A great two-month cruise

Many sailors either avoid Papua New Guinea (PNG) completely or go quickly through the north-east corner of PNG due mostly to security issues with the so-called raskols (or rascals)*.   Our two month exploration journey (January to April 2025) was quite a pleasant experience, mostly due to the research we did beforehand, benefiting from advice given by cruisers preceding us there.

The resources we used the most were Noonsite, Soggy Paws Compendiums, Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) bulletins, anchorages listed on No Foreign Land/Zulu Waterways as well as speaking to cruisers we have met during our years of cruising.

PNG Formalities

Obtaining an e-visa online on the PNG government site was quick, easy and not expensive. After obtaining this, make sure to file all the official documents required by both Immigration and Customs and email these documents AT LEAST THREE days in advance. After sending all the required documents to the PNG Immigration and Border Security before our departure from Davao, Philippines, we kept in touch with them to update our ETA to Kavieng.   We also kept the, informed about our short stops in both Ninigo and Hermit atolls in order to repair some technical issues (ripped genoa, packing gland leak and more).

They did not object to our short stops and it avoided any issue when checking in officially at Kavieng. As in most countries, one is not allowed ashore anywhere before being cleared in. Temporary stops can be granted for valid reasons and informing authorities in this digital communications age should prevent any unpleasant boarding by Border Patrol officers.

Stories of drug-running boats abound and give the Border Patrols reasons to suspect any of us ‘breaking the rules’ and to treat us as guilty until proven innocent! The old days of poor up-to-date information and no communications at sea are over! Let’s not give any reason to any officials to be badly treated by following the rules as much as possible and informing them ahead of time of special circumstances making it difficult or impossible to follow the laws of their land. Hopefully common sense and some empathy will then prevail!

Clearing in at Kavieng was a breeze! Only two places to visit:

• First the Quarantine office (walking distance from the government dock where your dinghy is safe);
• Then the Customs/Immigration office (nestled on the 2nd floor in between two mini-marts in town) where our passports were stamped starting our 60 day e-visa (obtained before departing from the Philippines and costing less than US$50/pp). If you want to get a one month extension, make sure you notify Immigration early enough (at least one to two weeks before your initial e-visa expires).

There was only a small charge (88 Kinas = US$22) for Quarantine which had to be deposited in their bank account in town.

We obtained a cruising permit (free) by simply sending the application form by email.

Keep in mind that checking in and out of every major port is required in PNG.

So we checked out from Kavieng with Customs/Immigration for our next port Kokopo/Rabaul, a quick and easy process with no fee. It is easier and faster to check in/out from Kokopo because in Rabaul, you have to arrange with Kokopo Immigration to come to Rabaul to check you out. No fees on checking out.

Trading with Local People

New Ireland province includes New Hanover islands and offer a choice of nice communities to visit. Local people, especially those living far away from towns with stores, are eager to trade fresh organic foods and what nature supplies them in abundance, for useful items both man and factory- made. Nobody begged or was in any way pushy. A win-win, as we had brought with us what we thought would be useful to them and we feasted on fresh food. Whenever we could test or repair anything they needed, like solar lights, chainsaws, or relay messages online via our Starlink, it was appreciated. No rascals/raskol* reported anywhere.

*’raskols’ (rascal or raskol is a generic term for a criminal or group of criminals in Papua New Guinea, primarily in the larger cities, including Port Moresby and Lae. Raskol is a Tok Pisin word derived from the English word rascal).

Town safety

Kavieng: Laid-back friendly town where you can walk anywhere and feel safe. Everyone we encountered greeted us with a “hello” or “good morning” and were so kind and gracious. If you looked hesitant they asked if they could help you and would often walk with you to the place you were looking for.

Kokopo: One has to be a little more alert here, but we still felt safe.

Rabaul: Here it is good to be more alert, sometimes to be accompanied by local people, but we traveled by local buses between Kokopo and Rabaul several times without any issues and walked by ourselves at the local market and near it without feeling exposed. Listen to local people and they will let you know what they consider safe or not, they are very solicitous and most are anxious to make sure you are safe.

Anchorage safety

Kavieng: Well sheltered from any weather, near the cruiser-friendly Nusalik Resort. Only a short dinghy ride to the town market, right on the coast and to the government dock from where you can easily walk into the town center. Or you can take the resort shuttle for a small fee.

