Rabaul/Kokopo

09/11/2019 Rabaul, New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea

We decided to have a bit of a treat today. We’ve been struggling a little in this heat, and the fact that you can’t swim here due to the film of diesel on the surface of the water. It’s so bad sometimes you can smell it. Anyway we’ve been told that Rabaul Hotel, just down the road has a pool, and a restaurant. We haven’t had a meal out since leaving Cairns, if you exclude the dinner at the RYC that is. Well I thought why not go for lunch and have a swim.

It turned out to be a Chinese restaurant that was actually pretty good, if not a little expensive. The pool was a bit on the bacterial side, but it did the job. Just ensure to keep your mouth closed while swimming. Whenever any of the kids would jump around, these foamy bubbles would come to the surface, sort of like soap suds. I wonder if that’s what they use to keep it “clean”.

There was another family in the pool, which we didn’t really talk to other than the usual hello and nod. When we left though (at the same time), they invited us to hop in the back of their truck for a lift home. It was really nice of them as it was out of their way and we didn’t really feel like walking home in the heat.

When we got back we went to the RYC to use their internet, since of course we are paying for it. We downloaded some more maps for our future travels, some audible books and Vanja caught everyone up on social media. Unfortunately we didn’t get to finish as a Westerly was working itself up in the bay and apparently that is the only wind on this side of Rabaul Harbour that causes any grief. I did get a chance though to organise a tour for Monday with Max the owner of a big 4WD with aircon and comfy seats. Can’t wait.

Back at the boat we whipped up some sushi for dinner using the dried fish and avo Vanja bought at the market. It’s so good to have avocados again!

10/11/2019, Rabaul, New Britain, Papua New Guinea

We really didn’t do much today. We managed to go to town to pick up a few fresh goods from the market and have an ice cream. That’s it. Oh, we did try and go to the museum, but since it was Sunday (duh), it was closed.

11/11/2019 Kokopo, New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea

Right, that’s it. We’ve had it with this city and it’s claimed sites of interest, our tour was cancelled! Last night I messages Rod to find out what time Dorothy, his partner would be taking us. He got back to me with some lame excuse like, she had other commitments. Well we’re leaving. Of yeah, the RYC has a bag of our laundry. Damn.

I went in to see when it would be ready. She said it should be done by the afternoon. We dropped it off Friday morning. PNG time is a killer. Anyway, we really wanted to get out of here so I asked her if we could just get it back and we’ll do it at home. Of course she says. The lady will drop it down now. 30 minutes later a communal bus arrives with 2 ladies jumping out, one of which is holding our back of washing and it is dripping like mad. They must have been right in the middle of washing it when I came. Oh well, we’ll just hang it on the boat. That was a nice waste of $K20, not to mention the $K50 we ended up paying for the club “facilities”.

When I got back we got the boat ready and motored towards Kokopo. We thought we’d have a look over there to see if it was any better than the RYC, plus we have to checkout with customs. Oh man, what have we been doing for so long in that diesel infested bay at the RYC!? The water over this side is crystal clear with tons of coral right under the boat! There is also a very nice resort right at our fingertips, not that we will use it, but it looks so much nicer than the RYC.

Another boat, Family Circus, was coming in at the same time as us from the Solomons. We got to chatting and we let them know the details on checking in. Since we had to checkout with customs, we all hopped in a PMV (Public Motor Vehicle, or communal bus as I like to call them) together to go to town. I also grabbed the parcel from the post office that magically arrived ahead of schedule. $K70 in duty fees for that little package. Note to self, must deliver to “Yacht in Transit” for less duty. Once all that was done we hit the market for a quick flour banana sausage and a few veges before heading back to the boat for a movie night.

13/11/2019 Kokopo, New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea

I think I can finally say that we are on holidays. The last few of days have been superb. We haven’t really done much, but it’s all been really good. Yesterday we went snorkelling in some of the nicest coral we’ve seen in probably the clearest water so far on the trip. We were meant to be going to swim with dolphins, long story, but we never saw them, so instead we just dropped the anchor and jumped in.

