Day 43 – December 4
We anchored at Makata Harbor and at night watched a magnificent lightening storm. Funny how without the distraction of television nature becomes our form of entertainment. Watching lightening and counting shooting stars while eating popcorn… what could be better!
Day 44 – December 5
As we motored our way into the very shallow Mioko Harbor we were greeted by spinner dolphins! They put on such an exciting show for us, spinning high into air and then crashing into the water creating a huge splash. Amazing!
Day 45 – December 6
In the morning I went to grab my bikini from the lifeline where I left it to dry and realized that overnight it had been stolen along with a few towels and shirts. That’s the first time anyone has been brave enough to steal from us while we were all on the boat.
In the evening the village chief stopped by to say hello and we mentioned the theft to him and told him that if word gets out that their village is full of thieves, the boats will stop coming there. He said he’d have the village police keep an eye out for our things but I’m not getting my hopes up.
Day 46 – December 7
Mioko Village had invited us to their 8th grade graduation which was planned for today at 8am. They tell us that 8th grade is the end of their schooling unless they head into the bigger cities to continue their education. We arrived promptly at 8am and it was dead… a few people milling about, setting up, but far from being ready for the graduation ceremony. That’s Papua New Guinea time for you!
We moved anchorages to a place called Kerawara Island where supposedly they have dugongs (similar to manatees) in the surrounding mangroves. After asking local villagers if they see dugongs “yes” and crocodiles “no” we were told that the island was a secret place for men/boys and that girls were not allowed on land but they did say that us girls could swim in the water – no problem. A traditional custom in the Duke of York Islands we’re told.
Day 47 – December 8
Becky and I went for an early morning snorkel near the mangroves in search of the dugong and once again were told by a local villager in his harsh voice “this island is for boys only NOT girls!” Point taken.
We swam back to the boat and sailed over to Kabakon Reef and anchored right at the edge of this massive reef. As I was snorkeling in the shallow water I had a very close encounter with a 5ft black-tip reef shark. I think we both scared each other equally.
Day 48 – December 9
Before sailing back to Rabaul we did a dive off the boat at Kabakon Reef and spent the remaining part of the day sailing 25 nautical miles back to Rabaul. Most sailboats we’ve seen around tend to motor into Rabaul and put the anchor down – not us! We tacked our way into Rabaul, taking over 2 hours to cover what would take us 10 minutes with the engine on. As Bill says, “we are a sailboat and so we sail”. I enjoy that we rarely use the engine and I’m beginning to see that there are not many sailboats out there with that mindset.
Day 49 – December 10
With the side scanner sonar on his boat, Rod found a new wreck in the bay. It looked just like an airplane. In the morning, Rod anchored his boat right over the plane and with our dive gear on we followed the anchor chain down to the sandy bottom at 60ft. There we encountered a perfectly intact WWII Japanese Zero fighter plane. You could even see the bullet holes scattered along the underside of the plane but since it had landed upside down we were not able to determine if the pilot was still inside the cockpit at the time the plane went down. The plan (at a later date) was to dredge all the silty sand off the plane and try to make our way into the cockpit to see if the pilot was still there (or rather a pile of bones).
After the excitement of finding a “never before seen” WWII plane, we arranged for a PMV to drive us around town for the afternoon. We stopped for a quick bite to eat at Ling’s Freezer and we headed off to the Vulconology Observatory high on the hillside. After getting our fill of amazing views of all of Rabaul and her volcanoes, we headed over to the submarine base for some great snorkeling. A few feet off the shore there’s an impressive vertical wall that drops down to 200ft. During WWII the Japanese submarines would pull up to this wall to load supplies and also the let the soldiers walk across the shallow reef onto shore.
We finished off the evening at the happening Friday night spot – the Rabaul Yacht Club. Since they only serve dinner on Friday night everyone seems to come us for this event – and by everyone I mean about 10 expatriates.
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