We have typhoonitis. The sail away from Guam had a cocktail party on the back deck until it began to rain. All of the time at sea has been a roller coaster ride. Although the skies are clear, we’re still getting 30+ knot winds and high swells left over from the string of typhoons that went through the area and it can take a few days for swells to dissipate. Both islands we were to visit in Micronesia yesterday & today, Gaferut & Ifalik, had swells too rough to launch any Zodiacs but we did circle both islands for a scenic view. In our recap & briefing sessions the nights before we were forewarned that Gaferut only had a 2% chance of landing and Ifalik was given a possible 20% chance, so we weren’t surprised when told that we wouldn’t land. Gaferut is an uninhabited island that is so small that it could have been walked around in a few minutes and it was to have been a snorkeling adventure. We did see about 10 species of birds while circling the island. Ifalik is 2 close islands connected by a sand bar and has a village on each island. We were to have had a short dance show, local food if you dared try and snorkeling or beach walking. We saw a few birds and a pod of dolphin while doing our sail-by. We will now have 2 sailing days to Papua New Guinea where, hopefully, we’ll be away from the rough weather. We were issued our snorkel gear yesterday so we’re ready to explore underwater.

The typhoon system we circled around at the end of SUMO has now spawned Typhoon Phanfone which caused us to miss our 2 Micronesian islands. Phanfone is now predicted to become a category5 super typhoon that could cause significant damage in Japan in the next few days. We are sailing out of its influence and by this afternoon the winds and swells are noticeably calmer. We have a scheduled full sea day tomorrow (Friday) and will arrive in Papua New Guinea a couple of hours ahead of schedule at around noon on Saturday. There are some extremely interesting new expedition staff on board for this segment. Rapa Nui is now a lecturer and Mick is the new leader.

Interesting posts Jim. I would be on my pills for sure. Too bad about the missed islands.

The past 2 days have been in smooth waters and sunny skies. We visit Vanimo Papua New Guinea today and will be the first ship ever to visit the village. The new expedition team members are really great and we're having exciting lectures.

Oct 3. We crossed the Equator during the night and didn’t even feel the bump. The swells have disappeared and we had 2 nights of smooth sailing. We have had a small stowaway on board since Guam, a tree sparrow named “Jack.” He left the ship as we approached land. As we approached our first Papua New Guinea (PNG) stop there was a King Neptune Crossing the Equator ceremony where offending Pollywogs were punished and made into Shellbacks, all under a blazing hot sun. A Pollywog is one who is crossing the Equator by sea for the first time and a Shellback has successfully made the passage before. King Neptune boards the ship with his queen, baby, judge and others to purge the ship of Pollywogs and grant permission for the ship to pass. We have seen many versions of this ceremony on previous crossings and this was one of the most entertaining. The cast did a fantastic job considering the small size of the back deck. The expedition staff were the cast and 3 guests 2 crew were the Pollywogs.

Oct 4. We arrived at anchor off Vanimo, Papua New Guinea (PNG) at noon and awaited the clearance. Vanimo is a small village on the northwest side of PNG near the border with Indonesia and the main industry is logging, primarily for exotic woods. We were told that we were the first passenger ship to visit, however Peter, the staff historian, said he had visited previously on another expedition ship, but such visits are extremely rare. Representatives from the local bank came on board for us to exchange US$ for PNG Kina. Our visit was quite an event for the locals and I think we were the attraction. Over 1000 villagers were at the beach to greet us, shaking hands and saying “Good afternoon, Welcome, Thank you for visiting”, etc. There were broad grins everywhere and the red lips, gums & rotted teeth were evidence of their betel nut chewing habit. There were costumed dancers greeting us on the beach as we stepped into the water from our Zodiacs. We piled into the “best available” transportation (read un-air-conditioned vans with plenty of duct tape keeping the seat covers together) and headed for the Vanimo Beach Hotel where we had some interesting dance performances. The big hit was a group of men in the traditional dress of fancy headwear and wearing nothing else than a penis gourd held on with a band of pandanus twine. It was pretty lively and everyone enjoyed the show. We were supposed to have visited a local village, but there was a death there today and the welcome ceremony there was cancelled. We went to the beach area next to the village to enjoy the water, have fresh coconuts opened to drink the milk and swim if we wanted. The only toilet was a crude wood outhouse with a block of wood with a handle covering the hole – no seat – and there was a bit of newspaper for toilet paper. Most people either held it or went for a swim. As we drove along the road, at every village we passed all the residents ran to the roadside to yell “Hello” and wave with big smiles on their faces. At the beach we could have visited the village, but that required wading through a waist deep trough in the water with a current. Some went, but we valued our cameras too much to chance it. Besides, we’ll visit several even more remote villages in the next few days. The locals enjoyed coming up to us and talking and all thanked us for our visit. Linda Bailey got some SP, the PNG brewed lager and it was very tasty, particularly on a hot afternoon. It was, however, quite comfortable in the shade with the light breeze.
For dinner we joined Linda & Chris and Sheila & Ken for “Hot Rocks” where whatever meat you choose is cooked by you on a dense flat rock heated to 450 degrees F. The rock retains the heat for a long time so you can cook as well as you choose. Rib eye steak and veal chops were the choices we all had, but everyone had a lobster tail as well.
I’ll try to post some photos when I get some time to mess with Photobucket.

