Locals aboard Phase2 in Panapompom

Sunday 23, September to Thursday, 27 September 2012

On Sunday, we sailed 21nm downwind from Panasia Island to Nivani Island and anchored near the beach along with 13 yachts from the New Zealand Island Cruising Association who had been invited to join us here for customs clearance and the various activities.

Two days of fun was planned the highlight being the Panapompom Regatta for 40 sailaus. The festivities started with welcome speeches and a sing-sing followed by swimming and canoe races for all divisions.

Dim dims struggle to steer the canoes

In the afternoon we headed off in the dinghy to watch the sailaus race. We sat near the gybe mark and were amazed at the skills of the crews who race in 4 divisions based on size. 

Largest sailaus

Sailaus are double ended and tacking or gybing involves one crew member running along the edge of the sailau moving the tack of the sail from one end to the other. At the same time another crew member is racing the steering oar to the other end of the hull. The sail (usually made from a  plastic tarp) is then pulled on and off they go. Warren was fascinated by these craft and took every opportunity on the trip to talk to the sailors about them.   

On the edge

Tuesday morning started with ‘Dim dim’s’ going for a sailau ride. This gave us a much closer look at these skilful sailors. 

Melissa from Honey Bee joins us on a smaller sailau sailed by Esties and his brother Hallandia. We paid K20 each ($10) and we give them some double braid rope for their sailau. 

Thomas, Esties, Hallandia and Bendie with Warren

After lunch, the rally yachts took out the sailau crews, relatives and any other locals for a fun race. Warren has never had so many people in the dinghy as on the last trip out when he said it was hard to leave anyone behind. 

About 20 people enjoyed refreshments while we sailed around. After most had been returned to shore we spent more time with Esties and his father Bendie who had built the sailau. 

We gave them more rope and cord and shirts, including my lime green V8 shirts which they seemed to like. The day ended with prize giving (Esties sailau came second in their division), an auction to raise money for the Paneati clinic and a delicious mumu. 

Esties resplendent in lime green V8 shirt

On Wednesday, we took a sailau trip to Panaeati - 6nm to the north. We enjoyed the 1 hour trip there more than the 2 hour trip back into the wind - a very wet ride! Our crew, Joe took us on a tour of the island. First we visited the primary school, grades 3-8, with desks and blackboards in orderly classrooms. Kids loved having their photo taken and looking at it on the camera.

Off for a walk through the villages with many hellos, laughing children and smiling adults. About 1000 people live here and it had a different feel to the smaller villages we later saw. This island is also where many of the sailaus are made and we photographed Archie with his latest project. 

Back at Nivani Island, we snorkeled on a Japanese Zero fighter plane which is located about 50m off the beach.

Today we head to Moturina which is 30nm away.

On to Panasia

Thursday, 20 September to Sunday, 23 September 2012

We had a leisurely sail under jib only for the 10nm from Duchateau to Panasia, arriving all together to be guided by dinghies through the narrow entrance to the lagoon.

Charts can't be trusted up here

As we rounded the sheer limestone cliffs of Panasia which rise out of the deep blue ocean, we were stunned by the picture postcard turquoise water.

Only a few families live on the island however for our visit a large group of Brooker islanders came via sailaus and motorised long boats. Bananas, paw paws, lobster, pumpkin and corn were traded.  The school children from Brooker came to perform a ‘sing sing’ for us, beautifully dressed in grass skirts and lovely leaves. 

Woven headdresses with delicate chicken feathers surrounded their heads and they waved their leaves rhythmically while they sang and danced. Everyone enjoyed meeting them and their families afterwards and hearing a little about their lives.

On Friday we visited the skull cave on Little Panasia. This was a short dinghy trip for some while those of us with smaller motors hired 2 long boats for the trip. This proved to be fast but wet! 

There are many skull caves on the island (one for each family) however most are too hard for “dim dims” to get to.

We arrived back at Panasia in time for lunch prepared by the Brooker Island Ladies Group. Paw-paw scones were a highlight. We purchased woven bags and vegetables after the lunch. 

A barbecue that night, hosted by John and Gwen from the island, featured more lobster while the locals tried our meats and salads. 

On Saturday we ventured around to the western side of the island to visit Judah and Allison’s village and their huge limestone cave.

This is now a popular swimming place however it has been used in the past to hide from warring clans. Kids (local and dim-dim, big and small) had lots of fun diving into the pool. 

We walked back to the village as they had prepared a mumu (feast) for us. 

Pork, lobster, yams, pumpkin, sweet potatoes had been cooked in a pit covered with banana leaves. Warren was cautious about eating the feast and we both avoided the pork on advice from our friend Lois who is a parasitologist. Lucky there was some lobster on the menu again. 

New shelter built for our visit

Popcorn prepared for the local kids was quickly devoured. Panasia was a great introduction to the friendly villagers who are so welcoming to us all.

Lydia and Millika came back from the village with us to get some batteries (and a few other gifts). They tried to teach us some words of "Misima" - the local language. 

Made it!

Tuesday, 18 September to Thursday, 20 September 2012 
Duchateau Islands

We anchored at the Duchateau islands at 1400 Tuesday after travelling 543nm at an average of 7.2 knots.

We had two beautiful days at Duchateau, three small sand cays surrounded by fringing reef. This was a perfect introduction to the Louisiades - white sand beaches, coconut palms and the most incredible turquoise water.

Deeper Blue 

Sailaus brought Brooker Islanders who traded with us and gathered lobsters which they barbequed to accompany our sundowners on the beach. 

