16 November 2015

So today we left Panamailoa (Hazard) Island and Tewatewa (Hummock) Island and motored further East. We made our way into the Conflict Island's lagoon. We stopped for most of the day at the entrance and moved on in the late afternoon. We dived during our first stop and I encountered my first cuttlefish. A rather odd creature, a close relative of the octopus. It can change its texture and colour at will.
My dive buddy and I spent a good 15 minutes taking photographs and videoing it. I also glimpsed a turtle.
We've moved further into the lagoon and now we're anchored quite near the reef, about six or seven miles into the lagoon. This was so we can speed over the submerged part of the reef and dive on the outer walls, A group of us went to scout the diving at sunset this evening and then we went to watch the sun set on one of the sandbanks of the reef.
There's nobody else here, we haven't seen a boat for a while since leaving Alotau. It's a beautiful place, another uninhabited spit of land in the vast Pacific Ocean. Super blesses to be here! I'm looking forward to what tomorrow holds

14 November 2015 Whale Shark sighting

I did two dives today on the reef around Balu Island. The first dive was rather crowded, initially we jumped off the back of Infinity, however the current was too strong, so we were picked up again and dropped in by tender. The reef is amazing! One of the new arrivals, Sam from Australia and I hung behind taking photographs. Saw beautiful anemones and some huge giant clams.

Most of the dive spots we've visited so far on Infinity have been very off the beaten track! While some of the spots we're diving may been fished by locals, there's a strong argument that suggests we're the first scuba divers to dive here and that's exciting!

The second dive was just Sam and I and within second of us dropping in below the surface we bumped into a whale shark! It wasn't yet fully grown and was cruising by, talk about being in the right place at the right time. We attempted to keep up with it but nothing doing, two flicks of its tail and it was gone. My first encounter with a whale shark, absolute magic!

You never know what you're going to encounter when you drop beneath the waves, that's what makes it exciting!! 

13 November 2015

We left Alotau four days ago on the 10th of November at sunrise. Time is flying by, before you know it my time here will be up. Since leaving we've slowly been moving out of Milne Bay towards East Cape, Papua New Guinea's most eastern point on the northern shore at the entrance to the bay. 
We picked up several new people in Alotau who have joined the boat, some for the next few weeks others for a longer trip to the Philippines. There's Fin and Tom from Germany, Manuel from France, Anna from Switzerland, George from the Netherlands, Oscar from the UK, Sam from Australia and Katie from the States, but who lives in New Zealand. All of these guys and girls are super excited to be on board and to get out into the middle of nowhere. 

 
We spent two days at the uninhabited Haro Wani Island, very close to the northern shore. It was a picturesque setting, the water went from deep dark blue into torques and then into very light blue and up out of the water to a white sandy beach. A small coral reef surrounded the island which we dived on a couple of times. 
On our second and last evening their a group of us went and hand a bonfire on the beach which we cooked dinner on. Away from the lights of Alotau the stars shone out brightly, standing there looking up at them with nothing but the flickering flames lighting the beech I wondered how many people had stood in this spot and done exactly that. 
The island wasn't always uninhabited, a short walk through the jungle revealed at least five grave stones,  not much further and the remains of what according to locals was once a missionary’s house. The roof is missing and the branches and roots of trees have grown over and through it. It's quite incredible how the jungle takes reclaims buildings and ruins. I was reminded of the Japanese ruins on Tonowas island in Truk Lagoon last December. Time has worn away at the stones themselves which guard the secrete names of their inhabitants, I wonder who they were? What there names were? How they came to be buried in this beautiful spot. 

On the morning of the 12th of November at 4 am we raised anchor and continued east 12 miles to Dana Gedu Reef where we stayed for the day. After a early morning dive with Menno, Oscar, Fin and Sam we spent the day chilling. We did another dive that afternoon, the reefs are full of fish big and small. I'm working on my photography, shooting above the water in manual mode on my camera is helping me get better shots beneath the waves. 
Before the sun went down the that evening we moved again, to the north point of the same reef, very close to East Cape. From here we'll continue to the Conflict and Engineers groups of islands then turn north towards the Trobriand Islands, famous for their detailed wood carvings and diving. Things are good, we're cruising.

