Friday 5 September – arriving in Kavieng

When Rowan took over at midnight, we put the parasail back up as the wind had picked up a little and there did not seem to be any squalls about. By breakfast time the wind started dying and it was not long before the motors were back on, otherwise we would arrive in Kavieng in darkness. At least Rowan had a good sail on his shift. It seems a busy shipping route as we passed some big cargo ships, travelling from Indonesia to Australia we assume.

Rowan had the fishing lines out and when he saw a big boil up of fish and birds, he changed course to go through it. It worked a treat and it was not long before he caught a small tuna. That was a good way to pass the time in this boiling heat, with no wind to cool us. We finally got into Kavieng just after 3pm with a couple of squalls lurking around us. We spotted Profasea so we knew exactly where to go, we are anchoring off a little island just opposite Kavieng town, outside an Aussie surf resort which has rave reviews as it is very welcoming to yachts. Luckily we got our anchor down in time before the rain came.

The crew from Profasea had found avocados in the market which was big excitement, so they made guacamole for a drinks get together. Claudette had asked if she could come and see us before drinks. Turns out Jen and Kary are leaving, it is pretty tough for them, she gets sea sick and is an exercise fanatic so finding it very hard going. Kary has these sores which he is now on antibiotics for, but has meant he could not go into the water for weeks. I don’t think they understood how remote this route is, and being vegetarian I think they have struggled with food too. Any how it all seems reasonably amicable, although Claudette was relying on their rental for income, 100US$ a day. She wanted to confirm with us that she could buddy boat with us as now she will be on her own, too hard to get new crew. Of course we agreed but have told her we will be spending the next couple of weeks around here with our guests and won’t be leaving anytime soon. We have to check out of PNG here in Kavieng. She will fit in with our plans. It is sad for us too, as Jen and Kary were a good balancing act. Anyway the evening all ended with us having a fun drinks evening (our drinks!) and a guacamole feast!