Approaching Vanimo on the mainland we’re full of apprehension – a bit like Manus Island, it has a bad reputation amongst yachties. In the last few years there’ve been several reports of boats being boarded and robbed at night. If we didn’t need to get our Indonesian visas here we’d be giving it a big miss, but we have no choice. So our plan is to get in and out in the same day if possible to avoid an overnight stay. It feels akin to riding into Dodge City to face the outlaws.

Continue reading “Dodge City – Vanimo, PNG”

We’ve heard a lot about Longan Island from other cruisers, and it sounds like a great place to share the last of our trading goods.  I’m also keen to distribute more of the ‘Days for Girls’ kits to the school there.  Longan Island is on the north side of the lagoon, about 4 hours away from Mal.  There’s a south-easterly blowing so we unfurl the jib and have an easy sail across.  But we also realise that the anchorage at Longan isn’t going to be comfortable in a southerly breeze, so instead late in the afternoon we drop anchor off the north side of uninhabited Hotum Island. I have a feeling it’s going to be a very social time at Longan so we’re looking forward to a quiet day of snorkelling and relaxing at Hotum tomorrow.

Continue reading “It Takes A Village – Longan Island, Ninigos Pt 3”

Our first week in the Ninigo Islands is a necessarily quiet one to allow Bruce time to recover from his bout of malaria – it’s left him with very little energy and some aching joints.

Continue reading “Recovery Mode – Mal Island, Ninigos Pt 2”

Many people assume that a cruiser’s worst fears are facing big storms or pirates. To my mind they’re always possible, but probably unlikely if you take sensible steps to minimise the risk. No, my biggest fear is something happening to Bruce through misadventure or illness, particularly if we’re in a remote area with little help at hand. And now here we are in the Ninigo Islands, possibly the remotest place we’ve ever been, 200NM from the mainland with no airport, ferry service or hospital and I’m having to face my fears.

Continue reading “Shakin’ All Over – Ninigo Islands Pt 1”

After the deer-hunting episode on Akib, we decided to move somewhere a little quieter. I was keen to visit Leabon Island, known locally as ’Bird Island’, down on the southern reef. The weather was sunny and the wind not too strong, so off we went, only to be hit by a massive squall halfway there. The rain was torrential and we couldn’t see more than 20 metres in front of us. So for an hour we did circles in the open water of the lagoon until it cleared enough for us to pick our way through the bommies to Bird island. It’s a tiny island packed with thousands of nesting seabirds, but by now the wind had picked up to a fresh south-easterly and being anchored downwind of the island….. we also got the pungent smell of a thousand seabirds. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea of mine…. 

Continue reading “Night Moves – Passage to Ninigo Islands”

Those of you who know us well will be thinking ‘that’s a typo, surely she means Beer and Cocktails’  but no, it’s correct – this little tale from the Hermit Islands is about four-legged deer of the Bambi variety and some unusual cocktails. 

Continue reading “Deer & Cocktails – Hermit Islands Pt 2”