Kokopo: Anchor in front of the cruiser-friendly Kokopo Beach Bungalows Resort (KBB) (check our coordinates in the anchorage spreadsheet we have provided at the end of this report, because we ended up in the wrong place using coordinates we got off the overlays we were using). The resort manager, Mukesh Kumar, is very helpful (WA +675 7003 5338). Make sure you anchor well on the wide shallow good volcanic sand plateau because the anchorage is an open roadstead and several sailboats have ended up ashore over the years during passing squalls. We experienced mild weather in April. The resort crew will help you pull your dinghy on the beach and will keep an eye on it as well as your yacht while you are ashore. The manager can arrange for a security person to stay onboard to make sure no unwelcome visitor stops by. Our three Schipperkes did their watch and guard duty as usual, alerting the crew ashore if anyone approached by sea.

Money

ATMs are available at the BSP banks. Westpac banks are not popular and offer very few services, no ATM. If you need anything done inside the BSP bank, prepare yourself for a very long wait as the banks are always packed full of people and the employees pace slow and the process inefficient. Cash money exchange is offered in Kavieng at BSP and Westpac (via a money changer coming to the bank and exchanging at daily bank rates). Money exchange in Kokopo is only available at the BSP.

Provisioning

All of the towns have good fresh vegetable and fruit market places. We believe they probably don’t use pesticides or artificial fertilizer so are basically organic. Kavieng had the best fresh market. Kokopo had the best Supermarkets for Westerners. All had pretty good hardware stores.

Communications

A few different networks are present, the two main ones being Vodaphone and Digicel. They offer inexpensive data plans but coverage is scarce when away from any cities like Kavieng, Kokomo and Rabaul. Some islands like the Duke of York have partial coverage. Starlink, while still not endorsed in PNG at this time, works very well everywhere we have been in PNG and there was no issue with authorities concerning our use of the system.

Kavieng

The fruit and vegetable market is so convenient, just on the sea side with easy dinghy access, so we went there several times. There is no real place to tie the dinghy. The first few times some one had put big rocks near the wall, and we tied to those, but they disappeared. There are so many people around that no one would mess with the dinghy with so many God-fearing witnesses watching. Later on, Luc would drop Jackie right at the market and tie the dinghy at the govt dock nearby (also good surveillance) and walk to the market. The market is amazing and the prices are great. Surprising finds: Feb-Mar, tons of avocados, some mangoes, beautiful head lettuce in abundance, huge mud crabs at ~ $5 US. Open Tue- Sat, with Sat being the best day, and Tuesday the least. It pays to go many days, as you may find, say, tons of carrots on one day and none the next. This was the best of the 3 town markets.

Supermarkets

Every other building is a “supermarket” in these towns, but us honkies will find the most of our kind of food at Joe Tongs, and Bisi Supermarket. They both have freezers with frozen beef, chicken, pork, and limited lamb cuts. JT’s has a fresh meat counter. They both have potatoes, yellow onions (expensive!) cabbage, and occasional other veggies not found at the fresh markets. JT’s has better choice of cheeses and dairy. Both sell eggs, but not always in stock. Non-refrigerated: Some surprising finds, Pasta sauces, dressings, etc., but if you plan on going to Kokopo, you will find better selection there.

Restaurants

Best restaurant is the Nusalik Resort right next to anchorage. They can come pick you up on your boat if you are worried about using your dinghy at night after a few drinks :) Expensive Buffet night on Fridays (110K + drinks).

Fuel

The gas station in town has a truck that transfers people and their jugs to/from the station and the beach area (market, public dock) so it is easy to speak to them first and arrange for transport and refilling at the gas station. Clean diesel, gasoline are available at the pump. Payment by credit card and cash accepted. Small surcharge on credit card purchases might not exceed ATM charges for cash. The Nusalik Resort can also arrange fuel to be delivered by small boat directly to your boat.

Scuba Diving

Contact the local dive center in town, or contact via Nusalik Resort.  They can take you out diving or refill your tanks.

Kokopo

The fresh market is at the main bus stop where you catch the bus to Rabaul, Ask for the Bus A1. Takes about 45 minutes and costs about 6Kina each. The market itself is good, but at the time we were there, there had been no rain for weeks and prices were about double of Kavieng. Prices in Rabaul market were more like Kavieng prices. Both markets are open Monday to Saturday.

