10:46.11S 152:22.79E

28^th July 2010

Pana Pompom – Customs clearing island

Swanky arrived here the day before, not feeling secure in the deeper 25 Metre depth lagoon of Kamatal with all their chain out in strong winds.  This anchorage at Pana Pompom is used by the pilot boats to bring in the pilots helping ships through the main Louisiades reef entrance, both from Australia and going to Australia. 

This old Japanese fishing boat is used to accommodate the Customs man who checks in the Australian pilots, fees them and accommodates them until they get aboard a ship going to Mackay.  I think it must be very unpleasant inside, so a better Australian ship is about to be delivered to them this weekend. 

We were lucky enough to have Jack on board, the customs official, who asked his boss back in Alotau, the island close up against mainland PNG, if he could check our three yachts in.  Normally he only checks in the pilots coming from Australia on the ships.  Thankfully he was given permission to do so, which saved us a lot of time not having to sail the extra two days over to Alotau and back against the wind.

We took the dinghy ashore with another couple, Phil and Pam on board Namarantha, who have been coming to the Louisiades for the past 7 years, and made up their own pilot guide for yachties.

We clambered over the volcanic stones to a sandy beach on the other side of the island, this photo shows Nivani island opposite, where we dived next day to see the wreck of a Zero Japanese World War Two plane which had been shot down by the Australians.  This area was used as a base by the Japanese during WW2.

Some of these refuge huts were of a more interesting design,, possibly used for smoking the fish, as there are no windows.

By contrast, this well kept garden is owned by the local clergyman and his wife

A walk across the island along a well used path through the areas being used for clearing to grow useful plants ended up being rather wet, Ollie had to use a banana leaf to shelter himself from the deluge

Owena was going to come and fetch us with her umbrella, but had no idea where we’d gone!

This is the first time David had worn his Sou’wester head gear to drain the rain down his back whilst sailing over to this island the day before.

A soggy arrival, but calm – so relaxing after all the wind we’d had for 3 weeks!

We had Pam and Phil to dinner to thank them for arranging with customs our checking in, together with Andre, Kenny and Norbie from Swanky.

This man is wearing a ‘Baggi’ necklacce, made from cutting small discs of multi coloured shells.  They are used as currency in these islands, there hardly being any shops around.   Trading is the main method of obtaining items they need.

The family sit around on the platform, watching us watching them!

The boy sitting is cracking nuts fallen from the tree with a stone.  They taste a little like raw chestnuts.

Big boys baby sitting for their sibblings