October Part 2
15/10/2019 Punawan Island, Louisiades, Papau New Guinea
The last couple of days have been much of the same really. It's amazing how quickly you can settle into a new routine when required. We basically get up in the morning and wake up. Then we do some sort of activity in the morning before the heat builds up, then we have lunch and lounge around escaping the heat until around 3, when we have a little energy again, go do some other activity until it gets dark and we are too scared to swim incase sharks come around looking for us.
Yesterday morning we explored the island a little more, finding a path that leads to an empty well, passing a solitude grave. I know, weird. On top of that, there were these huge spider web formations all over the place. Remember that movie Arachnophobia, at the start where they come across those spectacularly freaky spider webs in South America somewhere? Well it was just like that. And after I pointed them out to Vanja we left the area pretty quickly.
After that I decided to take my speargun out for a spin to see if I could catch something to eat for lunch. The nice thing about a speargun is that you decide what you catch (if you can shoot straight). It's not a lottery like other forms of fishing. That said, it helps to know what you should catch. We have a pretty good fish guide that we bought in Cairns, but unfortunately it doesn't really translate to the PNG reef fish that well. I mean, there are fish down there that vaguely resemble the fish in the guide, but not quite. And there is this thing called ciguatera toxin that some reef fish can have that also play a part in what fish you should eat. Unfortunately the guide doesn't say anything about that. Anyway, the basic rule is to catch something less that 2.7kg. I have no idea what that weight means in terms of fish size, so I just thought I would stay on the safe side and catch something small, maybe about the size of my shoe.
It turns out that spearfishing is harder than it looks! First of all you have to arm the spear. This involves pulling the thing into your gut as hard as you can, all the while trying not to puncture your gut or breathing in a lung full of water, then you have to find the fish, then dive down deep on one breath of air, casually swim up to the fish in an unsuspecting manner getting close enough to be able to shoot the poor thing with a spear that shoots anywhere but straight. Long story short I got a fish after oh so many attempts, cooked it on the BBQ, and it was Ok. Not great, but Ok. And no one got ciguatera poisoning. That's a win. There was one mishap with the spear when I accidentally scraped it along my scalp leaving a nice bloody gash. That's a fail.
The afternoon snorkel proved pretty nice for Vanja as she found 3 huge cuttlefish and a shark, no doubt attracted to blood dripping from my head.
Today was a bit of a work day, though it wasn't meant to be. It was only meant to take 30 minutes to an hour max, but as things tend to do on boats it took most of the morning. I bought these nice dinghy wheels back in Airlie Beach which have been lying around in the cockpit ever since taking up valuable space. Anyway, after rowing back and forth to the beach 5 times, breaking 2 of my good drill bits, being watched intensely by the local fishermen at a very close distance, trading for a spanish mackerel, not having the correct tools for the job and just general incompetence, it's now 90% done.
The rest of the day was nice though, we cooked the mackerel on the BBQ and had a nice salad for lunch and then lazed around on the boat until the afternoon where we went for a swim to check out the giant cuttle fish. Only one of them was there and it scared the hell out of me when I was diving down deep on the coral head. It jumped out of the shadows at me as I swam up to it, not seeing it. This is of course because it had camouflaged itself against the coral behind it. Amazing! Lara and I just snorkelled above it watching it change colours as it moved. What an incredible animal.
16/10/2019 Panasia Island, Louisiades, Papua New Guinea
What a day today. We decided to leave our perfect little island in search for something new. A couple of cruising boats that came before us all recommended and an island called Panasia for it's rugged beauty. We checked the charts and estimated a 5 hour journey slightly into head winds, so we got up nice and early this morning to take off. Unfortunately as soon as we got out of the lee of the island the wind was about 14kts and coming right from our destination, so we started a nice long tack out to sea into short choppy half metre waves. Basically our most uncomfortable point of sail.
