It's now four days since we left Hermit Island and we're making good progress. After heading north (and slightly east) the first two days, we finally started heading NW, actually towards Palau and it was nice to see the miles to Palau start diminish.
The wind is still on the foreward quarter or beam on, but that means good speed, sometimes, with 1/2 - 1 knot of current with us, up to 7+ knots. This is only possible as long as the wind doesn't go too strong, maybe over 15 knots or so, because then the sea builds too big and slows us down.
Day three was pretty light, we could still have sailed, but only at 1.5-3 knots, so we choose to burn some diesel and make way to Palau We were motoring for 6-7 hours before the wind came back. Normally it wouldn't have bothered us, but xmas in Palau seems pretty nice and still within reach. We would also have to pay overtime if we arrive on a holiday.
Position: 3,42,06N 141,27,15E
Miles so far and to go 474
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Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Monday, 17 December 2012
Sophia across equator and now in the Northern hemisphere
We crossed equator at about 9am yesterday morning, a day after leaving Hermit Island. It was fun to watch the GPS count down and go all zeros and it's interesting that we're now in the northern hemisphere, but other than that, it was quite uneventful. At the time we had the company of another boobie (or some kind of a bird) on the solar panel and we got a celebration photo of all three of us, but then we had to shoe him away, as he was shading for the solar panel. We celebrated with freshly squeezed juice of Hermit Island oranges, banana cake and yet more delicious fresh pineapple. Yeah, I know, we're such party people :-)
So far, finger crossed, touch wood, it has been a pretty pleasant passage. We started with about 15 knots of wind, now we're down to 10 or less knots, but because we're closed hauled, we're still making pretty good speeds. The only problem is the wind is directly from the direction of Palau, so we have been sailing NNE (Palau is NW), but hopefully we'll reach the NE tradewinds in a day or two. We don't regret any bit going to Hermit Islands and having all that headwind, as the visit and experiences were more than worth the effort. We haven't had any doldrums or squalls of any significance either, which is surprising, but great. Just lots of stars and some of them shooting.
Palau is still 718 miles away, we have only gained 100 miles towards it the last two days, even though we have sailed about 200 knots since Hermit Island. There is a chance we'll be spending Christmas at sea, but that's OK, we're very far from in xmas mood, when it's 30+ degrees and all blue ocean around us. We did see a few Christmas decorations in the supermarkets in Kavieng, but that's the limit of our xmas exposure so far!
Position: 1° 15' 91 N and 144° 44' 68 E
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So far, finger crossed, touch wood, it has been a pretty pleasant passage. We started with about 15 knots of wind, now we're down to 10 or less knots, but because we're closed hauled, we're still making pretty good speeds. The only problem is the wind is directly from the direction of Palau, so we have been sailing NNE (Palau is NW), but hopefully we'll reach the NE tradewinds in a day or two. We don't regret any bit going to Hermit Islands and having all that headwind, as the visit and experiences were more than worth the effort. We haven't had any doldrums or squalls of any significance either, which is surprising, but great. Just lots of stars and some of them shooting.
Palau is still 718 miles away, we have only gained 100 miles towards it the last two days, even though we have sailed about 200 knots since Hermit Island. There is a chance we'll be spending Christmas at sea, but that's OK, we're very far from in xmas mood, when it's 30+ degrees and all blue ocean around us. We did see a few Christmas decorations in the supermarkets in Kavieng, but that's the limit of our xmas exposure so far!
Position: 1° 15' 91 N and 144° 44' 68 E
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Saturday, 15 December 2012
Snorkelling with Manta Rays at Hermit Islands
WOW, Manta Rays are super duper cool animals. This was definitely an experience on par with whales in Tonga and the volcano in Vanuatu. They are very majestic and apparently very intelligent too.
These islands are the kings of pineapple growers! There are tons of them and they are deliciously sweet. We have eaten at least one a day and we still got 4-5 more that will need eating within the next few days. We also traded for eggs, kumera, pumpkin, beans, lemons, limes, oranges, mangoes, guava and of course bananas.
