Day 78 – January 8
Bill and Michael left just after sunrise and spent the majority of the day on an adventure traveling over to Kavieng on New Ireland (a 7 hour journey via banana boat and PMV). They needed to pick up some parts that we had a friend ship there from Australia. Our original plan was to be in Kavieng for Christmas with the boat but unfortunately the ocean currents and winds would not allow us to make our way up there.
I spent most of the day alone on the boat trying to keep busy with sanding, reading, and writing in my journal while Becky was off teaching her open water scuba class at Kabaira Dive Resort.
Day 79 – January 9
We’ve been anchored in Rabaul now for 18 days straight (40 days in all) and I’ve become bored with staying stationary in one spot for so long. I’ve realized that when I reach this point I start to really miss my family, friends, home, and the comforts I once enjoyed. I don’t like feeling like this but know it will go away once we start moving again. I’m hoping it will be in the next week or two but it all depends on when we can get the engine in working order again.
Since Becky was heading back over to Kabaira Dive Resort to finish teaching her open water scuba class I decided to tag along, hoping that being in a new environment would help to alleviate my feelings of homesickness. We spent the majority of the day at the resort and upon returning to the boat that evening I do admit that I did feel better.
Day 80 – January 10
It had been many weeks since we last headed into Kokopo to use the internet and purchase a few much needed supplies so Becky and I quickly varnished the boat in the morning and set out for Kokopo. While walking down the ash covered road heading into the main center of Rabaul we luckily ran into a man driving an air-conditioned truck who just so happened to be heading into Kokopo as well – a trip that normally takes 45 minutes along a very dusty, bumpy, and hot road.
Since I was down to my last 5 Kina ($2 USD) I headed to the ATM but was sadly disappointed when the machine gave my card back saying that my bank was refusing to let me withdrawal cash. I knew I had plenty of cash in my account and realized that I would have to phone my bank in the USA in order to get the card working again which here in Papua New Guinea is no easy feat.
Becky and I headed over to Kokopo Beach Bungalow to use their wireless internet and since we still had time left on our internet card from our last visit we planned to use that. I started my computer up, entered the username and password from the internet card, and after 1 minute of being logged onto the internet, it logged me off saying that our time had run out. Both Becky and I were disappointed since we didn’t have enough money between the two of us for a new internet card and the only reason we made the trip all the way into Kokopo was to use the internet.
Day 81 – January 11
We awoke this morning to see the sailboat “Vesper” motor past SEAWANHAKA. Vesper was the boat Becky and I helped rescue from the reef several weeks ago with Rod. In addition, the night before another sailboat “Scraatch” from England arrived and anchored next to us. Now we don’t feel so lonely here in the harbor.
Day 82 – January 12
While varnishing in the morning we saw Vesper take off in a hurry. Later on Rod told us that the owner of the boat, Pierre, was in serious trouble. He was in love with a local woman who has 8 children and is married. The community she comes from is very angry with him and put out a death wish on his life. They want to capture him in order to bury him alive and suck out his blood with a spike. Yikes!!!
That evening we headed over to Rod’s boat for a BBQ with all the great fish he had caught while out on his charter with the co-founder of Starbucks.
Day 83 – January 13
Today we began varnish work on the exterior of the boat which turned out to be much different than working on the inside. We now had to deal with the hot sun and the dusty winds.
We’ve begun our dinner rotation again and tonight was my night to cook. It turned out that we had 3 additional guests for dinner – Rod, his helper Lorraine, and Brian from the English sailboat “Scraatch”. I served everyone something a little different by cooking fish tacos seasoned mexican style.
Day 84 – January 14
7 hours straight we sanded and varnished the exterior of the boat long with the mast. It was a mega job and we were completely exhausted! Dinner was once again at the Rabaul Yacht Club for their Friday night special.
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