About 6 hours later we arrived at the entrance to the lagoon. The only guide we have for the area is from a photocopied hand drawn map from 2003. The age isn't that important as reefs don't move much, but what complicated matters was the fact that the coordinates written in the map had to be wrong, as they landed directly on the reef according to all 3 of or separate digital maps, of which none provided a clear entrance. Oh well, we'll just have to go by sight. The problem with that was that we arrived later than expected due to the headwinds and now find ourselves pointing directly into the sunlight making coral bomb spotting practically impossible. Oh well, we'll just have to go by luck. Easy. Long story short, we made it and now find ourselves anchored in front of another stunning island straight from the set of some exotic movie where the director has to travel to 10 different countries before finding the perfect island to take the 10 minutes of footage.
As soon as we arrived John, the owner of the island, comes paddle boarding out to us on his homemade paddle board made from 3 large fenders he found floating on the reef. He comes on board and tells us a little about the island and that his island is host to many yachts and other vessels that come through this way. The Australian cruising rally that comes through in September, and some Australian kayaking club that kayak through the Louisiades in October. In fact they'll be here on Saturday. We might hang around here til then to meet them. He was really nice and welcoming and invited us to dinner tomorrow night for lobster and yams. We can't wait!
Of course the day wasn't perfect. After John left I desperately needed a swim to cool off and jumped in the water. The kids then wanted me to jump off the side of the boat with them a few times which I happily obliged. Well, I shouldn't have it turns out as the last time I jumped in I slipped and sliced my foot on something, opening it up like a can of diced tomatoes. Luckily for me Vanja is now a fully qualified first aider in remote locations. Though i don't think she got the qualification to save a couple of dollars. So with a bit of boiled water, a lot of betadine and plenty of bandages my foot is marginally better. I'll just have to rest up on the couch for a few days and have everything served to me on a platter. It's not all bad.
17/10/2019 Panasia Island, Louisiades, Papua New Guinea
Today was a nice day on the island for Vanja and the kids. I'm nursing my foot, so not all that exciting for me. Boohoo for me. Vanja took the kids for a walk along the cliff. This is the path the Islanders take when they want to go from one side of the island to the other. When I say cliff I really do mean cliff, there is no overstating it. I was on the boat enjoying some me time when I hear some hoots and hollering coming from outside. I look up the cliff and see a couple of Islanders hanging off the ledge seemingly dangling in mid air 50 metres above see level. I presumed that's where Vanja and the kids were and I must say I was terrified for them. It reminded me of a few cliff ledges Vanja and I scaled in our travels through Asia where I didn't fair too well.
We are getting the full Islander treatment lately with boats coming by wanting all kinds of goods and services. John came by with his 2 Grandsons today, one of which had an eye infection which he asked us for medicine to treat it. Lucky for him we stocked up big time before we left with all kinds of good stuff. Vanja grabbed the eye drops from the fridge and let John administer them. Rodney the poor kid, writhed in pain as the drops working their stinging magic. He didn't cry though which I thought was very different to our kids. We gave them both a biscuit as John and I settled into some negotiations for goods he wanted. He had his eye on some chisels that I brought just for this occasion. I brought 2 sets of 5 chisels thinking I would give one here and there all the way through the islands. Well he saw the inexperienced Dim Dim in me a mile away. He made me feel like he was doing me a favour by taking one whole set off my hands and that I was a very special man and he would give me something very nice for my generosity. A Bagi necklace is the going rate for 5 chisels. I am so new to this I still have no idea whether this is a good trade or not. The necklace is pretty amazing and I have read bits and pieces here and there about how they are used as currency, but really I have no idea.
Anyway, Vanja barely had the eye drops back in the fridge before another boat came along asking for eye drops for his niece. He offered us some ibecca, a bitter green leafed vegetable I rate very closely with kale, but more chewy. He also wanted clothes and fishing gear, but we didn't have any clothes so he only got fishing gear. So far this trading thing leaves me feeling like I'm ripping them off and somehow getting ripped off myself. I'm not sure I like it. By the time the day was out we had a kitchen stocked with eggs, bananas, paw paw, tomatoes and ibecca. Not a bad day at the shops.
We went to Johns for dinner just before sunset, though it was far different to any dinner party we've been to before. We were invited to sit in their "visitor's hut" which was very nice. John apologised for not having time to hunt a lobster, so instead his wife Gwen brought out some yams, bananas and pumpkin all cooked in coconut cream. We brought a big bowl of rice and a banana cake I made with the bananas overflowing in the kitchen. Once all the food was out we all closed our eyes while John said Grace. He then invited us to eat, but we were the only ones eating. John's wife, grandkids and mother in law sat outside and John sat nearby while we helped ourselves. We weren't really sure what else to do, so we just ate our meal and chatted with John. It was certainly different, but nice to have a peak into the lives of some of the people living here.