We had read another cruiser's account of the islands when they visited in 2007 and back then they did have some Taiwanese fishing boats here (it's not their mooring we're on, but one the village has put down for yachts). Apparently they cheated them and used cynoid (?, poison), so luckily they sent them away. They have also for years been making money on sea cucumbers, but the government has put a ban on that now (probably to let the population recover). The islands are too far away from anywhere else to make any other trade viable, fuel is simply too expensive. This all means that there's no way to make money and they are therefore very keen to trade with us. We got the impression that they they have been used to having money and being able to buy stuff, but haven't actually saved much up. Many people have solar panels, batteries and there are some generators in the village also. They also have 40 hp outboards that they use to go to Manus and the mainland, a 6-12 hour trip using 400 liters of fuel. Vanuatu is so poor that canoes are the only mode of transport and most people have no power at all, if lucky maybe a solar panel, but batteries are expensive, so often they weren't hooked up. Solomon was a little bit in between. Most amazing though is that almost everyone in all three countries has a cell phone, even when there's no reception where they live, they still have one for when they travel to where there is! We have also several times been asked to charge a cell phone for someone.
Trading-wise, sugar, like at Nissan Island, was the most sought after item! Lucky for them this is the last place where we can trade, as we don't anticipate much of that in Asia, and if there is some, it's easy to buy new things in the bigger towns. We has a fair bit of clothes, rice and various other items left, so we were quite generous with our trading.
Back to the Manta Rays. There's a passage between the two biggest islands where there's usually always Manta Rays, sometimes even hundreds! Bob, the village councilor who doubles at the tour guide took us there and we anchored Sophia nearby for the night so we were ready early next morning for the low tide. Unfortunately the visibility wasn't the best (May to August are the best Bob told us) but it was still maybe 10 meters or so. At first we didn't see any and had almost given up, although it has still been a pretty good snorkel where we had also seen several turtles and some huge giant clams. But suddenly we spotted one Manta, and then there were several They are really beautiful, most were black on top and white on the belly, but one was all black with only a small white spot on the belly. The biggest one would have been 3-4 meters wing span. I got some OK photos, but unfortunately the battery went flat quite early on, big time bummer, as I could have gotten some really cool ones because they didn't swim away from us, but mostly stayed in one spot and we could even swim down to them and be within touch distance! At one point there were three Mantas and one turtle and various fish and remoras (sucker fish) in one frame, would have been such a awesome photo!
We have only been here three days, but we have already made some really good friends. Hermit Islands despite its isolated location gets a surprising amount of yachts visiting each year, and actually throughout the year as it's on the passage both to and from Asia (both via Indonesia and Philippines). The visitor book was full of praise and many people declare it a favorite, but we actually hadn't read or heard much about it beforehand, so it seems a bit of a well kept secret, or otherwise we don't mingle enough in the cruising circles. All the people we met were super friendly and really keen to chat with us. Last night we were invited ashore for a farewell meal and lots of people came along to see and chat with us. The cookies I had made and the small photo prints I can make were a huge hit.
So, the islands are very paradisaical and visitors tell the locals how lucky they are to live here. However, if you're stuck in paradise it may not seem like it. People live off the land and the sea, but they still need clothes and some foods they can't grow themselves. Then there are all the other nice things you can buy like cell phone, boom-box (music player), TV and the list goes on and on. Plus school past primary cost money, as well as hospital and dentist. It's very hard to move on and there aren't many jobs around either and even less on this small island.
If the weather we are about to download looks OK, we are leaving for Palau now. It's a bit over 800 miles and xmas is in 10 days so we are in a bit of a hurry!
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These islands are the kings of pineapple growers! There are tons of them and they are deliciously sweet. We have eaten at least one a day and we still got 4-5 more that will need eating within the next few days. We also traded for eggs, kumera, pumpkin, beans, lemons, limes, oranges, mangoes, guava and of course bananas.