Supermarkets

The best provisioning for westerners of the three towns we visited! The two treasure troves are Andersons (just a five minute walk from KBB) and Tropicana, (another 15-20 min walk further). Andersons is small but packed with treats like Australian specialty goods, Indian dry goods and spices, cheeses and dairy, frozen and fresh meats and imported vegetables and fruits. Tropicana has the most extensive choice of frozen goods and meats and sea foods. Imported and local beef, chicken, pork, and lamb. (US$100 leg of lamb, anyone?) Imported vegetables, like broccoli and fruits, like kiwifruit. Dry goods included Australian canned goods, Asian, Chinese and Malaysian foods and spice packets. Do all your supermarket shopping in Kokopo.

Restaurants

KBB offers very nice a-la-carte dishes: local, Indian & international at resort prices (60K+ dishes). We enjoyed their Asian brunch (46K) on Sunday and we were able to use the resort small pool on that day by asking the manager.

Fuel

KBB can arrange fuel delivery by small boat, as it would be harder to lug jugs from below on the beach up the stairs to the hotel entrance.

Scuba Diving

The local dive center at the KBB resort closed down, but another dive center is reported to be operating in the area.

Rabaul

Like in Kokopo, the bus stop for all the buses is at the fruit and vegetable market in town. Catch the A1 bus to Kokopo at the front of the market, and the A7 bus to the Yacht Club and Hotel Rabaul, at the back street of the market. The market is open Monday to Saturday, the best being Saturday and the least being Monday. Prices are better than Kokopo.

Supermarkets

There are many “supermarkets” all around the market area. But since we provisioned in Kokopo, we only shopped at the Mit Haus (Meat House) where the YC gets their Meat Trays that they raffle on Wednesday and Friday nights. Not nearly as extensive as Tropicana, but you can find a reasonable selection of frozen meats and chicken.

Restaurants

The Yacht Club offers all day, 10am – 8pm Pub-style food at reasonable prices (30K dishes) The Rabaul Hotel has Chinese and Western dishes, we looked at the menu but did not have a chance to try the food. Ask RYC to arrange transport both ways to hotel, for security.

Fuel

Easily arranged with the Rabaul Yacht Club to deliver fuel by car to the YC dock or by small boat to deliver to your yacht.

Scuba Diving

Rod Pearce at the Yacht Club (see info. below) is the expert in WWII wreck diving in the harbor as he explored and worked underwater in the harbor for so many years! Ask him nicely for wreck locations if you would like to explore some on your own. You could also ask Rod for tank refills.

Rabaul Yacht Club (RYC)

One of the friendliest yacht clubs we visited over the years, we felt truly welcomed. Before the pandemic they had many yachts visiting but since then, because of the poor local economy, youths with diplomas and no jobs have turned to thievery and have given a bad name to the whole area.

From the Yacht Club manager, Beverly (WA +675 7115 7125) and staff to the members we met, everyone was so nice and helpful. Two free moorings are available to you as your YC patronage at the bar and restaurant (daily 10am-8pm) is appreciated. Friday nights are the most lively.

The yacht club has a dock where you can tie your dinghy and get water. Garbage disposal is offered as well as clean bathrooms and a big dry area and restaurant. Two security companies are protecting the Yacht Club area as well as keeping an eye on boats and dinghies.

There is one resident cruiser, Rod Pearce and his family on his old motor charter boat and new sailboat, on a mooring in front of the RYC. Super nice people and Rod is also a jack-of-all-trades having lived in PNG for so many years running a scuba charter boat, doing underwater welding work and more. If you have any technical issue with your boat, he is the best person to talk to as he can steer you to the right local businesses or help you himself! (WA +675 7063 8891 – rodpearce7@gmail.com ).

CO2 refills

If you refill your SodaSteam canisters yourself and have a connecting hose to big cylinders, you might be able to get CO2 from Nicholas at RMI, a Yacht Club member. (This is NOT a regular service. RMI made a special service for us after we exhausted every other possibility.)