18/10/2019 Panasia Island, Louisiades, Papua New Guinea
We woke up today to another glorious day in the Islands. The weather doesn't seem to change much out here and that is fine with us. It's beautiful. Not sure how much wind is on the other side, but it is perfect here. After breakfast today Vanja rowed to shore to provide the eye drops for Rodney. John declared to here that he has decided to come with us to Brooker Island tomorrow. We never actually invited him, but I guess that is just how they ask for things out here. When she got back I dinghied her and the kids over to the fringing reek for a snorkel that John says is the best in the area. Acording to Vanja it certainly didn't disappoint. She and the kids found fields of antler coral along with many other healthy soft and hard corals. Plenty of she along with 4 giant cod or maybe grouper, she's not sure. I desperately wanted to be part of the action shoving my face into the water from the dinghy, but it was pretty hard to see anything other than what was directly below me so I gave up. In the end it was probably a good thing I had to stay in the dinghy as the current was huge and the anchor kept unsticking and threatening to drag over the pristine coral. So I ended up just paddling around next to them.
Vanja went to the beach 4 times today to give the eye drops to Rodney. She said it was looking better in the afternoon, so I guess that's good considering we're out of here tomorrow. I find it absolutely mind blowing that if it wasn't for us his eye would just keep getting worse until they had the means to get to Misima Island to get some medicine. Imagine that at home! Obviously I've had a little taste of it myself with my mangy toe, but we are carrying quite a bit of medical equipment on board, so I guess I'm not too worried. True, we don't know how to use most of it, but we have a couple of good field guides if it comes to that. As John said, "nothing a machete can't fix". He was talking about the roof of his hut, but I think it goes for most things.
We invited Jocelyn over for a swim and a play in the afternoon which she seemed to absolutely love. She was beaming as she followed Lara around looking at all the cool stuff we had onboard. After a quick snack and a swim on the mat and plenty of jumping off the boat we went for a dinghy ride around the other side of the mountain to find another village of 8 or 9 people. We made it to a beach hesitant to go much further as there were coral heads popping up all over the place. We landed the boat and jumped out. Vanja, Lara and Jocelyn went for a walk looking for the village. Jake and I hung out at the dinghy trying to communicate with a teenager and young boy who walked up from nowhere. They didn't speak any English and I'm yet to master one work of the Misima dialect, so we just sort of stood around looking at each other. I gave them some of our water which they enjoyed. Unfortunately Lara cut her foot on some rocks and had to come back before reaching the yet to be found entrance. When the others returned Lara found the beach littered with hermit crabs. She quickly picked up several to come show me with the 2 local kids finding Lara's excitement funny and grabbing handfuls themselves to give to her. When it was time to go all the locals eagerly helped us put the dinghy back in the water, determined not to let us do it on our own.
We sped back around to our side of the mountain with Jocelyn whooping and hollering in the dinghy staring up at Vanja sitting next to her. It was really nice to give her an experience she probably doesn't get very often even though it was nothing for us to do.
19/10/2019 Brooker (Utian) Island, Louisiades, Papua New Guinea
If I had to describe today in a couple of words they would be - culture shock. We got up early getting the boat ready for the trip to Brooker Island. It's called Utian on all the maps, but we haven't heard any locals referring to it by that name. Anyway we told John that we'd leave around 8am and he seemed happy with that. His son was supposed to be playing in the Island knockout soccer games, so he was hoping to catch that game.
So, after Vanja rowed in one more time to administer the eye drops, John declared that we will be leaving soon. So we set off at 9:30am after Jocelyn paddled him out on his makeshift SUP. As we headed towards the exit of the reef John showed us the mouth of a cave they use as the entrance leads. Its a shame we didn't know this beforehand as we came in through an entrance that doesn't exist. It was just blind luck that we didn't hit anything. All we had to go by was a couple of digital maps that were off by about 100m, and a hand drawn map that showed the correct entrance but we mistook it for the wrong one due to their incorrect coordinates. Oh well, what doesn't sink you makes you stronger.