We had read another cruiser's account of the islands when they visited in 2007 and back then they did have some Taiwanese fishing boats here (it's not their mooring we're on, but one the village has put down for yachts). Apparently they cheated them and used cynoid (?, poison), so luckily they sent them away. They have also for years been making money on sea cucumbers, but the government has put a ban on that now (probably to let the population recover). The islands are too far away from anywhere else to make any other trade viable, fuel is simply too expensive. This all means that there's no way to make money and they are therefore very keen to trade with us. We got the impression that they they have been used to having money and being able to buy stuff, but haven't actually saved much up. Many people have solar panels, batteries and there are some generators in the village also. They also have 40 hp outboards that they use to go to Manus and the mainland, a 6-12 hour trip using 400 liters of fuel. Vanuatu is so poor that canoes are the only mode of transport and most people have no power at all, if lucky maybe a solar panel, but batteries are expensive, so often they weren't hooked up. Solomon was a little bit in between. Most amazing though is that almost everyone in all three countries has a cell phone, even when there's no reception where they live, they still have one for when they travel to where there is! We have also several times been asked to charge a cell phone for someone.
Trading-wise, sugar, like at Nissan Island, was the most sought after item! Lucky for them this is the last place where we can trade, as we don't anticipate much of that in Asia, and if there is some, it's easy to buy new things in the bigger towns. We has a fair bit of clothes, rice and various other items left, so we were quite generous with our trading.
Back to the Manta Rays. There's a passage between the two biggest islands where there's usually always Manta Rays, sometimes even hundreds! Bob, the village councilor who doubles at the tour guide took us there and we anchored Sophia nearby for the night so we were ready early next morning for the low tide. Unfortunately the visibility wasn't the best (May to August are the best Bob told us) but it was still maybe 10 meters or so. At first we didn't see any and had almost given up, although it has still been a pretty good snorkel where we had also seen several turtles and some huge giant clams. But suddenly we spotted one Manta, and then there were several They are really beautiful, most were black on top and white on the belly, but one was all black with only a small white spot on the belly. The biggest one would have been 3-4 meters wing span. I got some OK photos, but unfortunately the battery went flat quite early on, big time bummer, as I could have gotten some really cool ones because they didn't swim away from us, but mostly stayed in one spot and we could even swim down to them and be within touch distance! At one point there were three Mantas and one turtle and various fish and remoras (sucker fish) in one frame, would have been such a awesome photo!
We have only been here three days, but we have already made some really good friends. Hermit Islands despite its isolated location gets a surprising amount of yachts visiting each year, and actually throughout the year as it's on the passage both to and from Asia (both via Indonesia and Philippines). The visitor book was full of praise and many people declare it a favorite, but we actually hadn't read or heard much about it beforehand, so it seems a bit of a well kept secret, or otherwise we don't mingle enough in the cruising circles. All the people we met were super friendly and really keen to chat with us. Last night we were invited ashore for a farewell meal and lots of people came along to see and chat with us. The cookies I had made and the small photo prints I can make were a huge hit.
So, the islands are very paradisaical and visitors tell the locals how lucky they are to live here. However, if you're stuck in paradise it may not seem like it. People live off the land and the sea, but they still need clothes and some foods they can't grow themselves. Then there are all the other nice things you can buy like cell phone, boom-box (music player), TV and the list goes on and on. Plus school past primary cost money, as well as hospital and dentist. It's very hard to move on and there aren't many jobs around either and even less on this small island.
If the weather we are about to download looks OK, we are leaving for Palau now. It's a bit over 800 miles and xmas is in 10 days so we are in a bit of a hurry!
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Wednesday, 12 December 2012
Finally at Hermit Islands
Phew, we made it! It was a really tough passage where we were constantly beating into the wind and even tacking, making it extra slow, as we have to cover a lot more ground and it's frustrating to look at the chart and see our zig zag course. What we had expected to be a 3 1/2 day passage took us five full days. We haven't yet calculated how many miles we actually covered over the ground, but it sure was a lot more than a straight line. We did actually arrive here maybe midnight last night, but spent the rest of the night heaving-to. We went through the eastern entrance this morning and did have mostly sun, but typically a super vicious squall came through exactly at that time and brought winds 30+ knots, but thankfully no torrential rain and the reef and islands were sheltering for the sea and we just motored right through. There were also several markers, so it wasn't difficult.