9 November 2015

We'll be departing the sleepy town of Alotau, Milne Bay today at noon. The plan is to cruise around for the next few weeks in the Engineer and Conflict groups of islands to the east. From there we will turn north towards the province of East New Britain and the town of Rabaul. 

It's been a busy and exciting time here in Alotau. The festival has allow me and everyone on infinity to experience and see into Papua New Guinea's vast cultural pool. It's been a busy time filming and interviewing the chairman of the committee, the heading of Alotau's tourism board and a few others including a colourful cultural group. 

This is defitely somewhere I'm going to be returning to. I have written a number of posts but have been unable to post them due to the slow internet connection. They will appear in the future. 

For now I need to publicly thank Jaymataio, Ralph Numa and Joey Tau. Without there help visiting Alotau would have been a different experience. 

We should be arriving into Rabaul before the 28th of this month. I will keep another ships log and hopefully get it all up before I leaving PNG at the beginning of December.

Papua New Guinea Pt

Papua New Guinea is made up of twenty-two different provinces, from hidden highlands to white costal paradise beaches, PNG has it all! At least 860 indigenous languages are spoken in the country, this accounts for over one tenth of the world's total, 80% of the population live in rurally and is home to hundreds of different ethnic groups and thousands of different cultural groups many of whom have there own art, dance, costumes, weaponry, music and architecture! 

According to Archaeologists, humans first arrived in Papua New Guinea between 42,000 and 45,000 years ago. Mysterious traditions and beliefs are still hugely popular in the local psyche, and spirit houses line the banks of the Sepik River. Witchcraft is widely respected and still practised, especially on outlying islands. Heading hunting and ritual cannibalism have been eradicated for several decades but were once practiced throughout the country mainly as warfare rituals. Evidence of these rituals can be found in an account of Harry Dauncey, an early twentieth century missionary, who is believed to have found 10,000 skulls in caves around New Guinea. Wood carving often in the forms of plants or animals is believed to represent ancestral spirits. 

In some regions it's also believed that the sexual intercourse and pregnancy are not related. Instead, a child's spirit hangs over the ocean until her brother orders it into the woman via her brain. Sadly, sexual and domestic violence is a major problem throughout the nation. According to the World Health Organisation, PNG has one of the highest rates of violence against women in the world. 

The deeply entrenched Wantok system is a fundamental part of Melanesian culture in Papua New Guinea. Wantoks are those who speak your language or what's known locally as a tokples. It works almost like a social security system; the shared language is the qualifying mark, and within each tribe or clan every person can be expected to be fed, housed, and have a share in community assets. 

The Second World War added yet another layer of history to the country. A major military campaign was fought between 1942 - 1945 during which approximately 216,000 Japanese, Australian, and United States service men died. The Japanese Imperial Army began invading Milne Bay in August of 1942 and soon established a 2400-strong army. They were rapidly defeated by the 5th of September. 

Alotau is a small town situated at the southeastern tip of mainland Papua New Guinea. It is the provincial capital of the Milne Bay district, and is also our point of entry into Papua New Guinea. The province sits between the Solomon Sea and Coral Sea, and the mountainous peninsula curves away protectively to the east to Cape Vogel.

The Milne Bay Kundu & Canoe festival runs annually in the first weekend of November. Dozens of canoes full of traditionally dressed warriors all paddling to the beat of huge war drums is the reason we've wanted to arrive in PNG before the 5th of November! This year over 800 boats have entered! Excited doesn't quite some it up. The photos will be something spectacular to share! 

Alotau, Milne Bay

We made it safely to Alotau, Milne Bay province. We arrived yesterday afternoon at 3 o'clock. It's been an incredible journey, many adventures had and hundreds of stories to tell. We had an overnight wait for customs  and immigration who stamped us all in at about 10 o'clock this morning. 

The landscape is incredible! The picture above is the view from the boat. I've written a whole ships log which will appear shortly and a few other posts. Keep your eyes fixed here! 

27 October 2015

GPS coordinates:  S1100.250 / E15424.007
1 week at sea

We're drawing ever nearer to Papua New Guinea, I feel like I've been saying that for a long time though. Hopefully, that conveys how slow sailing really is, if you've got to be somewhere in a rush get a plane, not a boat. Air travel is a luxury, imagine being James Cook or one of his contemporaries. He spent months on end at sea in search of new places. I don't think I'll ever complain about a delayed flight again, imagine the airline cancelled all its flight but offered to sail people to their destination?! Your holiday would be over before you even arrived...

