The smell of wood fires. A cock crowing. In the distance the sound of children playing and a dog barking. Reggae music wafts from the village. Nearby a turtle pops his head up from the aquamarine water and little silver fish skitter and flash across the surface.  This is tropical island life. It could be any one of a number of islands in the south pacific, but these are the Hermit Islands, 140NM WNW of Manus Island and just one and a half degrees south of the equator.

Continue reading “Mantas & Mangoes – Hermit Islands Pt 1”

Manus Island. (pronounced “Man-oos” by the locals). The words are loaded with preconceptions. Immediately the detention centre springs to mind, the accounts of violence and brutality, the harshness and inhumanity of the place. We’ve also read accounts from yachts who’ve visited here in the past and they don’t make for reassuring reading – yachts being boarded, violence and theft, corrupt officials, a general sense of lawlessness.

Continue reading “Reflections on Manus Island”

Our general rule for night watches is simple. No-one goes on deck without first waking up the off-watch person. It’s our safety policy to ensure that the off-watch person can get a good sleep safe in the knowledge that the other one hasn’t slipped overboard in the dead of night.  But tonight on my watch I’m sitting perched on the bow seat, with PFD (life jacket) and tether, torch in hand, scanning the water ahead. The half-moon is obscured by clouds so there’s a tiny glimmer of light on the water but not much. I’ve been here for two hours and have one more to go, and my eyes are starting to play tricks on me.  This is definitely not our normal night watch routine so what’s going on?

Continue reading “Night Watch”

From Kokopo we motor across the channel for a couple of hours to the Duke of York islands. There are 13 islands in this group, all low-lying coral atolls.  Apparently in 2000 many of the inhabitants were re-located to the surrounding larger islands of New Britain and New Ireland due to fears of rising sea-levels, but there’s still a thriving community here and it’s a popular spot for day-trips from Kokopo.

Continue reading “Dukes & Dugongs – The Duke of York Islands”

Every time I type the word Kokopo, my autocorrect changes it to Kokomo. 

Remember the Beach Boys song “Kokomo”? 

“Off the Florida Keys, there’s a place called Kokomo

That’s where you want to go to get away from it all

Bodies in the sand, tropical drink melting in your hand

We’ll be falling in love to the rhythm of a steel drum band

Down in Kokomo”

Continue reading “Kicking Back In Kokopo”

We weren’t intending to stay this long in Rabaul, and some uncharitable people might say it’s 11 days too long, but for the most part we’ve enjoyed our time here.

Continue reading “Twelve Days in Rabaul”