The sail to Brooker was rougher than expected, though a lot faster as well as we had 18kts of wind directly on our beam. There was a 3kt current moving against the waves so they were much more ferocious than they should've been. John liked the look of one of my lures and asked if he could use it to catch a fish for his son on Brooker. I said sure, but this boat has yet to catch anything, but he assured me he would be able to catch one. I thought great, I'll be able to learn from some experience. But all he did was let the lure out just as I had all those times. Surprise surprise, there was no fish. I swear my equipment is cursed.
When we arrived at Brooker John helpfully led us through the entrance. He then asked if we could drop him off at the corner of the Island so he could check his other garden. I didn't really fancy getting in too close to the rocks, but he said no problem and jumped off the back about 30m out from land and swam to shore holding his bag out of the water.
We continued on to the anchorage just around the corner. As we came around the final bend the cheering and hollering started. Not for us of course, one of the soccer games had started and there was some excitement in the crowd. Through the roar of the crowd though we could hear a little troop of kids to the side of us yelling and waving at us. That was nice. We found a nice spot right in front of the game and dropped the anchor in 5 metres of reasonably clear water. Vanja and the kids jumped in for a swim and to check on the anchor. All good.
After we had a bite to eat we decided to hit the town to check out the games. We rowed the dinghy in not really knowing how the locals would respond. I was thinking maybe it would be rude to interrupt their community games, or that we would not be welcome as they have had a bunch of boats come through already. You know the usual negative thoughts brought on by fear of the unknown. But as we got closer a troop of children started running towards us already yelling out hello and smiling from ear to ear. It was really nice and a bit of an ice breaker. Once we got out of the dinghy though it felt like we were the first outsiders ever to arrive on the Island. The kids looked stunned. Some were pointing and commenting in their native tongue, others were smiling, but when you smiled directly back at them they'd run away squealing. One kid looked at Vanja like she was the devil when she looked at him in the eye and said hello. He turned and ran looking back over his shoulder to make sure we weren't chasing him.
It turns out we weren't the first boat to arrive this year, but the second. The other one was a boat that came by every year to donate goods they fundraise for back in Cairns. So, in some ways we probably were the first outsiders some of these kids had ever seen. It was so strange. Our kids were in shock to say the least. We were surrounded by 80 people, mainly kids, all staring, pointing and whispering. Thankfully a man named Joseph came forward out of the throng and introduced himself. We asked him if we could anchor in the bay and visit the Island and he said it was ok. He chaperoned us through the village and told us about the games being played and where we could go and sit and watch.
We met John at the netball court watching his daughter play. It felt good to see a familiar face in the crowd and he seemed to enjoy introducing us to some people. We then sat down on the hill to watch the games. The soccer field was unlike anything you could imagine. Only about 30% of the field was on flat ground while the rest went up the slope of the mountain. There was a humungous tree in one corner that the players played around and the Northern sideline was the water's edge. Clearly not regulation size or shape. That didn't matter though, the players were really good and the difficulty of the ground made the game just that little more interesting and fun to watch. I found it amazing how good the skills were coming from players who only ever play the same people week after week. The netball was no different. The court was mostly flat, but not rectangular at all, but the play was awesome.
It was hard to watch it all though as the eyes were all still on us and the kids were relentless in trying to get our attention. After a couple of hours we were all feeling a bit too overwhelmed and decided to head back to the boat to catch our breath. Within an hour though 5 boys had shown up on their makeshift rafts of logs and foam. We went out and spoke with them and Lara and Jake decided to go in for a swim. I let the mat out for which the local kids went crazy. They eventually got brave enough to come sit on the back step at which point I said it was ok and then Lara and Jake started jumping off the back like always and the kids just watched them intently until I asked them if they wanted to do it as well. They eagerly said yes and started climbing over each other to get to the jump site. It was hilarious.
After an hour of this though we were needing a bit of space again and asked them to go home which they happily obliged. They were fighting each other to help me cleanup which was pretty funny. By the end of the day we were all exhausted and just wanted a bit of normalcy so we put on a movie and made potato chips for dinner. Of course this was interrupted twice by locals wanting to trade goods, but we were almost used to that by now.
