Moturina

We arrived at Moturina island and as soon as we got the anchor down, lots and lots of happy "Huba-luba" kids came to our boat with their dug-out canoes, trading fresh fruit for whatever is western and we can give them - t-shirts, lollies, exercise books, pencils, fishing lines, balloons...

"Huba-luba" is our slang word, carefully designed by politically correct John, to describe the Papua New Guinea locals.After exchanging gifts with the kids we took the dinghy to the beach and were invited by the locals to see their village. They all live in wooden, beautiful huts and run a very simple way of living. Women work the gardens, men go out fishing, children at school and church on Sundays...

In the afternoon we set-up the hammock on the boat, swung it off the side, above the water and enjoyed the beautiful sun set.

On sunday we witnessed their church service with beautiful chants, run by the local pastor. On Monday we went across the island, on quite a hike that the kids do every day, to the school. You can't beat the excitment of all the kids at the school when we got there... :)
Sadly, they have a soccer field in school but can't afford to buy a soccer ball for the kids to play...

We also tried chewing the Beetlenut over there, that thing they chew that gives everyone red, rotten teeth... God that was horrible!

The beetlenut... Suspicious...

Look! No hands!

A local fisherman...

The view from Moturina's highest peak

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Arriving at the Louisiades

After crossing the ocean, we stopped for a couple of days at a small, uninhabited island to relax and regroup.

The island was just amazing, crystal clear water, sandy beach, small lagoon, coconut trees, the works...

We met up again with the rest of the group, the other three yachts travelling with us:
Dion, Yui, Troy, Luarna and Ryan on "Unicorn"; Latchan, Louise and Siara on "Antaia"; and Paul, Joyce and Darien on "Byamee".

It felt good meeting everyone again, seeing other faces after a week in confinement... We spent the day exploring the small island, "skurfing" with Troy on Dion's dinghy and snorkeling over the magnificent reef.
In the evening we had a fire and picnic on the beach and celebrated Amy's birthday!

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The Ocean Crossing

The ocean crossing from Cairns to the lousiades, Papua New Guinea!
The seas were a bit rough and the crew learning in baby steps... but it all went great and after 6 long days we arrived at a different world!

The first couple of days were really rough, we all felt like we're on "survival mode", trying to sleep as much as possible, 'cause you can't vomit while you sleep!
We were keeled over to the left all the time for 6 days... living on an angle takes some getting used to...None of us could be bothered with making over complicated meals, so we fed mainly on pizzas, chips, pies etc.

After the third night though, the boat eased off a bit on all the rockin' 'n' rollin' and we started feeling better, playing silly games, playing guitar, watching movies and just enjoying it :)

Keeled...

The official spider's web bread

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We're off!

Finally, all the passports are here, the weather's beautiful, and we're about to set sail in half an hour!

Hectic but unavoidable last minute arrangments are just finishing now and we're all very excited :)
Some pictures from the last week:

Spider's crew

Jonas drifting off on the dinghy...

John's building the bed for Amy and Alon

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About to get going...

Since two days ago, Alon and Amy moved to the boat, and now all the crew is on board, getting ready and learning some sailing 101 with captain John.
We're due to departure on 19/5, weather permitting...

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