We are sailing across an unending ocean. Here time doesn't really matter, it's like being in space, technically we're nowhere, there's no address or PO-Box. One day sort of just drifts into another while your at sea. Light changes to dark and day time changes to night time and back to day time in the blink of an eye, there's no other indicator. It could be day one or day one hundred and one. The only real indicator is the GPS computer chart which counts down our miles. The little boat indicator on the computer monitor mocks its aeroplane cousin found in interactive maps on the back of  aeroplane seats, and I thought that moved slowly.

We're 44 MM from Rossel Island in Louisiade Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. Alotau is still 235 MM away, that's both exciting and really depressing, still so far!

I think there's a plan to pause somewhere in the archipelago and do a dive or two. Obviously this is dependant on the wind and other conditions. The idea of stopping after traveling for what seems like a lot longer than a week is an odd one.

26 October 2015

(watch 16.00 - 20.00)
GPS coordinates S11 / E11
Day 6 at sea


The wind has really picked up this evening. We're whizzing along heading straight for New Guinea and there are less than 500 miles to go. We hit a new top speed of 10 knots this afternoon. It's amazing just zooming along with the waves. Our speed has dropped to about 7.5 knots this evening. We'll be there in know time! I can't wait, but at the same time this long haul ocean sailing is pretty epic!

The dolphins were super cool, I can't get over that we saw that many all in one go! That's a story I'll tell everyone from here to South Africa.

Fortunately I don't have a night watch tonight so get a full helping of sleep! We've been rocking out to very loud Queen, AC/DC and Motörhead at the helm this evening. It's immensely empowering and also very humbling standing at the helm steering over huge waves especially as light begins to fade. You realise what a tiny blot this boat is in the ocean. Like the last few nights the moon and boats lights the only illumination for miles around. Our radio did crackle with static earlier today and a very distorted voice could be heard, I'm not sure what is was saying but that was the first outside contact we've had since leaving Vanuatu. If you can call it contact.

I'll rest well tonight, this voyage will soon be over and the Papua New Guinean one will begin!

25 October 2015

(watch 00.00 - 04.00)
GPS coordinates: S1126.481 / E16100.690
Average speed: 6 kn.
27 degrees Celsius.
Day 6 at sea.

The moon is nearly full, the wind has picked up and Rennell island grows steadily closer. At 2.00 am when Eric took over steering I got my camera from my cabin and began shooting at the sky. I can't really put into words what it's like to look up and see the heavens revealed so clearly, words can't do it justice. I'm sure you've all experienced that at one time or another.

We're trying to sail as close to the wind as possible, our bearing is 255 degrees. Even as Eric and I stood at the helm you could feel the wind strengthening. It's set to pick up over the next few days and should speed us on our way.

I did a lot of thinking during this watch, reflecting on how lucky I am to be here on this sailing boat, about how I used to be petrified of jumping into a swimming pool even if somebody was standing there to catch me, how did I end up on a large sailing boat in the middle of the ocean which is bouncing around in the wind and waves. How did that happen?!

Only once before in my life have been woken up by or to look at animals, the first was in Tanzania when two love making hippo's disturbed my slumber. Today was the second, I'd only been asleep 2 hours or so when Menno came into my cabin and excitedly to me there were false killer whales on the bow. No one was quite sure how many there were but they were dancing and jumping everywhere! Keeping up with our boat with such ease, myself, Sarah and Menno stood right on the bow of Infinity. This was my first real encounter with relatives of the dolphin family. They must have been with us for about an hour, definitely worth waking up for. I shot over 100 photos and a whole lot of film in that time.

We're also passing between the main Solomon Islands group which is out of sight to the North and Rennell Island which lies to our South at distance of about 6 nk miles.

24 October 2015

(watch 10.00 - 14.00)
GPS Coordinates S1103.672 / E16248.582
Day 5 at sea.

Fortunately for me I have been given a full nights sleep, my shift isn't till 10.00 o'clock tomorrow morning. However, this didn't stop me waking up at 1.30 am. Emerging onto deck I discovered that we've finally turned straight West, 270 degrees and have begun our drift down to PNG. This marks the halfway point in our voyage, perhaps not on paper but certainly mentally, we're headed in the right direction.