After the last post where we were NE of Admiralty Islands, the wind didn't die down at night, on the contrary, we actually had quite strong winds for the remainder of the passage, most of the time 20-25 knots, a few times easing to 15 knots. When we were planning our trip through PNG and to Palau, we had hoped to make it to Hermit Islands, but we also agreed that if it was all headwinds and tough going, we would just go directly to Palau. It's a good question why we then just didn't do that. I guess we were quite keen to get here, as it's supposed to be really great. We also weren't very prepared for a long passage, as it we hadn't done any cooking beforehand, and it quickly gets old eating canned spaghetti and baked beans.
Anyway, we made it now and we are very happy to be here to get a rest, see these beautiful islands and get ready for the next leg to Palau. Check it our on Google Earth, it might recognise Hermit Islands, otherwise, 01°30'56.3"S and 145°05'6.40"E should get you there. It's actually an atoll and there is an almost circular reef around a couple of islands in the middle. We're anchored just south of the village where it's very protected from the weather. It's quite deep, but luckily a boat came out and told us which mooring we could use. Apparently they have sold fishing rights to some Taiwanese fishing boats, and we guess it's their moorings, but none are here now, so that's nice.
Beside having a non-moving and quiet boat, the best part was jumping in the water! Because our bodies haven't been near any water since Kavieng, but also because we're right on top of coral and lots of fish. When I was snorkeling on the mooring I even saw a turtle. Hopefully a sign that we'll have a few nice day here.
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After the last post where we were NE of Admiralty Islands, the wind didn't die down at night, on the contrary, we actually had quite strong winds for the remainder of the passage, most of the time 20-25 knots, a few times easing to 15 knots. When we were planning our trip through PNG and to Palau, we had hoped to make it to Hermit Islands, but we also agreed that if it was all headwinds and tough going, we would just go directly to Palau. It's a good question why we then just didn't do that. I guess we were quite keen to get here, as it's supposed to be really great. We also weren't very prepared for a long passage, as it we hadn't done any cooking beforehand, and it quickly gets old eating canned spaghetti and baked beans.
Anyway, we made it now and we are very happy to be here to get a rest, see these beautiful islands and get ready for the next leg to Palau. Check it our on Google Earth, it might recognise Hermit Islands, otherwise, 01°30'56.3"S and 145°05'6.40"E should get you there. It's actually an atoll and there is an almost circular reef around a couple of islands in the middle. We're anchored just south of the village where it's very protected from the weather. It's quite deep, but luckily a boat came out and told us which mooring we could use. Apparently they have sold fishing rights to some Taiwanese fishing boats, and we guess it's their moorings, but none are here now, so that's nice.
Beside having a non-moving and quiet boat, the best part was jumping in the water! Because our bodies haven't been near any water since Kavieng, but also because we're right on top of coral and lots of fish. When I was snorkeling on the mooring I even saw a turtle. Hopefully a sign that we'll have a few nice day here.
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Sunday, 9 December 2012
Upwind passage
We left Kavieng almost 2 1/2 days ago and we are currently just north of Admiralty Islands (Manus) which is a bit over halfway to Hermit Islands (200 miles done so far, 150 to go still). We're making slow progress as the wind has mostly been on our nose and it usually dies at night. The first night we at least had about 2 knots of current with us, so we were still moving along, but last night there was none, and we were literally bobbing around. At times we almost welcomed the frequent squalls, as they usually bring along wind, although we never know from which direction or how much. We're also quite happy to at least have wind during the day and don't mind beating into it and luckily Sophia is also quite capable of it. We are hoping to stay a few days at Hermit Islands and maybe also Ninigo Islands before heading north to Palau, so we have to make sure we have enough diesel until then, hence why we don't just motor through the lulls.
Last night a bit before sunset a bird (maybe booby, not sure) came to rest on Sophia, at first on the solar panel, but a little later it moved into the comfort of the cockpit, although still in a corner furthest away from the hatch. After much grooming of its feathers, it stuck its head into one wing and slept all night. It took off a little after sun rise. It was fun and interesting to watch, but it was also quite a smelly visitor, though thankfully the rain had washed away most the mess it made.
Kavieng was a pleasant stop and we stayed four days. The best part was the water was quite clean and inviting (and no crocs!) so cooling off was great. Usually when anchored near a town the water is too dirty for our liking. Close to the anchorage was also an interesting Second World war plane wreck that we could snorkel. It's situated at 7 meters and is quite complete still and had good reef and fish life around it.
