was in fact fallible. The 12mm hose I used broke open! And this hose is lined with a wire coil to improve strength. What the hell! Anyway, I emptied the boat yet again and put the old hose back on the smaller fitting, but tightened up the hose clamp with the ratchet. Hopefully this will work until I can get the right parts to fix it all properly.
Today we didn’t do much. We ventured into the village to check things out. The other reason we were coming to Pihun Island was because the school graduation is tomorrow and Philip invited us to come and have a look at the ceremony. When we went in today they were busy setting up the stage and shade stands. Back home we hire scaffolding companies to come and setup the supports, here they cut down some young branches from old trees and cut them to shape. It’s awesome to watch.
We then went and played some more volleyball, but I couldn’t play more than one game I was so tired and sore. After some swimming and playing at the beach we went back to the boat for a nice relaxing afternoon. The kids and I went to Family Circus for a bit of board game action before going to bed early to catch up on some sleep.
13/12/2019 Pihun Island Ninigo Islands, Papua New Guinea
We have all but wrapped up our time here at the Ninigo Islands. This is one of the highlights of many a cruiser’s journey through PNG and it certainly lived up to the hype. Day after day we spent lazing around the boat followed by an afternoon walk through the village where we would meet friendly face after friendly face, all wanting to say hello and help us in any way they can.
Lembke Philip, who we met at Heina island as Philip Lembke by mistake, has been hosting us daily letting us land our dinghies in front of his house and inviting us into his home for coffee and biscuits. Every day we would turn up there would already be a line of coconuts cleaned and ready for us to drink. They really have been the most hospitable people we’ve ever met. Constantly wanted to give us anything they have with no expectation of receiving anything in return. Of course we all offered many gifts which brought great smiles every time.
On our second day the village school put on a presentation day for the students and we were invited to attend. We were seated at the VIP table along with a couple of Chinese fish mongers trying to broker a deal of lobsters from the Island. The presentation was very nice and at the end our table was suddenly swamped with bowls, dishes, pots and containers full of food. Apparently it was for us! Some plates and cutlery materialised out of nowhere and after we finished eating they were swept away by a few friendly faces. It really was VIP treatment. We all brought a cake on request and the plates they were on were all returned to us as clean as a whistle.
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows though of course. We met a woman who is severely disabled by diabetes. Here foot has very large open wounds with all toes being lost to gangrene. It was awful to see, but at the same time it was amazing to see how her family all worked together to keep her in high spirits. They were taking very good care of the wounds in the most hygienic way, using gloves and dressing it twice a day, which is not something we’re used to seeing in the Islands. The worst part of it was that they couldn’t take her to hospital as it costs $K4000 for the two way journey. Imagine that!
Anyway, after an amazing few days we said goodbye for the second time tonight as we were going to leave today but decided not to for various reasons. Yesterday when we said goodbye the village choir came together to sing us a farewell song. It was beautifully sung with all the different harmonies going on, it almost brought a tear to my eye… almost.
So tomorrow we’ll leave for Vanimo, our final destination in PNG where we’ll check out of this amazingly diverse and wonderful country. The plan is to spend as little time in Vanimo as possible as it has a bit of a reputation for piracy. We do unfortunately have to get our Indonesian visa though, so there is a possibility for delays. If we do have to spend the night, at least we are a 4 boat flotilla. If the anchorage suits we may even try rafting up together for an even more imposing presence. Hopefully it’s all just hype and it turns out to be a lovely place, just like Kokopo.