More of the Solomons and Papua New Guinea

For the Photo Album go to: South Pacific-Philippines 

January 5th, 2006

Yesterday I crossed the equator once again on my way from Papua New Guinea to Palau. This morning I thought that I finally had caught the N.E. Trade winds again. After three days of very little wind and much motoring in the transition zone to the equator.

I am sailing under my 1 1/2 oz. spinnaker after destroying the 3/4 oz. earlier this morning in a squall.

I am reading the bible at Ecclesiastes: "A chasing after the wind". Here I am, trying to find that wisp of wind. Don Quixote with his iron horse and his spinnaker pole for a lance.

My previous report was posted from Honiara, the capital city of the Solomon Islands. I ended up staying there three weeks, waiting for a package from home. But it was a good place to hang out, at the Santa Cruz Yacht Club.

This was the place where all the yachties and all the local ex-pats gather. I met many very interesting people. Supposedly you fit one of three categories of the 3 M's. Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits. There was Norbert an Austrian-Australian who had worked for the CIA during the Vietnam war. Don, an other Australian who was air dropped  by the Americans, in Laos to eliminate Pol Pot. The mission went wrong. One of the men was killed by enemy fire when his chute got hung up in a tree. After 17 days, he and 6 of his buddies made it back out of Laos. There was a German Aussie at the club who had traded gold between Vietnam and India during the Indochina war. The French caught him in Hanoi without proper papers and gave him a choice: Jail or the Foreign Legion. He ended up in the battle of Dienbienphu. There were also several very enterprising back packing ladies. Erika, a 60 plus  from Key West. Erika was born in Hungary and escaped in the fifties with her parents to Argentina. Pia from Berlin, who on a whim ended up in Bangkok on a 65 Euro one way ticket and her back pack. She slept in Dayak long houses in Sarawak. They managed to find a berth on different yachts for an undetermined destination and time. The beer was cold and the food was excellent at the club. A 6 men Russian crew of a Taiwan owned Panama registered fish freezer had me join them and swear that I'd visit Vladivostok after they poured the vodka and "Sol" beer. The yacht club had showers and  a washing machine. I was able to anchor just a few boat lengths from the club. My French friends from Sola, Banks Islands, Julio and Christelle were already in Honiara and they had sailed up with several other French boats from New Caledonia.

The club had a very active junior sailing program in Optimist dinghies. There was a Friday evening dance and other entertainments. They also had a traditional dance group perform.

I took a nasty fall off a concrete wall and scraped my left shin badly. It got infected. Which is hard to avoid in the tropics. I made many visits to the local hospital to have the dressings changed. The staff and patients were just extremely kind and helpful.

The island of Guadalcanal, of which Honiara is the main city, was a pivotal battle ground in the second world war against the Japanese. I visited the war memorial which is on the hills just above the city. See my photo album for the impressive memories of this period. Americans still have lots of good will left here from that heroic sacrifice.

Honiara was definitely one of the highlights of my stops in the Pacific. And the  Santa Cruz Y.C.  was a very accommodating and hospitable spot.

But it was time to move on. I had heard much about Ghizo and several of the French boats were planning to spend Christmas there.

I left on December 2nd.  On the 4th I spent the night at anchor in Raro Bay, on Tetepare Island. 08.42. S 157.32 E. This was in front of the mouth of a river and relatively shallow. The rest of the shore was steep and deep. This happens to be the case in much of the Solomons and PNG.

I arrived in Ghizo on the morning of the 6th of December. This is the furthest western port in the Solomons to check out from, on the way to Papua New Guinea. There was an Italian boat sitting out the hurricane season. To my surprise the skipper, Lucio Oman, is the son of a longtime Italian lumber customer of mine, from Modena. "Elektra" carried the Dutch ensign and the Frisian flag and hailing from my hometown, Amsterdam.. I pulled my " Goede Morgen" on them, sailing by. That is always good for some questions. "What is a Yank doing in here, speaking our language?" They are Ans and Gerrit. He was born in Franeker, Friesland. They have been cruising the South Pacific for several years. He used to run a "brown" cafe in Groningen. She produced movies for the television.