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Last night a bit before sunset a bird (maybe booby, not sure) came to rest on Sophia, at first on the solar panel, but a little later it moved into the comfort of the cockpit, although still in a corner furthest away from the hatch. After much grooming of its feathers, it stuck its head into one wing and slept all night. It took off a little after sun rise. It was fun and interesting to watch, but it was also quite a smelly visitor, though thankfully the rain had washed away most the mess it made.
Kavieng was a pleasant stop and we stayed four days. The best part was the water was quite clean and inviting (and no crocs!) so cooling off was great. Usually when anchored near a town the water is too dirty for our liking. Close to the anchorage was also an interesting Second World war plane wreck that we could snorkel. It's situated at 7 meters and is quite complete still and had good reef and fish life around it.
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Tuesday, 4 December 2012
Our route
It is now half a year ago we left Christchurch, and we're about to cross into a new hemisphere and continent, so I figured this would be a good time to write about our past and future route.
We left Christchurch at the end of May 2012 and sailed up to Gisborne via Wellington. We waited patiently in Gisborne for three weeks to get a good weather window for the passage to Tonga. We finally left Gisborne on 21 June and arrived at Neiafu, Vava'u, Tonga 11 days later.
We spent six weeks cruising the Vava'u group and Ha'apai and it was a great introduction into the cruising life as everything is very close by and it's pretty ideal cruising grounds which is also evident by the many yachts present. Towards the end of August we did a seven day passage to Vanuatu, bypassing Fiji on the way. We spent another six weeks in Vanuatu slowly making our way north. A short two day passage later we were in Solomon Islands where we spent about five weeks before heading further north to Papua New Guinea where we are now in early December.
We're hoping to spend Christmas in Palau, so we will soon make our way first west, then north, all depending on the weather. On this passage we're going to cross the equator, so that's quite exciting.
From Palau we'll sail to Philippines probably in January. We think we'll spend a few months (supposedly the safe-ish season from typhoons) in Phillipines before we're heading towards the north coast of Borneo and we'll hop along Malaysia towards Singapore and eventually Thailand. Our plans are very loose and subject to change, but this is the rough plan anyway. We are pretty much at loss as to what we'll do after that, but I'm sure we'll find out as we go.
Before leaving New Zealand we had only really committed to visiting Tonga and Vanuatu and weren't really sure where we were going after that, although we did think we would head towards Asia. It's really mostly thanks to yacht Carillon that we got onto the PNG-Palau-Phillipines route which happend to suit us the best, both route and time wise. It's always a bit of a puzzle to match a desited route with the different sailing seasons.
We left Christchurch at the end of May 2012 and sailed up to Gisborne via Wellington. We waited patiently in Gisborne for three weeks to get a good weather window for the passage to Tonga. We finally left Gisborne on 21 June and arrived at Neiafu, Vava'u, Tonga 11 days later.
We spent six weeks cruising the Vava'u group and Ha'apai and it was a great introduction into the cruising life as everything is very close by and it's pretty ideal cruising grounds which is also evident by the many yachts present. Towards the end of August we did a seven day passage to Vanuatu, bypassing Fiji on the way. We spent another six weeks in Vanuatu slowly making our way north. A short two day passage later we were in Solomon Islands where we spent about five weeks before heading further north to Papua New Guinea where we are now in early December.
We're hoping to spend Christmas in Palau, so we will soon make our way first west, then north, all depending on the weather. On this passage we're going to cross the equator, so that's quite exciting.
From Palau we'll sail to Philippines probably in January. We think we'll spend a few months (supposedly the safe-ish season from typhoons) in Phillipines before we're heading towards the north coast of Borneo and we'll hop along Malaysia towards Singapore and eventually Thailand. Our plans are very loose and subject to change, but this is the rough plan anyway. We are pretty much at loss as to what we'll do after that, but I'm sure we'll find out as we go.
Before leaving New Zealand we had only really committed to visiting Tonga and Vanuatu and weren't really sure where we were going after that, although we did think we would head towards Asia. It's really mostly thanks to yacht Carillon that we got onto the PNG-Palau-Phillipines route which happend to suit us the best, both route and time wise. It's always a bit of a puzzle to match a desited route with the different sailing seasons.
