Diddakoi Walt Whitman
Take me home...PNG 2002PNG 2002 Part OnePNG 2002 Part TwoPNG 2002 Part ThreePNG 2002 Part Four


 PAPUA NEW GUINEA 2002 - Part Four

Sunday, May 5, 2002 - Papua New Guinea
The engines started around 6:10 and we moved a little ways to "Joell's Reef", named after the daughter of the Febrina's usual captain, Alan Raabe.

Anemone Fish - GAL Photo

Reef Fish - GAL Photo

Anemone Fish - GAL Photo

Reef Fish - GAL Photo

Anemone Fish - GAL Photo

Reef Fish - GAL Photo

Nudibranch - MZ Photo

Nudibranch - MZ Photo

Second dive was at "South Ema Reef" - there was another pygmy seahorse at this site.

Pygmy Seahorse - GAL Photo

Anemone Shrimp - GAL Photo

Close-up of a Clam - GAL Photo

Close-Up of a Clam - GAL Photo

Then off to a secluded spot where there was a Japanese Zero plane in about 45 feet of water. It took a while to locate it, but it was amazing. Great condition even though it's been there for 60 years. There were a couple of bommies a ways off from the plane that turned out to be really spectacular. Nudibranchs, bubble coral, anemones, and my new dive buddy - a batfish. Gary came over and the batfish followed us for the entire dive, escorting us all the way back to the dive ladder on the boat.

Japanese Zero Plane - GAL Photo

Japanese Zero Plane - MZ Photo

Japanese Zero Plane - GAL Photo

Japanese Zero Plane Cockpit - GAL Photo

Japanese Zero Plane - MZ Photo

Japanese Zero Plane - MZ Photo

Japanese Zero Plane Cockpit - MZ Photo

Anemone - GAL Photo

Anemone - GAL Photo

Anemone - GAL Photo

Anemone - MZ Photo

Anemone - GAL Photo

Anemone - MZ Photo

My New Dive Buddy - GAL Photo

Nudibranch - MZ Photo

Nudibranch - GAL Photo

Lunch was a nod to Cinco de Mayo - Tex-Mex beef, tortillas, guacamole & chips. We moved to "Restorf" - a pretty little island with a shallow muck dive. Quite nice until I blundered into the nesting territory of a Titan Triggerfish - the nastiest fish ever, big, with huge teeth. I saw her a ways off and thought, "I wonder if it's nesting season for the Titans too..." and looked off. A few moments later when I turned back, she had spotted me and was making a beeline for me, teeth bared. I swung my dive computer at her and swam away as fast as I could - they are known to take chunks out of divers during nesting season so I was glad to be out of there. There was a nice two spot goby, lovely garden eels, and a cuttlefish. I also found a juvenile snapper - their body shape is entirely different than the adults.

Titan Triggerfish - GAL Photo

Check out the teeth! - GAL Photo

Here are three photos of the same cuttlefish - he was frantically changing color and texture to avoid being seen. A master of disguise.

Cuttlefish - GAL Photo

Cuttlefish - GAL Photo

Cuttlefish - GAL Photo

Hawkfish - GAL Photo

Reef - GAL Photo

Garden Eels - MZ Photo

Reef - GAL Photo

Christmas Tree Worm - MZ Photo

Two Spot Goby - GAL Photo

Two Spot Goby - GAL Photo

Two Spot Goby - GAL Photo

Juvenile Snapper - Robert Yin Photo

Adult Snapper - GAL Photo

PNG View - KLM Photo

Restorf Island - KLM Photo

George on Restorf Island - KLM Photo

Sunset near Walindi - KLM Photo

Finished reading "Rise to Rebellion" - starting on "Night of the Avenging Blowfish." Dinner was chicken parmesan with veggies and Pavlova for dessert. After dinner, Elsie showed slides taken on past trips and Mick showed us the video he shot of us during the week - very cool.

Monday, May 6, 2002 - Papua New Guinea
Up for our last day of diving - we did "Kirsty Jayne's Reef." We saw some very small razor fish - they hang upside down in the sea whips to avoid being seen, as well as a crab disguised to match the coral it lives on.

Rainbow - GAL Photo

Razor Fish - MZ Photo

Razor Fish - GAL Photo

Nudibranch - GAL Photo

Crab - GAL Photo

Crab - GAL Photo

Juvenile - GAL Photo

Puffer Fish - GAL Photo

Reef Fish - GAL Photo

Reef Fish - GAL Photo

Second dive was "Christine's Reef" - Elsie found a tiny Mandarin Fish - so beautiful! I had seen them in Mabul in 1998, but they were much larger, 4-6 inches. There were also some little shrimp alongside a tube anemone and a couple of nice nudibranchs.