Back at the boat we just lazed around doing some minor chores, then another afternoon swim around the boat with the kids before going over to Family Circus for dinner. Chris, the owner, caught a massive tuna on the way here and cooked up a huge piece of it on the BBQ. We brought our now signature potato dish and we all had a nice time.

And today was no slouch either. We went looking for the dolphins again to no avail, so we just went snorkelling again. Then we hit the town to visit the museum here which was awesome. The entry was $K10 for Vanja and I and the kids were free. The grounds were littered with WW2 artefacts such as artillery cannons, torpedoes, anti-tank guns, fighter engines, etc. etc. It was amazing, and all just out and about! We went into one room which had some pretty cool stuff in there like the frame of a destroyed Japanese Zero, like the one we dove at Panapompom, as well as a bunch of old guns and radios, again just out and about for anyone to pick up and have a good go. I found Jake wielding an 80 yr old machete around at one point, before I asked him to please put it back.

Back at the boat we went for another snorkel and made fish and chips for dinner. Another great day.

14/11/2019 Kokopo, New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea

Holidays are over, well not really, but I did do some actual work today. I changed the oil in the starboard engine which was absolutely gruelling in the heat and humidity. I’m not sure it was such a good idea as I’m pretty sure I would’ve leaked a litre of sweat into the oil.

After that I noticed that the bilge was full of water, and not just a little either, it was almost up to the floor boards. After a bit of flood cleanup I had a look around to see what the cause could be. It was pretty clear that the new hose I installed on the salt water pump was dripping. I was just replacing like for like, but when I took the hose off now it is about 1mm too big for the hose tail, so no wonder it’s leaking. After a bit of brain storming with myself I came up with a solution that just uses a lot of that plumbers tape to thicken the tail. Genius.

Then it was onto the port engine whose oil sensor is broken. Should be just a simple replacement with the new part my Mum and Dad sent me right? No. The electrical connection for the current one is different to this one of course. Well, after deep diving up to my neck in the pile of electrical spares I have, this has to be the one and only connector that I don’t have. No matter, using 3 other connectors and a piece of new wire it’s all working as if done by a professional, for now.

15/11/2019 Kokopo, New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea

After overstaying our welcome by 4 days we were finally going to leave today, when Chris from Family Circus popped over and asked if one of us wanted to go diving with them this morning. Hell yes! Vanja wasn’t so keen given her lack of diving in the last 10yrs, so I stepped up to the plate, with my lack of diving in the last 10yrs. I quickly got ready and Vanja zipped me over.

The plan was to dinghy over to Little Pigeon Island for a wreck at about 18m, with a nice drop off on the other side down to 40m. When we arrived the water was absolutely beautiful, warm and clear. What more could you ask for. We saddled up and jumped in. I was a bit nervous going down, but once I found my rhythm it all came back to me and turned out to be one of the better dives I’ve ever done.

The wreck itself was not all that interesting as it was just a trawler or something. I think we were all hoping for a WW2 wreck. But anyway, it was still beautiful as the coral was so healthy and vibrant all over it. After spending a good 10-15 minutes at the wreck we slid slowly down the wall where the coral was absolutely stunning. I’ve never seen it so healthy or colourful. It was amazing. We hung out on the wall for another 10 minutes at about 30m depth before heading back to the wreck to finish off our air at a relatively benign depth of 18m.

When I got back I couldn’t stop talking about how cool it was to just jump off the back of your boat and go for a dive in a little known spot away from the tourist dives. I can see dive gear in our future ;)

After that stellar start to the day the rest was pretty mundane. We hitchhiked into town for some beer stocks and last minute fresh food before leaving tomorrow. When we got back to the boat Jake asked if we could have pizza for dinner. Back on land this is a relatively easy dinner to make. Make the dough, let sit, then roll out a couple of pizzas and throw them in the oven. Easy. Well, boat pizza is just as tasty, but it takes 4 times as long. We cook it in our little BBQ, but it’s only big enough for one person’s pizza at a time. Plus you need to heat it up for 30 minutes before the first one will cook properly, which I always forget, and we only have one pizza tray to cook on. So, long story short, I got to eat my pizza just before the movie finished. It was delicious.