October and November's cruising expenses
I missed October's months budget because of my parent's visit, first of all because they were here during the end of October and the beginning of November, and also because their visit kind of screwed up those two months' budgets. We were recording costs before and after their visit, but we totally stopped while they were with us as we were spending a lot more money than we would if we were alone, particularly on alcohol and eating out, but also somewhat on groceries. Another reason is they kindly paid for all those extra expenses.
Anyway, here is both October and November's cruising expenses. It's not 100% accurate, but I still think it's a pretty reasonable reality of what we spent, if we had just been the two of us alone. Overall the countries have been pretty cheap for cruising, although food (besides fruit, veggies and a few staples) is still more expensive than NZ, but then it's also quite limited what you can buy in the first place. Solomon Islands is quite expensive for clearing in and out of though. Interesting is also we haven't spent anything on mooring fees (haven't been any) or water (we have almost exclusively caught it all with our rain catchers). Drinks out has pretty much merged into eating out, I may delete it next month if we don't start going out drinking a lot. It's also mostly a night activity and we have spent pretty much all nights on Sophia for security reasons.
Anyway, here is both October and November's cruising expenses. It's not 100% accurate, but I still think it's a pretty reasonable reality of what we spent, if we had just been the two of us alone. Overall the countries have been pretty cheap for cruising, although food (besides fruit, veggies and a few staples) is still more expensive than NZ, but then it's also quite limited what you can buy in the first place. Solomon Islands is quite expensive for clearing in and out of though. Interesting is also we haven't spent anything on mooring fees (haven't been any) or water (we have almost exclusively caught it all with our rain catchers). Drinks out has pretty much merged into eating out, I may delete it next month if we don't start going out drinking a lot. It's also mostly a night activity and we have spent pretty much all nights on Sophia for security reasons.
More interesting village visits
We left the extremely secure anchorage of Cigaregare and moved just around the corner to Teripax village. It wasn't as good an anchorage (a bit rolly), but visiting the friendly village more than made up for it. We spent a fair bit of both Saturday and Sunday hanging out with the locals, meaning mostly kids. They don't get many cruising boats visiting, as most stay in Cigaregare anchorage, which is only half an hour walk through the bush though. We did the walk while in Cigaregare with a couple of young men as our guides. The best part of that was submerging ourselves in the creek, only just deep enough for it. It was quite elevated, so no crocs up there.
Anyway, the kids in Teripax were great. Only kids under 8 or so were present, all the older ones stay most of the time in a neighbouring village (a canoe ride away) where they go to school. We brought in baloons the first day, always a big hit. They like getting their photo taken, but they love looking at the camera afterwards. This means they have quite serious faces for the pictures I take, and then I get all the smiles and laughts when they see the pictures! I brought in my old camera, so I was comfortable handing it over to the kids. This produced some quite interesting photos, they definitley relax more that way and also make some more daring poses, for example one guy though it was fun to stick his blood red (betel nut) toungue out in all the pictures! For some reason they also love making hand signs for the camera. Check out facebook for pictures.
Some of the very little kids were not used to white people and started crying if we got too close. The slightly older kids were very facinated by us though. I'd often find myself being stared at by half a dozen little ones. The women were also very curious and at one point started enquiring about my hair. When I released it from the bun they were uhm-ing and ahh-ing and carefully touched it and declared it was very beautiful. To that I could only say thanks, but I love curls :-)
Sunday we brought in our laptop to show a movie for the kids. We had been shown through the village and the men/boys only house was shown to us. We also saw these (from outside) in Nissan Atoll, no women or girls are allowed, only boys. However, for some reason, it was suddenly OK to use it for showing the movie, I was worried none of the girls would go in, but everyone seemed happy to go there. Strange. Anyway, watching a movie is definitely a rare treat, if not even a first for many kids, but it was a little hard to keep concentration naturally as they don't understand English that well or at all, plus it's a quite small screen in a big room.
Later on the women were practising their custom dance and singing, which was interesting to watch. They do the when they have special celebrations and feasts. Buka, Nissan Atoll and also the people we met on Tabar are all been catholic, so there are a ton of kids around and some very young mothers.
