Day 71 – January 1
Becky and I returned home from the New Year’s Eve celebration on “Cocokai” at 2am! This was the latest we had stayed up since being on SEAWANHAKA. Since Bill had spent the night in Kokopo, Becky and I enjoyed a nice sleep in until 9am and then cooked up a great New Year’s Day breakfast. Eleven year old Coco called us on the VHF radio asking if we were planning to go to the Rabaul Yacht Club to play Yahtzee and since we could tell she really wanted to hang out with us we picked her up in our dinghy and played a few rounds while drinking sodas.
Bill came back later in the evening and brought with him two Dutch boys whom he had met the night before. We all had a great fish BBQ on the boat while sharing many travel tales.
Day 72 – January 2
Holy flies! This morning we woke up to millions of flies everywhere and they stayed on the boat the entire day – buzzing all over us. I have never seen them this bad! Becky and I debated on whether or not to varnish since the flies were likely to get stuck in the wet varnish but opted to do it anyway.
Bill and the Dutch boys had gone for an early morning hike of the nearby extinct volcano and returned to the boat late afternoon. Becky cooked up a great pasta dinner and we all said an early goodnight since the boys had to be up at 4am in order to catch their morning flight from Kokopo.
Day 73 – January 3
Bright and early we took the boat to the wharf to fill up with fresh water (since we were down to only 1/3 of our water carrying capacity). While waiting for our water tanks to fill up (which can take hours depending on how slow the water comes out) we varnished the main cabin and used fresh water to do some of our laundry. It was such a treat to be able to wash our clothes with fresh water and not the typical salt water.
In the afternoon we dropped Bill off at the wharf so he could head into Kokopo where he would stay the night and in the early morning meet Michael at the airport.
Since Becky and I had no plans for that evening we headed over to “Cocokai” to see what they were up to. They invited us over for pizza and games and we had such a blast playing “Apples to Apples” and eating super tasty pizza.
Day 74 – January 4
After varnishing the main cabin in the morning, Becky and I headed into Rabaul Yacht Club for sodas and to wait for her “students”. Since Becky was a dive instructor on the Great Barrier Reef she was asked by a local dive shop here in Rabaul to instruct a few students on Open Water Scuba Diving since there are no instructors in the area. She was quite thrilled to be teaching again.
Michael, our new crew member from Germany was suppose to arrive today but we got word from him that his luggage was lost somewhere between Germany, China, and Papua New Guinea and he was planning to stay in the Papua New Guinean capital of Port Moresby for the night to see if his luggage arrived on a later flight. We were all disappointed that his luggage was lost and that we would not be meeting him that night.
Day 75 – January 5
We are officially illegal in Papua New Guinea. Our Papua New Guinea visas expired today and the customs office here in Rabaul seemed to be very unconcerned about that – so as long as we all leave the country aboard the boat we will hopefully have no problems with overstaying our 60 day visa.
Becky took off in the morning to teach her open water scuba class in Kokopo while Bill attempted to troubleshoot the engine and I continued to varnish the main cabin. Around midday I dropped Bill off at the wharf so that he could catch a PMV into Kokopo to pick up Michael at the airport, whose luggage still had not arrived but he decided staying on the boat was much better than staying in dangerous Port Moresby. While at the wharf I ran into the family of the sailboat “Cocokai” and they mentioned they were planning to depart Rabaul the following day.
Once Becky returned we headed over to “Cocokai” to say goodbye, exchange books, get a few recipes from Jennifer (the mom), and of course play a final game of Yahtzee! It was sad to say goodbye to such a great family.
Day 76 – January 6
Bill and Michael had stayed the night in Kokopo so in the morning Becky and I continued to varnish the inside of the main cabin and at 12pm I took her to shore in the dinghy so she could catch her ride to Kokopo for the open water scuba class she’s teaching.
In the afternoon Bill arrived with Michael and we welcomed him with beer and a tasty fish BBQ! It was great to finally meet him and also to be back to having 2 guys and 2 girls on the boat. Things always seem to be more in sync when there are even numbers.
Day 77 – January 7
Most of the day was spent on varnishing and boat projects. In the evening we all headed over to the Rabaul Yacht Club for the famous Friday night dinner. I’m beginning to feel like a local – I think we’ve been to at least 6 Friday night feasts at the yacht club! And Barney, the owner of the Rabaul Yacht Club, has a tiny little kitten “Yacht” who we have watched grow up considerably in the last few weeks. Before we know it he will be a full grown cat. At that point, we know that we have been in Rabaul far too long.
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