"Blaatur" came in from Honiara a couple days after me. This Norwegian boat is owned by a couple of Oslo cops. "Blaatur" means "blue trip". Standing for the blue flashing lights, the blue Pacific. They have a website at http://www.blaatur.net/

One of the French boats was here already, "Archibald", with Pierre, Veronique and their three young children, Maia, Leo and Felix.

I had met Veronique, Felix and Maia in Honiara. I enjoyed their company very much. They were awaiting the other French boats that were taking their time getting to Ghizo. They will follow my path to the Philippines.

The town of Ghizo was compact. The Ghizo hotel was the gathering point. There you could sit with a cold one on the first-floor veranda bar and watch all of Ghizo pass by.

There was a theft problem in Ghizo. "Archibald" had their outboard stolen as well as some boat equipment, clothes etc.

The town is small and there are few places to hide. The outboard was eventually recovered. The thieves were apparently teenagers from the part of town I was anchored next to. Sort of the wrong side of the tracks. Houses/shacks on stilts built over shallow water.

One evening a man from this part of town came to call on me. I mentioned the theft problem. After a silence he confessed that he was the father of the two thieves. The older was in jail. Their mother was Gilbertese, he mentioned as sort of an excuse. He was embarrassed and admitted his paternal failings. My heart went out to him. Not at all that different from our society.

"Blaatur" had set up a booby trap alarm in their cockpit. And when we came back from dinner it was still going on.

This was the closest I came to problems with theft or violence. PNG has a bad reputation. In Buka they kept a cruiser couple hostage

for 24 hours, last year. In Rabaul there are security guards everywhere. And there were reports of muggings and murder. And you just don't leave your boat after dark. But, knock on ("Fleet"-) wood I have not had any problems anywhere.

I checked out with customs. Never was able to find an immigration officer. And left Ghizo on Saturday the 10th of December.

I headed for the town of Kieta on the North side of Bougainville Island. Both cruising guides gave this as a Papua New Guinea port of entry.  But that turned out to be incorrect. Bougainville Island fought for independence from PNG till 1992. It devastated the towns and economy. The island is rich in gold and other minerals and timber. In the end they ended up with some autonomy within PNG. Kieta used to be the main town on the island. Now Buka, off to the west of Bougainville on Buka Island has become the province seat. If I had known this, I would have gone up the southern coast of Bougainville. I anchored on the 11th off Obean Island in 15 feet at 6.51.213 S 154.11 E. There was a lot of current. This turned out to be with me for all of Bougainville. The following night I anchored off Otua island. These are still Solomon Islands but very close to the Bougainville shore. My spot was at 6.27.412 S and 155.60 East. It was in fairly shallow water near the reefs of the south coast of the island. I did not get a good set, with the current. And I later on found that I had a problem getting the engine in reverse. As the result of a strong squall, I drifted during the night to deeper water.

I arrived in Kieta on the 13th and anchored right in front of the Catholic church compound. at 6.13 S 155.39 E. This was a good anchorage, close to shore. It was the former Kieta Cathedral church. The outbuildings, the rectory and the sister's house had been burnt down during the "crisis". And much of the interior of the church had been gutted. There was a youth camp taking place and I attended a church service with them that morning. They were very kind to me. The next day they sent me off with papayas and other fruits and vegetables. There were no banks and I had not been able to obtain PNG money. There was no customs in Kieta and a hitch hiking trip to the next bigger town, Arawa, about 10 miles away, did not help me either.

Buka did have a customs office. But I was never able to find anyone in it. I arrived there on Friday. Buka is on a deep channel with a very swift running tide. I anchored off the island of Sohana. It still had a strong current. Buka was not much of a town. I could not change money at the local bank nor use my ATM card. I managed to obtain some cash on my VISA bill for food at the local hotel. I attended mass on Sunday the 18th of December, the last Sunday of advent, on the small island of Sohana. I had some problems with drunk youths bothering me in the middle of the night. I headed out that Sunday afternoon and arrived, without stopping anywhere, at Rabaul on the 20th. I anchored in front of the old Rabaul Yacht Club. There was one more American boat, "Morgana", a Morgan ketch. And the boat that I had rafted on to in Pago Pago, "Contessa". She had an entire new crew. There were still mechanical problems. They are on their way to deliver the boat to Thailand, where the owner resides. "Morgana" left the next day with their Australian skipper and an American crew couple from Montana. They are on their way to Hong Kong. I should see them in Palau, once again.

