Hot springs!

On the way to the Trobians we stopped at Fergusson Island, at a small beach that housed a small guest house and a short track to hot springs.

The people on the beach were just great, welcoming us with baked treats and tea. On the next morning we went to see the springs we Jenny, the lady that runs the guest house.

The steaming hot springs were a real sight, amazing to see the magnificent force water has. There were a few accounts of people falling in the pools, dying within seconds...

The vilagers around the pools use them for cooking and laundry where the temprature is a bit lower. At some point the water were nice and warm and we went in for a little swim! What a treat!

Captain Louise with her parrot...

The toilets at sunset...
Help! Antaia's serounded by the Huba-Lubas!

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Alotau

We stayed for about a week in Alotau, recharging and refueling, mentally and literally. Alotau is a very nice little town and we really enjoyed the shops, markets and pubs...

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Manta rays!

On the way from Skull island to Manta ray island, John jumped ship to "Unicorn" and Alon and Amy, together with Troy, got a chance to play skippers and sail the boat by themselves. Surprisingly, we all made it, safe and sound.

Manta-ray island was one of the gems of our trip so far. he combination of truely amazing locals with diving along giant Manta rays really made us all happy.
Everything was really neat and pretty on the island, the huts, the pathways and all.

The island is, for some reason, some sort of natural cleaning station for the Manta rays which come there only in June. We were so lucky to be there at the right time, we didn't even know about it before we came!

After diving with the Manta rays we were invited to a magnificent breakfast, freshly cooked by Huba-Lubas. Doughnuts and fresh fish, all cooked on camp fire. Delight!

Huba-lubas. Fat bastards.

Wallnuts in socks...

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Doini - Skull island

Skull island was really different than the previous ones - it is owned by Australians who are building a resort on it. They were very hospitable and offered to drive us to see the skull cave with their tractor.

It was a great ride, during which the make-shift bench on it broke and we all fell down on the floor of the tractor...
The skulls were most impressive, something you don't see every day...

We also saw some cus-cus over there, weird posum-like animal, very smelly. they're on the 10c coin in Papua New Guinea. We also saw a lizard. And an eagle. And a crocodile. Good times. Excellent :) And ate coconuts.

The cus-cus. Stinky.

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Conflict Group islands - Itamarina

Another small, beautiful, uninhabited island...
We spent the day with the nice crew of "Antaia", having a picnic on the beach with freshly delivered cray fish from "huba-lubas" from a near by island.

At night fall, Alon and Amy decided to camp on the beach for the night. Despite the heavy rain during the night, it was great fun.

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Canoe making island

We decided to stay another day around Panapompom in order to see a near by island where they make dug-out canoes.
We took "unicorn" and "Byamee"'s fast dinghys to that island and were greeted again by a mob of children.
They all showed us around the island, laughing and continuously saying "hello" to us. John bought colored pencils for all the kids and he really made their day...

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Pana Pom Pom (aka airplane island)

We arrived at Panapompom, again with crystal clear water and beautiful, sandy beach.
After playing a bit on the beach we took our snorkeling gear and went looking for the sunken Japanese airplane.

The plane was just off shore, laying on the sand, in pretty good condition. Nice attraction. Later, in the evening we went for dinner on "Unicorn" and enjoyed fine Thai cuisine from Yui's kitchen.

The next day Alon went spear-fishing with Troy and Dion and caught loads of Lobsters! We sure can't complain about eating good food around here!

Whoop Whoop!

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Misoma

After Moturina we sailed to Misima, a bigger island with some more infrastructure... and cars. It was good to get some shopping, internet and laundry, although everything was really basic and with a run-down look.

At the evening we all treated ourselves with a fancy dinner at the guesthouse. During dinner Alon even had his first ever cray fish! delicious!

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