Mandarin Fish - MZ Photo

Candy Cane Sea Cucumber - GAL Photo

Mandarin Fish - MZ Photo

Nudibranch - GAL Photo

Nudibranch - GAL Photo

Tube Anemone with Shrimp - GAL Photo

Tube Anemone with Shrimp - GAL Photo

Tube Anemone with Shrimp - GAL Photo

Our last dive was "Eileen's Reef" - there were some steep walls, but the top of the reef came to within a couple of feet of the surface. A "mother-of-pearl" pipefish, anemones with some aggressive anemone fish, and a tiny crinoid shrimp that Elsie and I helped prod into view so Gary could get a shot of it. It's about a half-inch long.

Anemone Fish - GAL Photo

Fan Coral - MZ Photo

Fan Coral - MZ Photo

Mother of Pearl Pipefish - GAL Photo

Nudibranch - GAL Photo

Nudibranch - GAL Photo

Nudibranch - GAL Photo

Crinoid Shrimp - GAL Photo

Crinoid - GAL Photo

Anemone Crab - GAL Photo

Crinoid Shrimp - GAL Photo

Lunch was Thai soup, hot dogs, chicken, salad. We motored back to Walindi Plantation and moored at the dock. we rinsed our gear and hung it around the ship to dry. Gary and Mark burned CDs of their pictures - they estimate that between the two of them they shot over 3,000 digital pictures, with Mark keeping about 700 and Gary keeping about 1,400. I've managed to cull that down to the cream of the crop, and it's still nearly 400 pictures between the two of them.

I sat out on the bow and talked with Valia for a while. She worked the dive deck and also went on several of the dive swith us - she's very good at finding things. She said that she is taking her Advanced Open Water Course now - the company encourages those who have the talent for diving to continue with the courses and they make their instructors available. She said that they would like to have a whole boat full of people like us - they really enjoyed having us on board because we were easy going and had a lot of fun.

In the evening, we went over to the plantation for dinner. We met Joy and Tim, part of the Star Dancer crew. The local grade school kids came over to do a "sing sing" for us. Dinner was a BBQ - steaks, chicken, mud crabs, potatoes, salad, etc. We had the "Febrina Table" - Mark, Gary, George, Brit Mark, Charlie, Julie, Elsie, Mick and me. We all laughed and ate and drank until late.

Sing Sing - GAL Photo

Sing Sing - GAL Photo

Sing Sing - GAL Photo

Sing Sing - GAL Photo

Sing Sing - GAL Photo

Tuesday, May 7, 2002 - Papua New Guinea
Slept until 7:30 or so - after being awakened by George's departure at 5:00 or so. Got up and packed - always a sad thing. We had breakfast and sat and talked. Mick told me that he was nervous about having us on board since Gary was a friend of Alan's, but once they saw that we weren't jerks or anything, they all really enjoyed us and hoped that we'd come back again next year. Andrew made us each a huge cookies to take with us. Hugs and kisses with the girls, Josie, Elsie, Valia, Mick and Andrew and we were off for the 45 minute transfer to the airport.

The electricity was out at Hoskins Airport and it was VERY hot while we waited. The ticket agent hassled us about our carry-ons, so I checked my small wheelie in order to carry one of Gary's bags. The electricity came back on, they issued boarding passes, the plane arrived and we left on time. It's an hour's flight back to Port Moresby and after we got our bags, we said goodbye to Julie and Charlie. Brit Mark is going to overnight in Port Moresby and will be on our flight to Singapore tomorrow.

We went to find the Loloata bus. He was late, which was a good thing since as were standing there, up came Alan Raabe, the owner of the Febrina and our captain last year. Alan had been in Cairns with family and was flying back up to Walindi. We talked with him for a few minutes, told him what a great trip it had been and how terrific the crew was. He told he we'd have to make it an annual event and that we should plan next year's when he'd be on the boat.

We loaded our gear into the van and left to overnight at Loloata. We had the same three cabins that we did on the way in. We met Dik, the other owner, over dinner. We had a prawn mousse, cauliflower soup, rice, beef stir fry, eggplant and prawn fritters, with grilled pineapple and ice cream for dessert. Dik offered to have one of he guys take us out snorkeling the next day before we left, so we said we'd let him know in the morning.

Wednesday, May 8, 2002 - Papua New Guinea - Singapore
Up for breakfast and talked with Dik and Dave. Mark decided to pass on the snorkeling, but Gary and I went. It was nice, but a little rough with lots of floating seagrass. Gary found a pretty juvenile Sweetlips fish and I spotted a couple of nice nudibranchs.

