PNG pirate attack

Jayapura, Indonesia

Originally I planned on flying home from the Island of New Britain, in hind site this is what I should have done. Instead I decided to stay on board a week or so longer and sail to Jayapura, Indonesia where the return airfare was much cheaper. We made an eventful 5 day crossing from New Britain to the mainland where we nearly lost our front stay supporting our mast in a storm and damaged the boat by hitting log at night. We headed to the mainland port of Wewak for parts and needed to clear customs from Papua New Guinea as our 60 day visas were about to expire. We anchored in the small harbor of Wewak, had just made dinner and sat down to a movie when one of the guys heard a noise outside on the boat. Alex, the captain went out for a look and was met face to face with a masked man sporting a homemade pistol (photo below). Two guys carrying an axe and machete rushed toward the door yelling for us to get down. Deciding quickly that he wanted nothing to do with surrender, Chris our East German crew member, managed to wrestle one of the pirates overboard. In what seemed like a flash, the rest of us charged the other two and they fled to their dugout canoes and paddled off. 

Alex and I jumped in the dinghy and quickly caught up with one of the canoes. We captured one of the guys and brought him back to the boat and hog tied him to the transom (above photo). I motored the dinghy across the harbor to a pub and managed after quite some time to get ahold of the police. The security guard at the pub came back to the boat with me and helped me take the thief back to shore. Back at the pub there was a crowd gathering, ready to stone the thief. By the time we got the guy to the police station he had taken a pretty good beating and that was just the beginning of it. 

For the next two hours in a concrete block police barrack I got to witness how the PNG police get info from criminals.  Later that night we had a couple police officers come aboard and stand watch on the boat. One of the police was armed with the dried stingray tail that he used as a whip. 

The next couple of days we dealt with customs, fixed the boat and was quite happy to sail to away from Wewak, PNG.  On the way to Jayapura we anchored in a small bay that had a really nice left hand point break. I spent my last day in PNG surfing with the one and only local guy, probably one of the nicest surfers that I have ever met. He learned to surf on a scrap piece of wood and was given a proper surf board by some visiting french surfers.  That evening of surfing was the perfect ending of the trip.  I am now making the long trip home from Jayapura to Jakarta to Singapore to Tokyo to Portland. Look forward to catching up with you back in the states.

Tropical volcanoes

Rabual, New Britain, Papua New Guinea

Finding internet access in this part of the world is very tricky. Luckily at the fuel dock in Rabual, the Aussie manager offered us use of his satellite internet connection.  I will go into more details when I have more time to write but basically we have had a great sailing adventure in the last 2 months. We have had some nice dives on pristine reefs, with plenty of sharks and large fish. We had a traditional Papua New Guinean christmas with super friendly islanders that rarely get to see white people. I had a very unique New Years Eve spearfishing at night for lobsters and

squid with the locals of a small island in the remote trobrands. 

We explored jungle caves filled with bats and human skulls. Our diet on the trip has been mostly fresh caught fish, rice, fruit and South Pacific beer.

We are now anchored in the most amazing bay with a backdrop of a fully active volcano and several other dormant ones. The bay is littered with hundreds of ship wrecks mostly WWII relics, lots of japanese war ships in 100 ft+ of water. At night I sleep out under the stars on the bow of the boat under a glowing volcano.

 

The time has come however to put a cap on the trip and head back home as the time feels right and I need to find some work. In the next two weeks we head down the north coast of New Britain to dive the reefs of Kimbe bay then I will jump ship and make the slow progression back home to the snows of the Pacific Northwest. 

I cannot say enough of how warm and welcoming the people of Papua New Guinea have been to us. I feel very lucky to be able to spend time in this very different, untouched part of the world.  Here are a few picts to give you a sense of the place.