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Blog Fiji-Port Moresby
Last episode in the Pacific Ocean
Leaving Fiji was like leaving home. The people there are so super friendly you can hardly believe it exists in this world. Together with the beauty of their islands and surrounding reefs, you really think yourself to be in paradise on earth.
Island hopping to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
After stocking up in Denarau at the west coast of one of Fiji’s main islands, Viti Levu, we continued our journey in the direction of Port Moresby. The idea was to visit some remote islands on the way to rest now and than and to take our time to sail to Papua New Guinea. After 2 days however I started to suffer from a severe tooth ache. This builded up quickly and we realised I couldn’t go on like this for the more than three weeks to come. We decided to go for an emergency stop at one of the main ports of Vanuatu to look for a dentist. Not that we were looking forward to go into the hassle of customs and immigration again just for staying 2-3 days…. But what to do??
Dental care program
The next morning we went into our dinghy for expedition ‘where to find a dentist’. So we headed for another yacht anchored in the same bay. When we came close a friendly Australian guy invited us on board with a smile and in a flash I saw ‘Medical sailing ministries’ written on the hull. We declined his offer politely and said we were in an urgent need to visit a dentist. Than he told us that they were a group of volunteers busy with surveying the remote islands of Vanuatu to get an idea about the dental health situation in children. So he suggested to call the volenteer dentist to see if he could help me out. We couldn’t believe what we heard and accepted his second offer to come aboard for a coffee gladly. In the afternoon the dentist came to the boat and, with all the equipment available on Chimere, he pulled out my aching tooth with hardly any effort and no pain. And, above all, no hassle neccesary with the officials. Miracles do happen!! If you want to read more about their project: www.msm.org.au.
Fair trading in the Louisiade archipel, Papua New Guinea
Without any pain left and one molar less we continued our sail in the direction of Papua New Guinea. After days of quiet, nice sailing we arrived at the Louisiade archipel. Another piece of natural beauty created by Mother Earth. The archipel consists of various islands, hardly inhabited and still very unspoiled, surrounded by a stunning reef. The people here hardly ever see sailing yachts like ours and are still living very basic in huts made of banana and coconut tree leaves. Actually it looks so beautiful; those little houses made out of solely natural materials. Deep couldn’t hold himself with his camera. They have everything but basic. When we dropped anchor the dug out canoes started to come filled with fruits and vegetables. They wanted to trade with us. After quite some time at sea we were happy to see this fresh produce and were eager to trade with them for school books, pens, painkillers, shampoo….. Everybody happy!!
Arriving in Port Moresby
We spent several days in this gorgeous archipel before we hoisted the sails again to go to the capital of PNG, Port Moresby. It is said to be very unsafe here and several cruisers warned us not to go. But after having contact with the yacht club of Port Moresby and having read some reliable sources we decided we would go anyway and to stay safely within the compound of the yacht club. This is our first time with Yemaya within 5 years that we stay in a proper marina! And although the people here are superfriendly and everything is perfectly arranged AND super safe, we think it will take a long time before we go in a marina again. We just love the freedom of anchoring a bit privately in clean waters where you can dive into whenever you like.
Indonesian visum arranged, ready to go!!
Port Moresby is not the most idylic place to be. Suddenly dry, baren mountains and dirty waters have replaced the fresh green, coconut tree covered, white sand beach islands and turqouise waters… But this is the place for arranging our visum to be able to enter Indonesia, our next stop. Plus we were more than happy with the well stocked, luxury supermarkets. So we are more than ready now to encounter the Torres Strait and enter a new chapter in our adventure: Asia!!
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