#BigPacificSail Episode 2

Episode 2 of #BigPacificSail is up and proving quite popular! You can check it out here for free: https://vimeo.com/161223177 

I for one am glad that I put all this work and effort into the making of this. I have had many compliments from people I don't know, people who have traveled onboard Infinity and are reminded fondly of their time while watching it. 

I hope you enjoy it! 

#BigPacificSail Episode 2

Check out Infinity Expedition here www.infinityexpedition.org 

Episode 1

#BigPacificSail | Episode 1

The moment we've all been waiting for! Follow the link above to watch the first instalment of the adventure!! 

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!! 

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! 

Vanuatu to Papua New Guinea

Today is the day! We’re setting sail for Alotau, Papua New Guinea! A voyage of 1400 NMs. It’s been as amazing time here in Vanuatu, I’m glad we’ve had these five days to settle in. 

It’s something new and an adventure in its own right. I’m super excited but its also rather scary at the same time. i’ll have to give you the whole run down when we arrive.

Communication will stop while I’m sailing and resume when I find a wifi signal at PNG. 

That’s it for now! Talk soon! 

#BigPacificSail #Vanuatu #PapuaNewGuinea #Pacific #sailing #InfinityExpedition 

Voyage Preparations

Preparations for our voyage to Papua New Guinea have begun. There's a lot of fixing, stitching, list writing, provisioning, buying of supplies and general tidying up of the boat. The chain on the front winch needed reconnecting to its handle. One of the storm jibs needed to be dried and repaired before being stowed away. 

It's a 1100 mile journey to Papua New Guinea as the crow flies. Very rarely with big ocean sailing can you sail in a straight line, so our course across the Coral Sea will probably be slightly longer. We'll have to sail south west with the wind then gybe North towards Alotau, so we're looking at more like 1400 miles, although it's hard to give a specific figure. 

A rough plan of our route to New Guinea. 

We leave Tuesday at noon. I'm glad we've had these few days here in Espiritu Santo as it's allowed me to settle and knock out some diving, as well as get to know the guys onboard. However, I don't really feel like we've started the adventure yet. I'm really excited about the voyage and learning how to sail, but also rather daunted by it. 1400 miles is a long way and I've done 0 miles of sailing on a boat this size. But I'm in safe and experienced hands, which is always good. Here's a rough look at what the route will look like. 

A fishing boat at Million Dollar Point, Santo. Notice the boat hull
resting on truck frames.  

My filming project #BigPacificSail is coming along well. I did my first interview with Menno the dive instructor this morning and I have one with Captain Clemens this evening some time. Tomorrow I do my final dive on the President Coolidge and have arranged to interview 83 year old Allan Powers, a local legend in these parts. He arrived in Santo during the 1970s and has run Allan Powers a Dive Tours since then. He stopped diving some time ago but it's estimated that he's dived the wreck of the President Coolidge 25,000 times! Yes and I do mean 25,000 not 250 or any variation there of. I look forward to bringing you that interview, I'm excited about it too! Footage of the wreck all also feature in the first episode. 

Upload looks unlikely before I hit the Philippines. Writing posts and a uploading picture takes long enough on an island, so it's very optimistic of me to promise anything to anybody. In the end its probably a good thing to focus on filming now and piece it all together later on.

That's all for now folks!


Follow the dive log on Twitter! @thedivelog101

Arriving on Infinity

After almost thirty hours of traveling I final made it to Infinity! First mate and dive instructor Menno along with Zoe, Kila and Sarah met me at Santo Airport yesterday evening. From there it was a short cab ride to the Beachfront Resort situated just outside of Luganville, the main town on the Espiritu Santo. It was dark when I arrived so my filming ideas went rather to pot. The smells and just the general feel of the place took me back to being in Fiji, I feel like I never left, just had an extended leave of absence. It's a wonderful part of the world to come back to.

It was a short boat trip from the beach to the boat, I really did get the sense of beginning something epic heading out towards Infinity. She's is certainly a lot bigger than I'd imagined. I have my own cabin, it's big and spacious and the guys here are supper friendly and helpful a great bunch of people I'm going get along with just fine.

I got a full tour of the boat from Zoe, from the bow to the stern. We then had some dinner which was very welcome, soup, garlic bread, fish and salad! I think this is something unique and special about Infiniity, that community feel. It's a really mixing pot of people and backgrounds all brought together in the passion for adventure and exploration. They're only a few of us on board now, although things may get busier later in the trip. I felt like right at home from the off and so welcome. We sat around chatting for a while afterwards. Then it was bed time for me I went out like a light! 

The Plan. 

The Kundu War Canoe festival begins on the 5th of November in Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea. We'll be in Vanuatu till the 20th of October and then we begin the 1000 mile voyage to Milne Bay! This is a slightly overwhelming thought but something I'll just have to get used to as an adventure in itself. I can't help but think that's why I came in the first place. We have a couple of dives here in Vanuatu booked for the weekend which I'm excited about, the wreck of the USS Coolidge and Million Dollar Point. 

It's great, I'm glad I'm here and extra blessed that my bag made it when I did too! 

More coming soon! 

P.S 

Got a question? Tweet @thedivelog101 and I'll try and get back to you ASAP. The internet situation isn't great, luckily the Beachfront Resort are welcoming to those anchored in the bay use the wifi for free! Communication will stop when we're sailing, but I'll be writing and filming in the meantime and will respond to your tweets when we're hooked back up to the World Wide Web!