We went back to the rooms and hung out our gear to dry as best we could. We showered, changed and re-packed our semi-dry wetsuits, fins, masks, and snorkels, and went back up to the main reception area. The guys came to collect our bags and we had lunch - fish and chips, salad, fruit. We talked with Dik and Dave until it was time to leave and took the short boat ride across to the dock. We got to the airport around 1:45 and checked in for our flight to Singapore. As we finished, we found Brit Mark in line behind us carrying a long, well-packed tube - he had been to PNG Art and bought a bow and arrows. We still had a couple of hours before the flight, so we found a cab and went to PNG Art ourselves. We shopped for a while - I found a mask, a small statue, a "story-board" wall hanging and several baskets and bowls - arranged shipping, and got back to the airport around 3:15. Gary also bought a bow and arrows along with a spear and ended up with a long package similar to Brit Mark's. We checked that at the counter and went up to the departure lounge.

Our flight was not full, so we spread out, read and dozed on the six hour flight to Singapore. We landed at 8:00 p.m., went through immigration and customs and found two taxis to take us to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Mark took one cab along with half the luggage and ended up at at the Mandarin Hotel - wrong one, but close by. It took a while to sort it out and for him to arrive. I called the office and Richard and ordered room service for dinner. Long day.

Thursday, May 9, 2002 - Singapore
Slept in, and met Mark and Gary at the club lounge for breakfast - very nice. It was overcast today, so not as hot as we walked to Chinatown. We passed the new entertainment/theatre complex under construction on the water - they looked like two stylized durians. We poked around shops and everyone bought stuff. I got some scrolls and found a couple of old engraved marble pieces from old buildiings. We went to Takashimaya department store for lunch in their food court and more shopping. Then back to the hotel to relax by the pool before dinner.

Singapore Street - KLM Photo

Singapore Skyline - KLM Photo

Singapore - KLM Photo

We had reservations at one of the restaurants Rick Lawson recommended in Cocos - L'Aigle D'or. It was nice - Mark and I had one of the prix fixe menus: asparagus soup with morels, smoked salmon with blini, a HUGE sliced of sauteed foie gras, rack of veal, an assortment of french cheeses and a raspberry sorbet/meringue napolean. Gary had foie gras in puff pastry, bouillabaise, filet, and a chocolate souffle for dessert. Mark picked a nice Australian red wine - Parker. We didn't have the restaurant call a cab for us before we left - a mistake as we ended up walking halfway back to the hotel before finding one. We were all pretty beat when we got home.

Friday, May 10, 2002 - Singapore and beyond
Woke early and watched the sun rise over the harbor - there must be 100 ships sitting and waiting to load/unload. We all met for breakfast, then went to Jurong Birdpark. It was OK - very hot and we were still tired form our walking yesterday. We watched the bird show performance and walked through several exhibits for a couple of hours, then headed back to the hotel.

Stork - KLM Photo

Hornbill - KLM Photo

Kingfisher - KLM Photo

Crane - KLM Photo

Flamingos - KLM Photo

Flamingos - KLM Photo

Storks - KLM Photo

Black Swan - KLM Photo

Cockatoo - KLM Photo

Gary and I went to the mall to find a couple of last minute things and some CD ROMs while Mark went off in search of a Tai Chi sword - he bought one last year here, but it was stolen back in the states. We went to the poolside restaurant for lunch and had pizzas and salad, then sat by the pool and slept and read. Mark returned triumphantly with THREE swords.

Gary had kept his room for the day so that we could have somewhere to store luggage, change clothes, etc. We went back up there and he burned CDs with the fish pix from this trip and Cocos for me. We had dinner reservations at Cherry Garden, the Chinese restaurant in the hotel, and had invited Brit Mark to join us. We had eight courses and it was really great. Lobster/corn soup, cold seafood appetizer, noodles, vegetables, prawns, lobster, chicken and garlic.

We said goodbye to Brit Mark and checked out. We got to the airport and checked everything in. Mark and Gary did a little shopping and I sat near the koi pond. We left around midnight for our twelve-hour leg to Frankfurt.

Saturday, May 11, 2002 - heading home
I went to sleep before the plane took off and slept for about six hours. I woke up and watched "Fellowship of the Ring" - good movie. They fed us breakfast before landing in Frankfurt. We had wanted to stay on the plane, but new US security regulations require everyone to get off of transit flights before continuing. So we schlepped all our carry-ons off and back on and we left on our 7 and a half hour trip to JFK. They fed us brunch and a light meal before landing around 10:30 a.m.

We cleared immigration, got our luggage, cleared customs and went out to find our limo. He was waiting outside - we loaded up everything and began the drive down to Philly. There was a lot of traffic, so I didn't get home until almost 3:00. I began the sad process of unpacking.

Epilogue
Less than a week later, Gary had already contacted Alan and began the planning stage for 2YK 2003. We're booked on the Febrina for another ten day cruise in Kimbe Bay in March, 2003! Nine months - I can't wait!