Easter Sunday 23rd April
Bunama East, Papua New Guinea.
Wow what a morning, I can’t recall when I have had so much fun before and t he day is just beginning. To wake up to a beautiful sunrise that reflects out across the waters around the island, accompanied by the singing of a small boy as he played with his friend on the shoreline. It is Easter so the children are all on holidays and enjoying every minute of it. The whole experience is very inspiring. I am going into my third day on board the STARSHIP and I am finding myself enjoying it more and more as the days pass by.
Michael and James are readying the tender for a fun filled morning as the children are flocking from every corner of the beach to be a part of it. It’s Ski Donut riding time and the local children climb on board the tender and listen as Michael starts the engine. "Who’s first?" is the question on everyone’s lips. Two small boys take the plunge and the smiles and laughter on their faces say it all. Who wouldn’t have fun. If you're not sure what donut riding is I will try to explain. The children refer to it as a floating donut, which is practically what it is. You can sit or lay on it and be whirled around behind the tender. What a rush! The kids found the experience to be quite different to their normal mode of transport.
The children have had their fun and now all is quiet. Many of the nationals of PNG attend mass, so as it is Sunday the children have returned to their village to get ready. In Papua New Guinea religion is important. New Guinea’s constitution declares that it is a Christian country. The church has played an important role in developing the health and education throughout the region. They follow different denominations. Some are Catholic, others follow the United church, Anglican church some even Evangelical Lutheran. In the following of some of these particular religions Sunday is a day of no work. This includes the collection of food, fishing or any other activity along these lines. Dave was going to go spearfishing with one of the local boy from Bunama East. However he was later told by the boy that it would not be OK as today is Sunday and he was not allowed to fish on this day. Maybe tomorrow.
With the day slowly drifting away we started to make our way towards Dinah’s Beach located on the North coast, West of East Cape. In less than five minutes after leaving Bunama East we were greeted by a small pod of False Killer whales sometimes called “Pseudoorca”. Everyone quickly gathered together some snorkeling equipment and camera’s and climbed into the tender to make our way towards the moving pod. Brandon was telling us a little about the whales and their behaviour. We were able to see the whales diving. Brandon told us that this was common when they are hunting for food or simply on the move. We made some gallant attempts to dive with them, none the less I think they were more interested in each other. Brandon was able to get a few photo’s of them as we passed in the tender.
We were fortunate to see some of them feeding and jumping from the water, Brandon was making a note to us that on many occasions you can observe them sharing food around the pod. The Pseudorca is a long and slender looking whale with a dorsal fin similar to that of a young killer whale before it becomes an adult. It can sometimes be confused with a melon headed whale and in fact our first look at the pod it is indeed what we thought they must have been. Lucky for us Brandon’s keen eye was able to differentiate. Once we were close enough we could see that the whales were indeed Pseudorca’s. From all attempts to swim with them Enrico was able to get a short glance at four as they passed beneath him. As for the rest of us, better luck next time. What we did all mange to achieve was a little too much sun. The sheer excitement of the whales allowed us to lose track of how long we splashed about on the surface. I do know that I will be feeling the effects of the sun later in the day. James, Enrico, Dave, DJ, Brandon and Michael should do too.
Dinner is up and diving is to follow so I shall let you know if we found any strange new species in the morning see you then or as you say in PNG Lukim yu bihain (see you later).
Lou.