Oct 4. We arrived at anchor off Vanimo, Papua New Guinea (PNG) at noon and awaited the clearance. Vanimo is a small village on the northwest side of PNG near the border with Indonesia and the main industry is logging, primarily for exotic woods. We were told that we were the first passenger ship to visit, however Peter, the staff historian, said he had visited previously on another expedition ship, but such visits are extremely rare. Representatives from the local bank came on board for us to exchange US$ for PNG Kina. Our visit was quite an event for the locals and I think we were the attraction. Over 1000 villagers were at the beach to greet us, shaking hands and saying “Good afternoon, Welcome, Thank you for visiting”, etc. There were broad grins everywhere and the red lips, gums & rotted teeth were evidence of their betel nut chewing habit. There were costumed dancers greeting us on the beach as we stepped into the water from our Zodiacs. We piled into the “best available” transportation (read un-air-conditioned vans with plenty of duct tape keeping the seat covers together) and headed for the Vanimo Beach Hotel where we had some interesting dance performances. The big hit was a group of men in the traditional dress of fancy headwear and wearing nothing else than a penis gourd held on with a band of pandanus twine. It was pretty lively and everyone enjoyed the show. We were supposed to have visited a local village, but there was a death there today and the welcome ceremony there was cancelled. We went to the beach area next to the village to enjoy the water, have fresh coconuts opened to drink the milk and swim if we wanted. The only toilet was a crude wood outhouse with a block of wood with a handle covering the hole – no seat – and there was a bit of newspaper for toilet paper. Most people either held it or went for a swim. As we drove along the road, at every village we passed all the residents ran to the roadside to yell “Hello” and wave with big smiles on their faces. At the beach we could have visited the village, but that required wading through a waist deep trough in the water with a current. Some went, but we valued our cameras too much to chance it. Besides, we’ll visit several even more remote villages in the next few days. The locals enjoyed coming up to us and talking and all thanked us for our visit. Linda Bailey got some SP, the PNG brewed lager and it was very tasty, particularly on a hot afternoon. It was, however, quite comfortable in the shade with the light breeze.
For dinner we joined Linda & Chris and Sheila & Ken for “Hot Rocks” where whatever meat you choose is cooked by you on a dense flat rock heated to 450 degrees F. The rock retains the heat for a long time so you can cook as well as you choose. Rib eye steak and veal chops were the choices we all had, but everyone had a lobster tail as well.
I’ll try to post some photos when I get some time to mess with Photobucket.

Thanks for keeping us informed! Looking forward to your adventures. Say hi to all!

Sounds like a very interesting day. The dancers costume certainly would have been interesting.

Wow, what a day.

It all sounds very primitive but that is what is so interesting on an expedition ship. It makes the name "expedition" come alive. I would certainly not have waded in waist deep water and you are bound to be right, you will see similar villages without the wading experience.

Dying to see some pictures of that day I am sure they will be very interesting.

Hopefully it was not as hot as Pagan!!

