Tuesday 2 September – a cool, cloudy day for a walk

It was a great relief to have a cool day. Profasea were off by 7am. We had the squadron of kids in canoes paddling around us, they keep very quiet and behave so we managed to ignore them until after our late breakfast. They are just so curious. 

Humphrey the chief’s son came out to greet us, I still can’t get used to the sinister red mouths from the betel nut, the added scraggly teeth that go with it, is very sad. I’ve just asked ChatGPT about the health problems associated with it, and it is dire. Same addiction level as nicotine, a big cause of cancer and destroys the enamel on teeth, causing tooth loss. Ugh and to think we saw kids of about 3 years old chewing it! We headed in to see Chief Linus after breakfast. Plenty of kids in canoes to guide us through the reef to the beach in front of the village. The water colour is sensational. 

We went to the chief’s house, he is a large man, with loads of gravitas, and very well spoken, so much better than the following generations. His home was immaculate with a few interesting things on the walls. A big painting of Jesus, once again this island is all Catholic. Also a large list of all 14 of his kids, 8 from his first wife, and 6 from Philomena his current wife, who is very sweet. We were tickled to see her lovely old sewing machine having pride of place, apparently they both use it. He was very sweet with all the village kids who crowded around, he apologised for their curiosity, explaining that they do not see a lot of white people. We handed over loads of rice and tinned food, a kitchen knife and tongs. We gave Philomena a business class airline bag filled with additional soap, which she really liked. He got some old trousers and a cap belonging to Rowan which he was also very chuffed with. He welcomed us effusively, giving us permission to walk and snorkel wherever we wanted to, assuring us were totally safe. 

We asked to go for a walk and he appointed a young lad Tungsten his grandson, and two girls to accompany us to the freshwater cave, with a walk through the jungle. These three escorts were all teenagers, incredibly polite and thoughtful. We had a whole entourage of younger kids join us. It was all very jolly, a lovely walk through thick forest opening up to some homesteads, everywhere so neat and tidy. Interestingly here the pigs roam absolutely free, they are neither tethered or enclosed, and look in great condition, unlike so many of the other islands. The bird and insect noise was phenomenal, birds were mainly the very colourful red and green parrots. We finally got to the cave with the fresh water pouring in, it opened into a wonderful hidden little bay with amazing colour water. They wanted to show us a shark fossil that required walking over the spiky coral, which was absolutely perilous for us, but they were like klipspringers (an African buck that runs over rocks!), running all over it and barefoot. I had a girl either side helping me along. Finally we decided it was crazy, if one of us fell we would be in a real pickle with a nasty coral cut, Rowan finally swam around to the cave, Tungsten carried his phone over for him to take a photo. Rowan was not that impressed, he didn’t think it was a fossil but a local legend. I opted to swim back to the little beach rather than walk over the coral, the girls took my bag, in all my clothes I sank into blissfully cool water, the fresh water comes underground and is deliciously cool.

The kids were very chatty all the way. There is a gold mining island about 40 miles away, where Tungsten’s dad works, which means he doesn’t see a lot of him.  Us cruisers are told to avoid the islands with mines on them as they are not safe. I’m happy to avoid them, I hate to think what the conditions are like, but it is owned by Newmont mining which is American so should be respectable one would hope! Chief Linus greeted us on our return, very concerned we may have over exerted ourselves! It was the most exercise we have had in ages but we definitely did not over exert ourselves. 

It was a lovely sunset back on board PolePole, with some dolphins spinning around.