Rabaul was still covered in a thick layer of volcanic ash from the last Volcanic outbreak. Pummice was floating all over the bay like dried dog turts. Rabaul was not a very pretty place. The main businesses and government offices have moved to Kokobo, 10 miles down the bay.

The Yacht Club had also been damaged in the ash rain. It had a rather small membership attendance. Not anywhere near the activity of the Point Cruz Y.C. in Honiara. I spent the first day in Kokobo. It is a pleasant town, spread out with lots of green spaces. On Christmas eve I attended mass at the local Cathedral. They had a men and women traditional dance group who danced in with the entrance processional. And later on they again danced at the bringing up of the offerings and at the recessional. Complete with leave skirts, head gear and ornaments. 

I had arrived in Rabaul at night and now, on the way out, I was able to see the awesome sight of the lava flow from the volcano into the bay. There was very little wind and I spent two nights on the water on my way to Kavieng. My two Autohelm automatic pilots are broken and this makes it very hard to get any sleep, unless I am under sail with the wind vane steering.

The part going through Albatross Channel was very impressive. Sailing close to the two mangrove shores. This channel is between New Hannover Island and New Ireland Island, on which far N.W. tip Kavieng is located.

Kavieng is a very pleasant place to visit. The town is spread out with lots of green spaces. I anchored in front of the Malanga Beach Resort. at 2.34.416 S 150.47.400 E The resort was very attractive, under the trees on the beach. It has an excellent bar and restaurant. The town has decent shopping facilities. Kavieng is on a fairly flat peninsula and you do not get the build up of the thunder clouds that you do in places like Honiara and Rabaul which have high mountains surrounding them. The customs gal was extremely helpful and efficient, compared to my poor experiences in Buka and Rabaul. There were no costs for any of the checking in and out procedures in PNG. In most countries now this can add up into the hundred dollars, plus. I had arrived at Kavieng with a nasty sore throat and fever. This got worse and for a few days I could do little else than lay flat. That is one condition a singlehandler has a definite disadvantage over a multiple crewed boat. I would have been hard pressed to re-anchor in case of a sudden weather deterioration.  It was very hot and the boat did not always lay head to the wind, because of the current, and then there is no breeze drawing through the boat.

I attended 9 a.m. mass at the Cathedral in Kavieng. This was a very attractive building, large and well attended. The local bishop said mass. Then I pulled anchor that afternoon with direction Palau.

I enjoyed the Solomons intensely. Papua New Guinea was o.k. but the N.W. island chain I visited was not the best for cruising and anchorages. The shores were steep and therefore not good to find anchorages. Kavieng was definitely worth the stop.

It has been almost one year since I left Gig Harbor on February 11th. Somehow it still seems unreal that I have crossed the South Pacific. "Fleetwood" just does not fit the mold of the typical long distance cruising yacht. I sometimes feel like I started out on a sail from Gig Harbor to the Canadian San Juans in a typical weekend racer-cruiser and just made a wrong turn at Port Townsend and somehow ended up in the south Pacific. The only item that might throw me out of the San Juan cruiser class is the Monitor wind vane. But if you did not know any better, I just put a coat of varnish on the hull a week ago in Gig harbor before setting off on a couple weeks of cruising.

"Who knows?" I might just continue like this and circle the globe. Stick around for the next edition which should be from Saigon.

I plan to stop a while in Palau to await mail. Then my next stop should be in Cebu, Philippines, towards the end of January. Guus Bierman, a mutual friend from Amsterdam, and owner of Contender Sails, has generously offered to have my main sail replaced at one of his customers, Hyde Sails, in Cebu. I had hoped to be in Vietnam by "Tet", Lunar New Year, which is February 9th. this year. But it does not look that will give me enough time now.