The jib is now flying on the starboard side and according to the weather chart the wind is set to improve over the next few days. It hasn't yet reached full moon, but it's the main source of light on deck. Illuminating the ocean below and the clouds above. We have seen another boat since our first day at sea, we're the only spectators of an awesome sight in the heavens above.

San Cristobal, one of the Solomon Islands, is visible on the horizon this morning. I thought I could make out Guadalcanal in the very distance but couldn't be sure, maybe that's wishful thinking. This is as close as I'll get this expedition, I guess I'll have to save that for another adventure. We'll be passing Rennell Island on our port side at some point.

Now on the straight and narrow down to Alotau.  It's 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Our heading is 255 degrees and our GPS position is S1116.320 / E16155.326. Menno reckons we've broken the 700 mile countdown mark and he's just been confirmed that there's 680 miles to go.

It's been another hot day out on the ocean, I've managed to sun burn my forehead. We haven't seen another boat for the last 4 days. The Police weren't lying when the sang "More loneliness than any man could bear" in their song 'Message in a Bottle'. Still I suppose this voyage is good preparation for the 1700 mile crossing from Papua New Guinea to the Philippines. It think we're in PNG for exactly a month, from the 5th of November till the 5th December.

23 October 2015

GPS coordinates: S1208.613 / E16512.481
Average Wind Speed 6.5 knot
Day 4 at sea.

After making a cup of tea and grabbing some chocolate that I'd brought with me I relived Kila from her steering shift. We were sticking to a bearing of 280 degrees, more west now that north. The plan is pass by the Solomon Islands and pick up the southeasterly wind which blows through later this week and will carry us down to Alotau, Papua New Guinea. We're still running on the engine as the wind is being silly, with the engine on we average about 6 knots.

Looking out from behind the wheel the moon shone bright on the port side it's light illuminating the ocean waves.  To my starboard clouds covered the sky reaching as far as the eye could see, in the very distance lightening flashed. An incredible contrast in conditions and an awesome sight to behold.

22 October 2015

(watch 00.00 - 04.00) GPS Coordinates: S1248.786 / E16601.971
Average Wind Speed: 13.9 knots
Day 3 at sea!

Did a night watch last night, 2 am till 4 am, I drove for the first 2 hours and then was support for Eric. I had a nap before hand, what wind we had must have died while I was asleep because we were motoring along with just the mainsail up when I got onto deck at midnight.

We were making steady progress past the Vanuatu's most northern group, the Torres islands, which we passed on our starboard side at a distance of about six miles. Our heading was 305 degrees, north west-ish. The moon and stars had hidden themselves in clouds and the night was dark. I walked around a little up to the front of boat, I didn't stay long. An irrational fear that something would swoop down onto the foredeck and kill us all wouldn't leave me alone. In my mind we'd all have fight off a horde of Doctor Who monster death angel things. Off in the distance an occasional flash of lightning made me certain they were about to land on our boat and turn is all to stone and through us over board.

The only visible lights were from the our own boat, the main cabin, the green starboard light and red port light shone out bright. Beyond that I couldn't see anything. You've just got to stick to your bearing and occasionally check the computer chart GPS system to find out exactly where you are.

Such was the lack of wind that we took the mainsail down at about 3.15 am. Our bearing changed to 280 degrees and a course was set towards the Solomon Islands. I was relieved when Menno showed up to begin his watch, tiredness has been eating away at my eyes for a few hours and I was ready to sleep.

It was cloudy all day, the sun hid in the clouds. Wind conditions had picked up again and we made progress for a while. My day watch began at 14.00 and was nothing special. I reflected back that growing up as child I'd been petrified of water, it took a long time to persuade me to jump into a swimming pool. If you'd told me then that while in my twenties I'd be sailing around the Pacific Ocean, scuba diving etc, I'd have told you where to go...

Until about 17.50 the highlight of the day had been seeing a bird...not entirely sure what type it was, Zoe said something about an albatross. Life at sea can be rather repetitive and if you let it, boring as hell. Everything looks the same, once you're out of shot of land you could be anywhere on any ocean. At ten to six one of our fishing lines began to run out, something had taken the lure on the end of the line! Timo slowly began to pull the line in, occasionally frantic splashes greeted us as the mahi-mahi tried to get free. This super streamline fish lives in the open ocean eating whatever it can find, other fish, squid and fishing hooks apparently.

