Re-visiting Rabaul

Having sailed up from the Solomon Islands it was quite emotional for me to be sailing along the coast of East New Britain, where I had spent two years working in health back in the 1980s. Back then I had stopped at many places for maternal and child health clinics in a team with nurses and sometimes agricultural officers.

We got rides on cargo boats…piled high with copra (dried coconut). We would walk for several days into the interior, up steep mountain sides through the misty forest – which I could see again as we glided by.

Rabaul port is a caldera, the rim of an extinct volcano and is very pretty with more recent eruptions making hills around it and an active volcano which has erupted several times over the past few years forcing the town of Rabaul to relocate along the coast to Kokopo and leaving a ghost-town port.  Everything is overgrown and abandoned.

I had found the email addresses of immigration and customs and health through a friend and notified them before arrival.

We anchored outside the Rabaul Yacht Club and picked up the officials in our dinghy from the yacht club pontoon. A Health official came first and was very helpful as was Immigration. We had obtained a visa (no charge) in Honiara, Solomon Islands (UK passports). Apparently you can obtain one electronically, but there is a charge.

Customs was a different story … it wasn’t a pleasant experience and the official did not complete the inward clearance so we had a complication when we left PNG. As much as I love East New Britain, I would advise yachts to miss Rabaul and check in at Kavieng, New Ireland, where the officials are very accommodating.

Sadly, as soon as we anchored in Rabaul we were warned … not to go anywhere alone… not to walk along the roads … not to leave anything valuable on the boat. It all seemed unbelievable in a place I had grown to love, but as we travelled about you could see how much things had changed … people were uneasy… well dressed young men with phones were viewed with suspicion.

We went up to Kokopo and we visited the beautiful market there and were able to meet up with old friends, which was wonderful.

Rabaul to Kavieng, New Ireland

We set sail for New Ireland, passing the distinctive Tavuvur volcano with its blackened sides, with the wind behind us. It was an overnight sail and during the night a storm blew up (not forecasted!) with heavy rain, high winds and choppy seas. This is a treacherous stretch of water and many lives are lost crossing between islands in the small boats. Luckily we were soon in the lee of the island and motored in to the beautiful anchorage off Nusa Resort.

Such a nice place to rest a while. They do a delicious buffet here with all sorts of seafood. We walked around the island and chatted to the shell jewellery makers who had stalls along the way. Traditionally in Papua New Guinea shell money is used for custom occasions, bride price and honouring the dead. Every area has its own shell. They are cut into circular shapes and threaded through a string to make into bundles.

We went over to the market in Kavieng, everything more relaxed than Kokopo, but people were still worried about our safety. We were told not to leave the boat near the port at night and went back to the anchorage at Nusa.

Nusa to Hermit Islands – 349NM

The passage along the north coast of Papua New Guinea can be challenging because of the light winds and occasional storms. We set off in grey skies with just 0.8 knots of wind! We were headed to the Hermit Islands, a remote set of islands surrounded by reef about 200 miles off the mainland coast.

We had to get to the pass in the reef before sunset so that we could see the reef clearly, yet we arrived in the rain after motoring hard to get there and visibility was not good. There were post markers but it was easy to mistake what they were marking and we had to make a few last minute turns in the strong current but managed to enter the beautiful lagoon and were rewarded with spectacular views.

We motored round the islands the next day and were accompanied by spinner dolphins…twirling in delight at our bow.

We met Adrian and Royaline who were developing a tourist lodge for yachties on Luf Island and we promoted their business on Facebook and swapped a few things for their amazing vegetables. Their land is right by a pass where manta rays regularly swim. Such beautiful creatures.

We chatted with many villages passing by the boat in dug out canoes and small boats with outboards. Once a group of schoolboys stopped by for water and were thrilled that we had chilled water to give them. Others wanted to swap fishing hooks, sewing needles, books and pens and crayons for the children, milk powder and flour. Several asked for the weather forecast that we could get via our satellite system. They were wanting to head to the mainland and Manus, but the winds were high and the swell too steep for their open boats. It was a dangerous crossing but this was the only way they could access much needed supplies.

We felt very welcome here. Snorkelling on the reef was spectacular and the sunsets were beautiful. It was a special, magical place we felt very lucky to be able to visit.

Hermit Islands to Ninigo Islands – 60NM

We can only do about 40nm in daylight so in order to arrive in the light we set off at 9.00pm. I had a torch on the bow looking for unsuspecting night fishermen who paddle out without lights and could be anywhere across the lagoon. The pass though the reef on the western side was larger and we passed through without incident.

We had a good sail to the Ninigo Islands, another set of islands surrounded by reef so we had to sail some way round the outer reef to find the pass. The sea was quite choppy and there were strong currents but we soon found our way in and anchored off Mal island.

A local fisherman came to greet us, Lewis, and came back later with his two gorgeous girls who didn’t stop talking. He said he had a son who was quiet but these two were very different! He invited us to his house and we took food to share and were treated like VIPs, all the children keen to practice English and tell us about their lives. We walked along their well kept village path and visited a government development officer, John, who was working with a Christian language charity to notate their tribal language. We met the women involved who said the language was remarkable, very sophisticated and one of 800 languages in Papua New Guinea. Sadly many are lost if they are not written down as the young learn only Melanesian pisin and English.

Later I went to talk at the school about our travels. It was lovely to engage with the community here. This was a special place with strong traditions, one being sailing canoes with a rig that is hoisted differently for each tack … the winds being usually consistent at different times of the year. They travel miles like this when the winds allow. One of the advantages of arriving by sail boat is to make a connection with respect and appreciation for life on the ocean waves.

Ninigo Islands to Vanimo – 207NM

We can usually sail roughly 120nm in 24 hours, but with this passage we had to time it right so that we arrived in Vanimo, a port of entry/exit, in the early hours in order for us to check out and leave in daylight.

We had heard there were security concerns in Vanimo, a town we knew well back in the 80s. It had changed a lot and was now a busy port full of Chinese shops and supermarkets. Luckily we had some contacts through a friend who had lived in Papua New Guinea for many years.

Patrick, our contact in Vanimo, was wonderful and drove to the harbour office to make sure they had received our emails. He had already contacted customs and immigration and soon a group of officials were at the dock waiting to be collected – it took two trips there were so many!

It turned out that the Customs guy in Rabaul had not given us the right papers or explained to us that we had to check out and check in at each harbour. They rang him and he shouted at me on the phone saying we should have known this and that we had to go back to Rabaul! Luckily the Customs officer in Vanimo, Greg, went out of his way to help us and we went to see his boss who cleared our papers.

Vanimo is not an easy port to exit PNG and other sailors on the northern route have felt better off by checking in and out of PNG at Kavieng with ‘emergency’ stops in the Hermit islands and the Ninigo islands.

Patrick arranged for Paul to look after our dinghy on the beach and for Zero to take us about town to collect supplies in his taxi. We managed to complete everything in good time and were very grateful for the help we had and the provisions we had gathered for our seven day sail to Indonesia.

We sailed out of the harbour in the late afternoon, leaving Papua New Guinea in a glorious sunset with mixed thoughts and emotions about a country we had grown to love.

Catherine Hayward
Sailed the northern route through Papua New Guinea in June/July 2023.