Chewing betel nut is done by everyone, including breastfeasting mums and I'm sure preagnant ones too, though we never see them, it's something about preagnant women being taboo or something like that. Even little kids are allowed to chew it. Mark, the resort owner on Lihir Island told us that one ingrediants in betel nut is used commercially as a sedative for horses! The gold mine has a strict no betel nut policy for all their workers during work time.
After an over-night passage, we're now in Kavieng, which is a provincial capital. We're anchored across from town by a small island where there's a resort for surfers mostly. It's a pretty long dinghy ride, but our good steady little dinghy did make it. The town is very typical with a bunch of small shops all selling pretty much the sime kind of Chinese cheap junk and a bit of food. It wasn't until the 7th shop we found ice cream, phew.
We are going to spend a few days here getting ourselves organised before leaving. There tropical low/typhoon we eluded to ealier on did indeed turn out to be a typhoon, for a while it was even a super typhoon. It hit Palau a day or two ago with some damage, but no loss of life and now it's on it's way to Philippines. It's the first typhoon to hit Palau in over 20 years, so we keep our fingers crossed it won't happen again while we're there. The 'scary' part is that it's out of season and the typhoon's path was irregular, I'm sure all signs of global warming!
Anyway, the kids in Teripax were great. Only kids under 8 or so were present, all the older ones stay most of the time in a neighbouring village (a canoe ride away) where they go to school. We brought in baloons the first day, always a big hit. They like getting their photo taken, but they love looking at the camera afterwards. This means they have quite serious faces for the pictures I take, and then I get all the smiles and laughts when they see the pictures! I brought in my old camera, so I was comfortable handing it over to the kids. This produced some quite interesting photos, they definitley relax more that way and also make some more daring poses, for example one guy though it was fun to stick his blood red (betel nut) toungue out in all the pictures! For some reason they also love making hand signs for the camera. Check out facebook for pictures.
Some of the very little kids were not used to white people and started crying if we got too close. The slightly older kids were very facinated by us though. I'd often find myself being stared at by half a dozen little ones. The women were also very curious and at one point started enquiring about my hair. When I released it from the bun they were uhm-ing and ahh-ing and carefully touched it and declared it was very beautiful. To that I could only say thanks, but I love curls :-)
Sunday we brought in our laptop to show a movie for the kids. We had been shown through the village and the men/boys only house was shown to us. We also saw these (from outside) in Nissan Atoll, no women or girls are allowed, only boys. However, for some reason, it was suddenly OK to use it for showing the movie, I was worried none of the girls would go in, but everyone seemed happy to go there. Strange. Anyway, watching a movie is definitely a rare treat, if not even a first for many kids, but it was a little hard to keep concentration naturally as they don't understand English that well or at all, plus it's a quite small screen in a big room.
Later on the women were practising their custom dance and singing, which was interesting to watch. They do the when they have special celebrations and feasts. Buka, Nissan Atoll and also the people we met on Tabar are all been catholic, so there are a ton of kids around and some very young mothers.
Chewing betel nut is done by everyone, including breastfeasting mums and I'm sure preagnant ones too, though we never see them, it's something about preagnant women being taboo or something like that. Even little kids are allowed to chew it. Mark, the resort owner on Lihir Island told us that one ingrediants in betel nut is used commercially as a sedative for horses! The gold mine has a strict no betel nut policy for all their workers during work time.
After an over-night passage, we're now in Kavieng, which is a provincial capital. We're anchored across from town by a small island where there's a resort for surfers mostly. It's a pretty long dinghy ride, but our good steady little dinghy did make it. The town is very typical with a bunch of small shops all selling pretty much the sime kind of Chinese cheap junk and a bit of food. It wasn't until the 7th shop we found ice cream, phew.
We are going to spend a few days here getting ourselves organised before leaving. There tropical low/typhoon we eluded to ealier on did indeed turn out to be a typhoon, for a while it was even a super typhoon. It hit Palau a day or two ago with some damage, but no loss of life and now it's on it's way to Philippines. It's the first typhoon to hit Palau in over 20 years, so we keep our fingers crossed it won't happen again while we're there. The 'scary' part is that it's out of season and the typhoon's path was irregular, I'm sure all signs of global warming!
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