Our original schedule for Ali Island was to arrive at 2pm because it’s a religious Catholic village, however the chief decided to change their church service to 2pm and welcome us with their ceremonies in the morning and invite us to their church service. They requested that 2 guests do Bible readings at the service. The church isn’t real large so only the devout attended, so I don’t yet know how it went. The service was supposed to be in both English & Pigeon. We had a wet landing on the beach and were met by women who put a flower lei on us and marked our cheeks with something black, probably ash mixed with coconut oil and then we were given short welcome talks by the District Administrator, local Mayor and head guy in charge of Culture & Tourism. Hundreds of villagers were all around, adults and children, all with big smiles, handshakes, questions and words of welcome. White skinned people aren’t seen very often, particularly the rare few who let their hair be naturally white, and they like to touch your arm or leg. They all love being photographed, particularly the children who clown around. Three troupes of villagers in costume danced and chanted for about an hour in what’s known as a “Sing Sing.” The headdresses had lots of feathers, particularly Bird of Paradise. There were several villagers selling shell and boar tusk necklaces and other handmade crafts all around and betel nuts were also for sale. We then walked around the village where the houses are rather primitive, have no electricity or running water and many are on stilts for the cooling effect. We stopped at the church which is open air on the sides and inside they had the Stations of the Cross done in primitive painting with the description in Pigeon English. For instance, JISAS I KARIM DIWAI I KROS BILONG EM translates to “Jesus is carrying his heavy cross.” We walked back along a wide tree lined path where the shade was more comfortable to a point on the island where kids were surfing and then returned to the main beach area where we had landed. We hadn’t worn our swimsuits because we had planned to return after lunch to snorkel, however we were hot, so we went in the water in our clothes and it sure felt good. As we were waiting for a Zodiac to return to the ship, 4 “warriors” and a drummer came upon the scene. They had fabric masks covering their heads and coconut frond coats from their neck to feet and they could have passed for a Melanesian masked Jihadist in a grass burka. They carried spears and bows & arrows and swirled around like whirling dervishes. Unfortunately, most of the guests had already returned to the ship and missed the show. They were a treat to watch. We did return to the ship for lunch and later went back to the beach to snorkel. There isn’t a reef there, just some coral, but we did see some colorful small fish. The bar staff had set up an afternoon bar so a cold drink was enjoyed by all.
The internet has been slow to non-existent and I can't even log onto Photobucket to post pics. A full day yesterday and 2 landings today, so maybe when we're at sea tomorrow morning I'll get a chance.

I am enjoying all your posts Jim. It's fascinating. Look forward to the photos.

Wow, that sounds awesome. George would have loved to do the reading at church.

Linda sent me some pictures today they were awesome! Wish I was on this segment i got off TOO soon.

I got on Photobucket but all the uploads failed - I guess the internet is too slow. I'll keep trying.

I was fascinated to read about this stop as well. Can't wait to see Pix.

Finally got some Photobucket










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These aren't necessarily in sequence, but enjoy anyway. More later.
Jim

For some reason the last 5 didn't post. Maybe they will during the night. If not I'll try tomorrow. It's currently 10:45pm here and 8:45am in Florida. goodnight

Nice makeup, Jim. What is it?

I loved the makeup picture! Jim, you can only post 10 pix per message so your final ones didn't show up. I will post them below for you:

Oct 6 morning. We had a morning landing at Murik Lakes Area in East Sepik Province. The beach at the village we visited had serious breakers so we had to go in via the river. The water in the sea is shallow and the ship was anchored quite a ways from shore so we had a 7 nautical mile Zodiac ride to the river side of the village. We were split into 2 groups with the first group going to the island at 7am and the second group an hour later due to the time needed for the Zodiacs to return to the ship. We were in the 1st group and had the time to wander around the village where there were many villagers selling carvings, baskets, necklaces and other crafts they had made. The carvings were the best quality we have seen, including those we saw later in the afternoon at the next stop and we bought a couple of small carvings. There was also a local market with all sorts of produce and live mud crabs for sale. There were demonstrations of crab catching, basket weaving, wood carving and getting sago from the palm trunk. When the 2nd group arrived a sing-sing was performed by 2 different groups and it was quite lively. The costumes were similar to the previous day and all the villagers were friendly and welcomed us with big smiles. When the sing-sing finished the 1st group returned to the ship and the 2nd group had their village view time. We sailed through the lunch period to the afternoon village visit.

Oct 6 Afternoon. During lunch we sailed towards the large Sepik River and a few miles before the mouth we came upon brown water, about the color of coffee with cream. As we sailed into the river we saw many bunches of water hyacinth floating along the 5 knot current. Both banks were level forested ground and it reminded us very much of the Amazon River which is also Equatorial and colored looks almost identical, except for the width. We continued up the river with the Staff Captain ahead in a Zodiac taking depth soundings. The expedition Leader, Mick, had been here over 30 times on this and other ships and had never been this far up the river. We had the luck of both current and tide to let us anchor in the river right across from our destination, Kopar Village. It was a short Zodiac ride to shore and we pulled up enough to step on dry sand. As we walked from the Zodiac we went through a double line of women & children dancing to a drumbeat welcoming us to their village. Once all the guests were on shore a large group of school children sang the National Anthem as one child raised the PNG flag. The flag was rolled into a ball and, when it hit the top of the pole, it unfurled. The children then gave their national Pledge of Allegiance and one of our team leaders presented the school teacher with a large bag of school supplies and a large world map, all items brought and donated by various guests. Quite a large amount of school supplies were donated and the ship has split them into packages for the best suited villages from here to Fiji. Our donation was 50 mechanical pencils and 30 ball point pens. A group of the villagers in costume paraded in front of us performing a Dragon Dance which is different from the Asian versions. There were numerous blankets on the ground with handicrafts and the most numerous were the billums, purses or carry bags, made from fronds and woven. There were lots of shell necklaces, mask carvings and other handiwork. We had dinner with Sheila & Ken and Linda & Chris tonight.

