Alatou, Papua, New Guinea

We sail from Cairns to Papua New Guinea.  We enjoyed a most AMAZING day here on this remote island.

We port in Alotau, which is the capital of Milne Bay Province.   It is located on the northern shore of Milne Bay, on the edge of volcanic mountains.

The area's claim to fame is the Battle of Milne Bay, where in WWII, the Australians fought the Japanese army that suffered their first land defeat in the Pacific war.

We took a tour with Jerry and Gwen that included snorkeling on a coral reef and a visit to a local village to see how the natives live in this third-world country.  We booked with Reeftours Milne Bay, a local tour operated by Shanniah Loihai.

We are met right outside the port area by Shanniah.

We all hop into the van and off we go...

 The harbor as we drive by

We are fitted with lifejackets for the boat ride and snorkeling.

And then board the boat.

On the boat heading to Coral Island to snorkel.

Shanniah gives us last-minute instructions...

And then we jumped into the crystal-clear water to snorkel above the coral reefs.

I had my underwater camera with and was able to get a few good pictures of the most amazing coral reef I have ever seen.

 These pictures sure don't do it justice....there were so many different kinds of coral all bunched together like a huge flower garden.

After an hour or so of snorkeling, we head to Coral Island

Our lunch spot

 Gwen and I enjoyed fresh coconut milk.

Our lunch is from Shanniah's village farm. We had the most delicious fruit.   Pineapple and tree ripened mangoes along with fresh tuna sandwiches, and coconut juice right from the coconut.

This pineapple was the absolutely DELICIOUS!!

After our lunch, while I went out for a 2nd snorkel, Terry did a walkabout on the small island.

Michelle, our guide's helper, showed Terry what to do...

And then he did.

They discovered an octopus

And Michelle gave a closer look

Then it was time to pick up the snorkelers after the most amazing coral reef snorkeling. We saw so many different kinds of coral.  It was absolutely beautiful.  I guess I can't rave enough about it!  Haha

We headed over to the other side of the bay where a ship had sunk during WWII.   It was our hope that we could snorkel around the wreck.

 We pulled up on shore and Shanniah was met by the local villagers.  Shanniah was asking permission for us to snorkel.  A long discussion then took place....seems two villages in this area are fighting over the rights of snorkeling the sunken ship.  They want to charge people to snorkel here but can't agree on which village gets the money.

So we left with only the permission to cruise around the sunken ship and no one got any money.  Below is what I had hoped we could do.  This photo is from the Reeftours website taken before the dispute between the villages.

We returned to the van and headed to our guide, Shanniah's village.

Shanniah is 20 years old and is the owner of Reeftours Milne Bay. She is helped by her mentor, a retired Australian. These tours are the only income for all in the village. Shanniah does a great job.

 The village is comprised of 14 family members. The village has no electricity, no running water. All clothes, dishes and bodies are washed in the river. We are about to learn how they live without all those conveniences we are so accustomed to...

This is Shanniah's mother.

 She demonstrates how dinner is cooked in a hole lined with palm leaves.

 She made coconut milk and added hot rocks to bring the liquid to a boil.

Then added vegetables.

Folded up the palm leaves and left it to cook for about 20 minutes. Gwen called this the native version of an Instant Pot!

 This man showed us how he sews leaves together to make "shingles" for the roofs of the huts.

 A "shingled" roof on a hut.

A dugout canoe in the process of being...dug out

 Here we saw how they can make fire.

 This is the oven

 Inside the bread has finished cooking.

Here Shanniah showed us how they break open a coconut. The husk is used for fire tinder.

 The boy used a machete to break open the fruit.

 He then shaves the meat out of the coconut which they use to make coconut oil, coconut milk, etc.

 They constructed the bridge over the river that flows through the village. It was made from two 30-meter coconut trees laid side by side.

 It was then time to say goodbye to Shanniah and her family and thank them for sharing their way of life with us. It was a great experience and one of my favorite days of the whole cruise.

Back on the ship, we say goodbye to New Guinea.

Next we are back in Brisbane where we disembark the ship...but our adventure is not over yet...

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