Sashimi was added to the dinner menu, it was so good, melt-in-your mouth protein. It was especially good after a few days of purely vegetarians dishes which I'm not used to. A good ending to another day at sea...

I went for a nap after doing some washing up in preparation for being up midnight for my watch.

21 October 2015

GPS coordinates: S1407.599 / E16649.546
Day 2 at sea.

Just had a bit of a sailing lesson and my mind is spinning. It's rather a lot to take in, I probably understood 10% of what was said.

Things I did understand include; The capsize angle of the boat is 110 degrees, that there are many ways to sail a boat and many ways to manipulate the wind using sails to move you along. The the top of a sail is called the head and the bottom a foot. The keel of the boat stops us flipping over and that the sails of a boat act a lot like an aeroplane wing. There's also a sheet which runs along the bottom of the boom and the halyard which runs from the masts bottom to top.

Steering Infinity is know walk in the park, these watches are an active two hour activity the difficulty of which is subject to weather conditions. One must keep an eye on the compass at the helm and also the bow of the boat. Steering one way hard means counter steering the other way where necessary to maintain a straight course. Landmarks make this easier to do but there really aren't many in the middle of the ocean. By night one can use the stars, moon or clouds, there's no auto-steer.

20 October 2015

Infinity has been a hive of activity over the past few days particularly this morning. We pulled anchor up at 7.15 am and the engine rumbled into life. We turned west and motored slowly down the Segondo Channel towards tuba island. We halted at a dock and a petrol tanker arrived after about 10 minutes.

It took a good hour and a half to pump 6000 litres of fuel into Infinity's three fuel tanks. Captain Clemens was super happy as the fuel was super cheap, only 80 Vatu which is about 0.48 pence a litre.

While this was happening the floors were being swept, mopped, the kitchen was being cleaned. Once filling was complete a group of us mucked in and cleared, scrubbed and jet washed the deck. The sun was beating down on while we worked. I reflected that, once upon a time not so long ago men fought WW2 in this climate, they couldn't just stop because it was too hot.

We then loosened the lines and pushed off, with the help of the outboard tender we moved out into the channel. For me this was a significant moment, the thought of not being on land for two weeks is an alien one, I don't know what that feels like. My negative anticipation had be blown away, excitement replaced all!

Once we made it around the headland we were exposed to a little more wind, wind is an overstatement, a light breeze is a better way of describing it; the seas are calm, almost flat.

We raised all three sails, the mainsail first, then the mezzanine and lastly the jib. Another group effort to get them all winched up and flying! It's an amazing site, the boat seems to grow larger when they're all up. Infinity is a double masted vessel, the masts are 32 metres high. We then knocked the engine off and let the wind take over!

We turned east and sailed up the coast of Espiriti Santo. A light breeze was blowing to the south west and filled our sails. Sitting at the helm with Eric, I remembered Fiji and how from our current position it was a straight sail South East and we were traveling West. It struck me then that a sailing boat holds infinite opportunity, to go any and everywhere one wishes. In that sense it's total freedom in that sense. We could load Infinity full of food, fuel and all other essentials and be at sea for two - three months, a crazy thought.

We continued north west on a bearing of 325 degrees throughout the afternoon. Due to a lack of wind we turned the engine back on to make progress. The sun grew really hot and rather uncomfortable. It began to set not long after this, an incredible site, so big, bright and beautiful. At dusk we pulled down the jib and knocked the engine off and went for a swim. It's quite something being able to just stop somewhere with a backdrop that beautiful and swim in the ocean, that water was 26.6 degrees.

Slowly the stars revealed themselves and the moon shone down on us, not a cloud in sight. It grew dark quite quickly, the port and starboard lights were switched on, quickly the boat became the only artificial lights visible. Not another boat in sight...

We all have scheduled watches, they're 4 hours long. 2 hours of driving and 2 of assisting the driver, this can involve making tea or driving while they go to the loo. My first watch is at 22.00 tonight till 02.00. The first two hours I'll be driving and the second I'll be assisting Sarah as she drives. I had a nap for a couple of hours before beginning my watch.


Driving was rather confusing at first, the aim is to stay on a compass bearing, in my case it was 315 degrees. With the wind and swells this becomes a little harder, so one must steers one way and until the course is corrected and then counter steer.