20/10/2019 Brooker Island, Louisiades, Papua New Guinea
We woke this morning not knowing how the day would unfold. One of our visitors last night told us that there was a church service today at 11am. We had also read from a previous cruiser that this was something to do on the island. Jake was not really up to going back to the island today, so I took Vanja and Lara into shore to attend. On our way in was another stark reminder of how different we were to the locals. As we were cruising along at a slow speed I noticed something moving in the water ahead of me. As we got closer I realised it was a turtle and blurted out "Turtle!". We all looked in surprise until we realised that the poor thing was tied on a long rope to a tree on shore keeping it from escape. Vanja was told by Merida (Vanja's friend from yesterday) that some of the people here eat turtle and they catch them from Punawan where they go to lay their eggs. I am trying not to pass judgement. I mean, have you seen the state of the dairy, poultry, beef and pork industries?
Anyway, while the girls were away at church Jake and I had more visitors. About 20 kids showed up on their logs to come and have a play again. Apparently word got out about our mat. Lotti and Roddy, the ring leaders, we eager to help release the mat and made it quite clear in sign language. Jake, still a bit shell shocked stayed inside while I sat outside reading with 20 kids jumping on and off the boat around me. I tried not to think of what I would do if someone had an accident, but it was hot on my mind given the state of my big toe. Thankfully not injuries were had and I asked everyone to leave and hour or so later when I knew it would be time to go pick up the girls. They were a bit more reluctant to leave today, with their growing confidence no doubt from their growing number of bodies. I managed to chase the last of the little rascals away just in time for Vanja and Lara were on the beach waiting for me.
Not long after lunch the swarm of kids returned for another play. Lara and Jake decided to join them again but were completely overwhelmed after not too long. Two girls showed up today which was nice as Lara tried to swim and communicate with them, but didn't having much luck unfortunately. Vanja traded some school supplies for a very nice shell they brought over. She also had a really nice interaction with the boys learning a few pleasantries in the local language to their great delight. They loved having to correct her spelling of the words.
A couple more visits from a few local canoes and that was the end of another thrilling day in the islands. This is probably our last night at Brooker before we leave for Panapompom in the morning.
21/10/2019 Nivani Island, Louisiades, Papua New Guinea
Well here we are at just another stunning island in the Louisiades. At least I think it's stunning, we haven't been able to see much as the rain has been coming down heavily with the wind at over 20kts most of the day.
We decided to leave Brooker today even though the forecast looks dodgy for the next couple of days. As soon as we got out from the lee of the Island the wind piped up to 23kts. We had a track leading us out of the reef so we weren't too worried, but with the weather the way it was the passage through the reef was looking scarier every minute. We made it out though and put up a sail for a very comfortable ride downwind with only the genoa in 15kts of wind.
As we arrived close to Deboyne Lagoon a huge squall came over us kicking the winds up to 20 kts and delivering rain in bucket loads. Because of my foot Vanja kindly agreed to go out in the rain and look out for bommies as we passed through the entrance to the lagoon. She was absolutely soaked through by the time we passed through. We then had to sail around a shoal patch before heading directly to our anchorage on a beam reach, which is alway fun.
The rain let up a little on the last run, but the light was still horrible. We debated whether to continue in as planned or return to safer waters to wait for better light. We decided to try our luck and with our fingers crossed along with my mangy toe we made it in and have be nicely anchored since. 30 minutes later a sailing canoe came close by to say hello and check us out. Then 2 small rowing canoes came by, Martin who wanted us to visit his hut on Panapompom to sign his guest book, and James who had his guest book with him and left it with us to sign. He also traded us a nice snapper for a few fishing hooks and some sinkers. It really is incredible how friendly everyone has been so far.
Just as James was waiting for me to get his hooks another squall came through kicking the wind up to over 30kts. It was a nice test for the anchor which didn't seem to budge. I have to say though, I do feel a little exposed here compared to the last few anchorages we have been. Hopefully that is the extent of the strong winds tonight.