pictures of the 2 above posts look a lot like the previous ones so I may not get to posting them yet. We;ll see what happens the next 3 days with 4 village visits. Jim

sounds like you're having a great time. We always loved visiting villages with all the cute children.

Great photos Jim. Linda asked me to post some of her photos from her Smugmug site. I will try not to duplicate what you have posted. Ken




A warm welcome.




Sheila, Ken, & Chris.

Wow! Amazing! I am in awe of what you are seeing!

These photos are WOW.......Just WOW!!!!!!!
Thanks!

We anchored off Tuam Island at 2pm and went ashore at 2:30. Tuam is a very small island in the Dampier Strait there were several really small uninhabited islands close by. The temperatures the past few days have been in the mid-80s, so comfortable to us Floridians. Since we’re near the Equator, the sun is intense if there isn’t a breeze. It was a short Zodiac ride so we all waited in a shaded clearing until everyone was ashore and then had a talk by the local who organized the day before walking down the rocky dirt path into the village. There was a singsing that seemed to last forever but was interesting. We walked around the village which looks different from the previous ones because the houses have a lot more wood plank walls rather than palm thatch. It is like the others in not having electricity or running water. The locals grow yams & sweet potatoes and catch fish. The local handicrafts weren’t as extensive as in previous villages, but I did find a really nice flat carving of a bird of paradise to take home. There is no doctor or nurse on the island so our ship’s doctor along with 4 passenger doctors set up a free clinic and saw 74 locals. A lot of the kids had tropical ulcers which were treated but, without a local nurse, medicines couldn’t be left behind. Several adults had back or rotator cuff problems but nothing could be done since the closest x-ray machine is hundreds of miles away. Many of the locals had never seen a doctor before. We noticed that many, including children, appeared to have severe vision problems. Since we are in the sun a lot we all wear hats and, when Pat takes off her hat, the locals all marvel at her natural white hair. They are familiar with dyed hair, but the pure white is a rarity for them and they love to stare at it. There is coral all around the island and the area where we landed had smooth water so we snorkeled there and saw a huge array of small fish, starfish (including a Crown of Thorns), sea slugs, tube worms and quite a variety of coral. The water was very clear and we could see to quite a depth.

We anchored off Tufi and took Zodiacs to Kofure Village after lunch. We were first met by warriors threatening us with spears and then walked through a double line of villagers who were chanting to drumbeats and welcoming us to their village. As the local elder came out and gave a welcome speech we were served coconuts with the top cut off so we could drink the juice, small bananas & fresh pineapple. The elder then narrated as the dances began. This was a history lesson as we were told stories of the villagers from the 16th & 17th centuries by dance as the elder narrated. The final dance choreographed the tradition how the villagers pay their last respects to a dying man, laying him down gently and comfortably and then leaving him to die alone. We were split into 2 groups for outrigger canoe rides and we were in the 2nd group so we went into the village and mixed with the villagers. There were demonstrations of tapa making, face tattooing and making fire. The fire making was interesting in that they rub a pointed stick along a piece of wood until it generates a small flame and then lighting coconut husk fibers to get it going. That is how they start fires even today because they don’t get supplies of matches or lighters. The main items on sale were tapa cloth which is made from tree bark and elaborate shell necklaces. When it was our turn for an outrigger ride, we boarded Zodiacs and took a long & scenic ride to what they call a “fjord” but is actually a narrow river. We moved directly from the Zodiac onto the canoe. The canoes are made from a hollowed out log with a narrow wooden outrigger lashed together with a particular strong palm fronds. We sat on a platform made of bamboo slats. The entire canoe is made by hand and only with materials from the forest. There are no nails or synthetic materials on the canoe. There was a villager in front & back doing the paddling. We went up a narrow tree canopied stream listening to the calls of white cockatoo, parrot and other unidentified birds. It was really an idyllic setting and a rare occurrence for a westerner. Again the weather was perfect and we had a great day.