General comments

About our route and places visited during our January-April 2025 PNG cruise:

• We motor-sailed most of the time. This was shared by all the cruisers we met, no matter what direction they were going. Only short exceptions during short periods of increased wind speeds. The light winds made for calmer anchorages. But swell made some anchorages less comfortable. The NW winds seen in the Pilot Charts did not really show up until April and sailors who were here last year reported the same issue. We are glad we did not experience SE winds during our time early in the year as it would have made a sailing or motor-sailing passage harder.
• Passing south of Manus saved us from an adverse current that other sailors who passed north of Manus encountered.
• Officials in Kavieng and Kokopo/Rabaul were friendly and regulations/paperwork not too burdensome. Fees very reasonable.
• We did not feel insecure in any of the places visited and the people of the islands north of Manus, New Ireland and Kokopo/Rabaul area were friendly, attentive to our safety, and even in the most remote islands, their English was good and they were amazingly articulate.
• Trading was always welcome, no pushy people and no hordes of canoes surrounding our boat. Traders came often one after the other and boats curious passing by were waving and did not stick around as some cruisers reported in other cruising areas.

• After checking in  at Kavieng, we back-tracked to visit several interesting areas in New Hanover and we are glad we did, because once you leave the Kavieng area, there are not many places of interest along New Ireland, on your way to the Duke of York Islands and East New Britain.

Favourite anchorages

In this document – PNG Anchorages – SV Sloepmouche- you will find the GPS positions, anchoring depth and bottom type as well as comments for each of the 24 anchorages we stayed at during our PNG cruise.

Ninigo – Longan island: A great introduction to PNG remote communities and a nice break to fix any technical issues. Oscar and his family are the contacts for visiting yachts. They spontaneously organized a get-together and shared meal with their community.

Hermit – Maron island: Another great introduction to PNG remote communities and a place to fix any technical issue. Augustine and his mother and family also offered a meal of local foods.

Nusalomon Island: A protected anchorage on the way to/from Kavieng just 8nm away.

Kavieng Nusalik Resort: Best place to anchor near Kavieng town.

Mosuang Island: Mary seems to be the very jolly Island matriarch of this once uninhabited island. They gave us a tour and asked for us to talk to the kids to practice English. We had some of the liveliest trading of local food stuffs of the New Hanover islands.

Unusa Island: Islanders can guide you on a nice river trip by local canoe or dinghy nearby.

Ungalik Island: Great to discover local culture and for surfing spots nearby. Steven was the Ward Councillor at the time and he and his five communities welcome visitors.

Tunnung Island: A visit to Clem’s Place is a must. Discover what a Permitted School is and interact with the 45 lucky students in this unique community school with Clem, a long time friend of sailors and mega-yachts. Do you like to share any practical skills with students or just interact with them? This is the place!

Kokopo Beach Bungalow Resort: Yacht friendly resort and easy access to big town. Nice ambiance and good restaurant.

Rabaul Yacht Club: Friendliest yacht club, free moorings, and easy access to volcano, hot springs, WWII sites and a big town.

Conclusions on our PNG Cruising

We are very happy to have experienced a little of what PNG has to offer away from the mainland and mining areas where rascals/raskols make life unsafe for everyone including locals as well as visitors. Don’t let these stories deter you from cruising this less discovered area of the South Pacific!

One can only hope that, in the future, the mainland becomes as safe as in the north east of the country. We recommend this route to any cruiser traveling either way between the South Pacific and South Asia, especially if bypassing Australia!

Luc Callebaut
s/v Sloepmouche

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About the Authors

Luc and his partner Jackie, have been exploring the warm waters of the world since 1992 on board their 46ft Norman Cross trimaran. They have lived and worked in the Caribbean, Pacific and for the past five years have been cruising in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.  They are now cruising eastward through Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands into the Pacific.

Luc worked as a regional editor for Noonsite for many years.   Find out more about Luc and Jackie here [https://cornellsailing.com/archives/past-rallies/the-team/#LucJackie]

Videos about their cruising adventures can be viewed on their YouTube channel “Tropical Sailing Life” which contains more than 600 original, edited, titled, cruising videos.

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Other Noonsite reports from Luc and Jackie:

• Indonesia, Bitung:  Notes on a Lengthy Check-Out
• SE Asia:  Cruising Notes on Malaysia and Indonesia.
• Vanuatu:  Cruisers Deliver Aid to Communities
• Indonesia:  Clearance Experiences at Bintam and Batam
• Malaysia:  Update on Sebana Cove Marina
• Pacific Crossing 2022:  Panama and Galapagos Update
• Pacific Crossing 2022:  French Polynesia Update

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