22/10/2019 Nivani Island, Louisiades, Papua New Guinea
We had a really good day today, one which we'll surely think back on and be happy. The day started with a group of 3 kids paddling over to the boat from the Island to say hello. It's a fair paddle too, maybe 3-400m. They were in grade 4 they said and wanted to offer us some lemons (limes in fact, even better). They wanted some balls or games in return, so we gave them a couple of bouncy balls and some school supplies which brought lots of smiles and thankyou.
After breakfast we decided to go look for some history. We have on one of our maps a spot that marks a crash site of a WW2 Japanese Zero warplane. The map doesn't have coordinates so we just went out searching for it by site and luck. Turns out none of it helped. We dinghied around for about an hour looking in all the potential spots relating to where the map showed, but to no avail. Everyone eventually got tired of getting in and out of the dinghy to look so we decided to bugger it and just go snorkelling where the coral looked nice. While everyone but me was in the water having a good time, Martin, a local that popped over yesterday to say hello, paddled up in his dugout canoe for a chat. He asked us if had we found "the zero", and I told him we had no luck. He asked me if I wanted him to mark the site of the zero with a float for us, so I rigged one up with the spare dinghy anchor we have and he went and hooked it onto the plane. What a legend. Once everyone heard what was going on they all came back to the dinghy and we motored over to where Martin was. The kids and Vanja jumped in to find the plane in pretty good nick after 75 years or so. But the real attractions were all the clown fish that have found a home in all the sea anemones that have for some reason flourished in a WW2 relic.
Martin invited us over to his brother's house that afternoon so we could sign his guestbook and that is exactly what we did after lunch. We met his brother and nephew and all his relatives with their many kids. Everyone was extremely nice and welcoming. One man, who's name I forgot, showed us around his garden where they grow bananas, paw paws, yams, coconuts, betel nuts, mustard seeds and limes. He doesn't chew the betel nut himself, "It's bad for you, gives you cancer." he says. Fair enough. He was really nice, so nice in fact that he gave us a whole banana fruit as a gift! When we got back to the boat we hung the bananas in the cockpit and I thought "now the boat is finally complete".
23/10/2019 Nivani Island, Louisiades, Papua New Guinea
Another great day today at Nivani Island. We are actually anchored somewhere in between Nivani Island (uninhabited) and Panapompom (inhabited). Panapompom is home to some 5-600 people, most of which live on the North side of the Island. We are anchored off the South side which is home to about 6 families scattered along the coastline. It really is the perfect place to hang out for a few days as the residents are not so overwhelming as Brooker, and even more friendly.
Last night was a bit hectic with the many squalls that came over us. I woke up at one point thinking the boat was flying through the air it was so loud. The wind meter confirmed the highest wind of our trip so far, ticking over to 37.6kts. Thankfully we have already had a good test of the anchor with 30kts on our first night so I wasn't too concerned, plus the anchor alarm showed us sitting tight. I just went back to sleep.
Yesterday Martin invited us to go visit the Island's primary school with him and pencilled in a plan to come get us in the morning. He rocked up at 8:30 in his canoe with his usual wide semi-toothless smile. We invited him onboard for coffee and banana bread. Yes, banana bread is becoming an absolute staple onboard. He brought some passionfruit and a huge pumpkin to trade and we got the details of life on the Island. He is the ward of this Island meaning he is in control of the money that the government allocates. It seems there is very little and he or the committee member is constantly having to go to Alotou to argue their case for more of everything.
After our chat we all went to the Island in the dinghy to go check out the school. When we got out of the dingy Martin asked where were our shoes? We have been so used to not needing them we just didn't think about it, plus we all thought the school was one of the huts along the beach. Wrong. The school is in the middle of the island Martin pointed out. Well, everyone else had some sort of footwear, thongs or reef shoes to wear, but for some reason I was the only one with nothing in the boat. Oh well, this will test the big sliced toe.
The walk into the jungle was reasonably easy, the only difficulty was the fact that all these squalls dumped a huge amount of water on the island and now all the paths were flooding. As we walked along it reminded me of the crocodile park we went to in Cairns and I asked Martin if there were any crocs in the area. He said yes, very matter of factly. Like if someone asked you if there were birds in the park over the road. 10 seconds later Vanja asked Martin the same question not hearing our conversation. Clearly the place oozed crocodile pheromones. Vanja was a little unsure of whether Martin was joking, but later speaking to another local she was told that just last week a pig was taken from the beach right where our dinghy was parked. But don't worry she said, they only come at dawn. That's a relief.
