Release Date 5/9/2010

Pictures:
Rain storm heading toward me.
crocodile infested lunch spot
house and boat the sign says "petrol for sale"
storm on the way out
group of kids in a canoe that I saw as I was leaving.

I went for a longish paddle down to Albatross Pass. Kavieng is near the very north of New Ireland, but to get all the way around to the other side of the island, which is called “The West Coast” you have to go another 8 or 9 nautical miles through a small pass called “Albatross Pass”.

I have been down in this direction before, but this time I made it to the gap between the islands, that is a lot like a river. It totally reminded of the mangrove swamps in Florida.

I kept looking out of the corner of my eye for crocadiles and the spot I stopped for lunch was just some rocks in the mangroves and wasn’t real comfortable.

I didn’t get all the way to the West coast because I was running out of time:

13:15 left kavieng

15:15 entrance to cut between islands.

15:56 house where they were selling fuel. This was only sign of human life in the area.

16:20 turned around, and had lunch.

16:40 start paddling back

17:50 in the rain off Eissen Island.

19:15 home.

The area was interesting, but I wish I had left earlier so I could have gotten all the way to the other coast. I hope to go diving on the other coast next weekend. It is supposed be really nice. Steep wall dives and massive numbers of fish.

It had been very rainy for the past 3 or 4 days, and I got pelted by rain a couple of times, but the winds weren’t too bad, and it wasn’t really cold. It was actually much better than paddling in full sun.

I took a photo of the being in the rain on the way out, and the advancing rain just as it was getting dark. The advancing storm eventually hit me, but both storms only lasted 20 minutes or so.

Kate left the same morning to go to Tench Island. This is a tiny spot about 70 Nautical Miles North of Kavieng. The week before the Island was hit by the Beluga Revolution, a German cargo ship. It did a lot of damage to the reef so the local government asked Kate’s organization to do a survey of the damage.

I got a satellite call from her that night, and they did make it up there. They were going in little tiny “banana boats” Kate made sure they took 2 boats just in case there were problems. You hear stories about people breaking down and being lost for months at a time. The locals don’t have Sat phones, GPS untils, or EPIRBs.

Truth: its quiet when there is nobody around.