Thursday 3 November 2016

3rd November 2016 - Bagaman Island - Moturina Island - Panasia Island (Louisiades,PNG)

Thursday 26th November 2016 

And how beautiful is Hobart, in this changeable spring weather!!??

A random Hobart house and garden
Monday 26th September 

11 degrees 03.870S
152 degrees 35.121E
Ninan Island
Louisiades, PNG

Moses, Pete, Simon
This morning I had a last swim from bommie to bommie across our Bagaman Island bay, and then we set off for Moturina Island in 2XS, towing Moses’s banana boat behind us, and carrying aboard Moses, Simon, and five very happy children.  (Towing to save fuel for Moses.)  


We dropped them off at a small island, where they were going to go fishing, and went on to find a most beautiful anchorage just across from Moturina, off Ninan Island, which is small, gorgeous, and uninhabited (a plus…)  Uninhabited by humans but inhabited by MANY birds!  Kites, eagles, parrots, pigeons, cockatoos.  Fabulous!

Drop-off time, with passing sail
We are anchored quite closer to shore, in a more or less sandy patch, surrounded by very nice coral bommies.  We went for a long swim to explore the underwater landscape, where we managed to annoy a moray eel before making our way back to the boat to scrub.  Actually who knows if the moray eel was annoyed?  It is hard to tell; they have very vicious-looking faces, and they poke a bit of their long body and all of their crabby-looking face out of their hole to look at passing strangers.  Maybe they are just interested; I always think they look PISSED OFF!

Moses and his brothers have cleaned the boat very beautifully, scrubbing away with coconut fibre.  But the green stuff is already building up; we are going to have to go up and down every inch of the boat every day to try to keep it at bay.

Moturina Island

11 degrees 04.511S
152 degrees 34.442E
Moturina Island, 5.9m sand/coral
Louisiades PNG

Daisy and Marguerite (before my fall from grace...story to be continued...)

We spent a few nights anchored in a slightly rocky place, with sand and coral beneath us.  This is where the boarding school is.  We did a quick visit, with our friend Daisy (met on Misima Island.)  She came out to the boat, with phones to charge, clothes to be mended, and was a sane and sensible guide to the island.  She has invited us to dinner, when we return with Michael in a week or so.

Panasia Island

11 degrees 07.938S
152 degrees 19.983E
Panasia Island
6.5m


This is such a spectacular island – towering limestone cliffs with many folds and fissures, brave little trees growing from unlikely places.  Sparkling turquoise water – the whole deal.



I am so enjoying having Michael on board.  How often does a mother get the chance to spend three weeks in close proximity to her 35 year old son, in glorious remote locations?

Michael reunited with HappyMother
We have been chatting, laughing, and paying very long intense games of rummyking.  And best of all – Michael has been snorkelling with me!  He is amazed and impressed with underwater life, although thus far he hasn’t really seen the best coral.  He hasn’t ever really done it before and is very competent.  BUT…he is very wary of crocodiles and sharks.  I have reassured him that the sharks are small, friendly and actually very shy.  Crocs – a bit harder to sell…

Marguerite and Michael underwater

I am actually terrified of crocodiles too, and I always ask, at every village, before I go in the water, if there are crocodiles.  If they say yes, I just don’t go in.  But they nearly always say no, and the water is so heavenly – clear, sparkling, inviting…impossible to resist! 

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