We arrived at the school after a very nice 10 minute walk through some lovely jungle scenery. The principal of the school, Ishmail, came out to meet us and say hello. Unfortunately the school was closed for the day due to the previous night's weather. A bit of a bummer as it would've been cool to see all the kids in there, but at least it meant we could have a nice chat with the principal. He said the school system is 100% subsidised by the government as of 2 years ago, but there is an election next year and he thinks that it will drop to 50%. Attendance will probably drop the same amount he said. Ishmail took us on a tour through the 2 classrooms (grade 4 & 5) they have which were very nice. Just as you imagine a well run, but poor tropical island school classroom to be. Thatched hut roof with bamboo window frames, a scattering of handmade desks and benches made from pieces of timber all sitting on a sand/coral floor. A nice big blackboard at the front and kids pictures and posters hung up all around on the walls. No aircon though.
Anyway we had a really nice morning with Martin. After the school we went back to his place so that I could have a look at his solar regulator to see why it wasn't working. It turned out he didn't have a solar regulator. Instead, his nephew was using a small piece of wood as a resistor to dampen the voltage being sent to his battery. Classic. Of course, I couldn't really help him. I just measured his solar panel and various batteries and told him which were still good and which weren't. I was pretty disappointed that I couldn't do anything to help, but that is something I'm having to live with on this trip.
The rest of the day was spent trading with locals and tidying up the boat after all the rain. Tomorrow is meant to be games day on the island. We're all a little wary after our last games day experience, but I'm hoping that we've settled in a little now and can handle the mass of people a little better. We'll see.
24/10/2019 Nivani Island, Louisiades, Papua New Guinea
I had a nice plan laid out today to do a few boat projects before the day got too hot. I needed to fix 2 leaks made obvious over the last 2 squally nights, and I need to make water and run the generator for an hour or so to top up the bank. Well all those projects were put on hold when Martin was dropped off by his "friends" to be picked up again "in a while" when they return from the North side of Panapompom. Oh well, I guess we have a visitor today. I was a bit annoyed at first, being held hostage by Martin, but it was actually really nice to have him on board again. He is so friendly and sweet and to see his reaction when we invited him inside the boat to have a look around was priceless. He then sat with us at the table and enjoyed watching Vanja and I try to "homeschool" the kids.
We had 3 more canoes rock up in the morning giving us vegetables and fruits for various items in return. I don't know why we ever stressed about not having fresh fruits and veges on this leg of the journey. We are literally overflowing with them since we are so bad at saying no. I was busy inside the boat with the kids' schooling when I look outside and there were 5 people in the cockpit - Vanja, Martin, 2 women and 2 yr old. I finished up and joined them. It was really nice to have a group of locals on board as everyone seemed to loosen up a bit, joking amongst themselves. I think everyone might be a bit envious of Martin and his welcoming ways and they aren't afraid to let him know. The women were cracking jokes all at Martin's expense. He seemed to enjoy it though, so we laughed along with them.
After a few hours of Martin looking over his shoulder to see if his "friends" were coming back I offered to take him back home in the dinghy. At first he said no, but as time went on he decided to accept my offer. His main reason for coming was to ask if I could fix the compass belonging to his friends. I have no idea how to fix a compass, it is almost exactly 90° out. I almost told to him to just tell them to think of the E as South. But thought better of that stupidity before I said it. Anyway, he said that if I could get it fixed along the way and send it back to him that would be great. Well, if anyone knows how to fix a compass, please let me in on it.
The rest of the day was spent trading with canoes and washing of sheets and clothes, since we had 2 big buckets full of fresh water from all the rain. It's amazing how long and how much energy simple tasks like that take, especially when we know how easy it is back home.
We had a late in the day trader rock up with 3 freshly caught fish. We chose the nice big coral trout and gave him a pair of Vanja's old exercise shorts, one of my cool t-shirts, a toothbrush, some toothpaste and some soap. Bargain! I cooked the fish with some garlic and oil and roasted some yams we traded earlier while Vanja pan fried some greens we got yesterday. Another satisfying day with a delicious end.