Perfect time and location tonight. There was not only a full moon, but also a full eclipse of the moon around 8:30pm, a Blood Moon. The captain dropped anchor and turned off all the lights on the back pool deck for us to view the phenomenon. The event happened towards the end of dinner so desert was forfeited and everyone headed for the back deck where the bar was open and trays of chocolates & petit fours were available. Unfortunately, a thin film of cloud was in the way to mess up photo opportunities, but we could see the full eclipse. The moon was actually orange-red and a beautiful sight. The stars were beautiful with Deneb and Altair in view, but the Southern Cross wouldn’t show up until early morning. The stars are brilliant when there isn’t any city light pollution to dim the view. In 2 days we’ll have a sea day and Tua, our Cook Island Master Navigator on board will do a star gazing event at night where there likely won’t be any clouds to ruin it. The anchor somehow got caught and couldn’t be raised and, currently at 10:15pm, we were still stuck but eventually they got it loose and we were on our way.

This second part of SUMO so wish I was there. Seems like it has been a fantastic segment once you left that nasty typhoon. This eclipse sounded just super. Keep the reports coming I am sure everyone who reads them are enjoying them as much as I am.

We anchored off Dei Dei Hot Springs on Fergusson Island at 6am and began going ashore at 7am. About 40% of the ship, myself included, decided to pass since we’d seem many hot springs around the world. Pat, however, opted to go and enjoyed the experience. Unlike most hot springs areas, there were no boardwalks or roped off areas. They closely followed guides and actually walked out on the crust, viewing bubbling springs & mud, geysers and boiling water that the locals use to cook food, much like Rotorua in New Zealand. Surprisingly, there was very little sulfur smell during the 90 minute 3km walk around the area. Lots of bird calls were heard and Pat spotted a hornbill that was too far away to photograph. The selection of crafts was small but there were lots of fruits & vegetables for sale. Meanwhile, around the ship was a floating market of several outrigger canoes trying to sell fruit, vegetables and fish. We certainly didn’t want any fish that were sitting in the sun with no ice, but the Executive Chef did buy some different varieties of bananas for the restaurant. We had a scenic sail of about 7km to the next village area during lunch time.

At 1:30 we took a short Zodiac ride to Dobu Island which has several villages and a population of around 4000. It’s not a large island, but the villagers grow a copious amount of fruits & vegetables and catch fish in the waters. All around the island are toilets over the water with long tree branch walkways to the outhouse. With so many toilets around the beaches, swimming wasn’t such a good idea. Hopefully they catch fish far offshore. We were treated to a very simple sing sing beginning with 4 men and a drummer telling various stories. One story was of the village Sorcerer doing his magic to cure a sick child. Another was imitating some bird, but it obviously was a comic act because all the villagers were laughing, particularly the children. Then one of the school teachers came out with 5 of her young students and did some skits they learned in school. A table with locally grown papaya, banana, coconut, pineapple, tomato & star fruit was set for our enjoyment. There were very few artifacts available and they were mostly handbags. We walked around the village with children following us and asking our names and generally wanting to talk with us. There is a large multi building school complex that kids from the entire island attend and it actually extends to 9th grade. As at all the other PNG visits, the people were friendly and glad for our visit. This was our last stop in PNG and we headed out on a full sea day across the Soloman Sea towards Honiara, Soloman Islands. For the most part, the villages we visited were remote and rarely visited by outsiders such as ourselves. Some may get 2 visits a year but many are visited perhaps once every 2 or 3 years, so we really got to see life as it is on a daily basis and not a costumed up tourist presentation. The question was asked in recap if Silversea paid money to the villages we visited and the answer is “Yes.” It’s a negotiated deal with fees for anchoring, Zodiac use and the number of guests visiting. The PNG people are very naïve and Silversea generally doubles the amount asked by the villages to make it a fair amount. In most of the villages we visited, since we’re the only ship to visit this year, the stipend paid for our one visit is around 65% of their outside income for the year. It was an exhilarating and unique experience.
Still waiting to get good Photobucket connection to post more photos.

It's like you have been on a cruise through a National Geographic magazine. I will continue to enjoy it all.

Jim your posts have been so great. Very happy you are onboard.

I love that the ship visits help the local villages so much it makes me feel "warm and fuzzy" I sensed that on the Discoverer when we went to Wales and Little Diomede. Glad you got that piece of information.

Something really special about visiting these remote places and seeing things that are so far away from our own way of living. Wish I had "been along for the ride"

Linda's photos from Tufi, Papua New Guinea:

Linda's photos from Dubo Island, Papua New Guinea:

Wow Linda - Fantastic!

Linda absolutely STUNNING pictures. Bet you and Ken are in heaven taking pictures. Some of these are just amazing.