Kids in new caps happy with the trade

We were all amazed at the sailing skills of the sailau crew, manhandling the whole rig to change tack, while balancing the canoe with outrigger loaded with their families.  

Wednesday night boaties provided Dim Dim (the locals name for white people) food to accompany more lobster than 65 people could eat! 

The first batch of lobster

The Brooker Island people enjoyed the variety of food and all the children loved playing soccer, the glow sticks, streamers and sparklers.

Coral Sea crossing

Saturday, 15 September to Tuesday, 18 September 2012
The sail over was with the best weather rally organiser Guy Chester has ever seen in the Coral Sea. Winds averaged 15-20 knots for the first two days, then slightly less for the rest of the trip.

Heading into Grafton Passage

I suffered from seasickness on the first 2 days along with many others but Guy reminded us “The difference between an ordeal and an adventure is your attitude”! My queasiness wasn't helped by salt water getting into our water tank through the breather holes. We drank our emergency bottled water once we realised there was a problem. Seawind 1250 Wind of Change suffered the same fate!

Phase2 and several other boats flew spinnakers during the day as the winds went south in the second half of the trip. We encountered several cargo ships as we neared the Louisiades as all ships going between Australia and most of Asia go through the nearby Jomard Entrance. We called any close ones (including the 3 below) to advise of our intentions. Wind of Change can also be seen on the plotter.

We put in a double reef to be safe the first 2 nights but had to motor sail the last night in light winds to ensure we got to the Duchateau islands in daylight so we could see the reefs. We knew we needed to maintain a 7 knot average to arrive in daylight of the 4th day.

Sunset, day 2

All systems go!

Friday, 14 September 2012

Well the last 10 days in Cairns have flown and we are leaving for the Louisiades (in PNG) tomorrow morning. It has been a great learning experience with the rally organiser and other participants (16 boats in total are going) sharing their knowledge.

Today we cleared customs and the weather looks great (touch wood).

We won’t have mobile or email access until we return to Australia around the end of October.

Our son Ben will be updating this blog regularly and also http://skipr.net/ using updates from us via Satphone. No photos unfortunately until we are back.

The rally also has a website that will have information about various events. http://www.louisiades.com/yacht-rally/2012-rally/. 

We are looking forward to finally starting the adventure, however I will be relieved when the passage to PNG is over (should take 4 days 3 nights if all goes to plan).

North to Cairns

Tuesday, 28 August to Wednesday, 5 September 2012
We left the Shaggers Rendezvous in company with 7 other yachts for the trip to Cape Upstart. Spinnaker run most of the way in perfect conditions. 2 school mackeral finally landed (and another released). Fresh fish for dinner! 13 yachts here overnight including many heading to Magnetic Island Race Week.

On Wednesday we covered the 70nm to Magnetic Island under spinnaker and anchored in Horseshoe Bay for 3 nights. Our departure further north was delayed through lack of wind but this is always a nice spot to spend a few days.

Highlight of the next few days was seeing a newborn whale as we were leaving Orpheus Island. We had been watching a whale lying on the surface for quite a while when we suddenly saw a second fin and then a small spout.

2 Dorsal fins 

The mother seemed to be pushing the whale in front of her. Eventually the baby got more and more active until it started breaching as we were leaving. Amazing!

Baby whale breaching off Little Pioneer Bay

Sunday night we were anchored at Dunk Island after a fast run with main and jib in the fresh conditions. A walk ashore revealed that not much has happened here since Cyclone Yasi although the pool has been cleaned and some staff are living in one group of units.

Dunk Island Jetty

Main restaurant and bar

Monday we sailed to Mission Bay which is just south of Cairns. Another good day for the spinnaker with a 7.3 knot average for the 68nm. Mission Bay appears to be a better anchorage than Fitzroy Island in swelly conditions.

On Tuesday with winds of 20 - 25 knots, we decided to head out Grafton Passage and practice reefing and setting our storm jib. A double reef and self tacker gave us speeds of around 8 knots then 7.5 knots with the triple reef in these conditions on the course to Louisiades (40 degrees magnetic). There was a good swell as we approached the end of the passage so it went some way to simulating the conditions we may encounter when setting the storm jib.

We took the opportunity to check how long to reach Duchateau Entrance in the Louisiades. 91 hours with storm jib and triple reef. 

Wednesday we headed to Half Moon Bay marina at Yorkeys Knob.On the way in we set the drogue - easier to set than retrieve.

We are here for 10 days to prepare for our first offshore passage. Some other yachts already here and there have already been many discussions around weather, provisioning etc. Guy Chester's preparation program begins on Tuesday. It looks like being a busy week!

Shagger's Rendezvous

Tuesday, 21 August 2012 to Monday, 27 August 2012
Tuesday we sailed up through the Gloucester Passage and anchored off Eco resort. We were joined by 130 other boats for the Shag Islet Cruising Yacht Club "Vice Commodore" Rendezvous 2012.

Gloucester Island 

Ken and Rhonda had a full program of events including ladies tennis, welcome drinks, Shag Islet Party, Parrot Head party at Monte's Resort and Pirate party at Dingo Beach. We caught up with old friends and made many new ones. There was a wedding on the beach and over $30,000 was raised for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and $2500 for Whitsunday VMR.

Impressive cake that depicts Shag Islet

Party ends as high tide approaches

About 400 people had a great time in an event that has traditional clubs wondering the secret of its success. Good fun, good value, member driven..........SICYC has over 1700 Vice Commodores (there are no Commodores or ordinary members) spread across the world. 

Ready to party (Photo by Nancy Jenks)