26 November
PJ and Jacinta, we’ve shared this is in chunks.
The day started a little bit chaotic, tumultuous, upsetting, rocky… And ended in bliss.
We had an early start packing our own gear for the trip to M’Buke Island. For Australian friends, this is pronounced mBu-keh (not MmmBouquet, as Leah playing a terrible tourist acted out). We packed our ultralight tent and bedding, clothes for three days, some comically oversized fruits and the items that Chakumai had asked us to bring for the community. The rest was already loaded on the boat.
We were supposed to be going with two boats and a pile of people but like all good plans seem to go, it did not eventuate that way. We had a mad scramble to find a car to get us from the guesthouse to the council centre where the boat was moored. Luckily the guesthouse owner Jaclyn came through with the goods immediately and a ute showed up. We jumped in the back with all our worldly possessions.
After a short wait, we were on our way with Chakumai, Kiteni and our skipper, Kiliwi. Right now we are in the middle of the annual north easterly winds, so the waters are far choppier on the northern side of the coast line. The initial part of the trip on the north side of the island was quite choppy and bumpy.
What appears to be one island of the Manus mainland is actually two separate islands, split by the narrow Loniu passage. It is maybe 100m wide. As soon as we reached the Loniu passage, the sea became very calm. When we went through the passage we reached the southern coastline and it remained calm all the way to M’Buke. It was a 2 hour trip, where we passed many people transiting between islands and also fishing. Some brave souls were going solo on small traditional Manus canoes.
The arrival at M’Buke was so picturesque it didn’t seem real. Dolphins jumped out of the water as we pulled up! I think they were paid actors.
We had come expecting that the people who were with us would be staying in the bungalow and we would sleep in our tent. As it turned out, it was just the two of us and they put us up in the main house rather than a bungalow. The house belongs to the Governor of Port Moresby… We have gone to the most far flung remote corner of Manus and found ourselves in absolute luxury. Solar, running water, flushing toilet, a massive house with a selection of beds (we chose one outdoors under a mosquito net, looking over the sea). Meals prepared for us with the food we brought. We saw a tuna pulled out of the ocean and then end up on our plate within an hour.
As well as being an expert canoe builder, Chakumai is also a carpenter. So we gifted him with a cordless hand held drill and he gifted me a small model traditional Manus canoe. I had been, for the last year, slowly working on my own small model canoe but had reached the stage at which I found it hard to continue due to a lack of knowledge. This gift will allow me to continue and hopefully finish it in the near future. He also carved us a mermaid.
When we gave the soccer ball, volley ball and volley ball net for the community, Chakumai said he will take these to the M’Buke committee to decide how they are to be distributed.
The beach is at our doorstep and a coral reef is about a ten metre swim out. Mid snorkel, Kiliwi picked us up and took us to a spot where he said we would see turtles. We did! Pinching ourselves about how we ended up as the only visitors of this amazing place.
This is the most amazing community. We will write more about it over the coming days. It’s 9.40pm and we are sitting on the beach trying to get enough reception to type.. We type ten words and wait thirty seconds for them to appear. I also suspect I (JW) am starting to get a cold of some sort so the pictures might need to tell you the rest for now. More to come!