March 31st 2004:

Email from the Ship: Ready for a geography lesson:

Malaysia is the largest Muslim country. It consists of 2 distinct parts--Peninsular Malaysia which is the long finger of land extending down from Asia with Singapore at thebottom tip and then to the east in the northern island of borneo is 2 malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak. We are stopping at 2 ports in Borneo Malaysia--Miri and Bintulu and 2 ports in Peninsular Malaysia--Singapore and Port Klang. We hope to be in Miri by early Sat Morn 4-3-04. Today we sailed by the Phillipines.

Some more interesting info is that we are entering an area that is at risk for pirate attacks so while we are sailing at night between 2000 and 0600 all the doors to outside decks are secured and we are not allowed outside.While in port all accommadation doors secured except the one nearest the ganaway which will be heavily guarded.

At night the bridge watch will be doubled. The fire hoses will be rigged and the search lights used frequently in order that to any observer the vessel is vigilant and prepared.Should any pirates be in a position to board the ship everything possible will be done to frustrate the attempt by swamping of boats and pirates with fire hoses and dazzling them with lights.All of us passengers will remain locked in our cabins.

Actually this all feels very safe to me.We are told that the risk to a vessel like this is minimal because of size, speed and type of cargo but it's always wise to take precautions.

Our position tonight is 05N and 125E

March 30th 2004:

Email from the Ship: Tuesday March 30 6am position 01N 133E traveling 16 knots.

Last evening we had our before dinner drinks on the deck so we could watch the sunset and celebrate crossing the equator again. We saw a huge group of dolphins flipping around in the ocean doing their entertaining for us.

Also I finally made a trip to the engine room. I had this picture in my mind that it would be a loud, fiercely hot,dark dungeon, the way everyone had been commenting about it. Much to my surprise it was a well lit room full of huge machinery, very clean, and quite hot and loud. There was a room with all the monitors which was airconditioned and the crew that works with engines need to take a break every so often to cool down.I took pictures to send to my website.

I think in about 4 days we will be in Borneo Malaysia. Until then we are sitting on deck relaxing, reading, playing scrabble and Helen and I go to the pool for exercise.

March 27th 2004:

Email from the Ship: Since there is no public transportation in Lae PNG and the town was too far away from the dock we did not have the opportunity to explore the town. We were a bit disappointed because we had 1 and 1/2 days but we were told that it wasn't safe to go off on our own. The capt. did arrange for the agent to take us to Lae international hotel for lunch but our time was limited.

While Helen and I were playing scrabble after dinner, suddenly the door to the lounge opened and 8 very talkative men came in with Dario our chief engineer.They were all business men who live in Lae but came from Australia and UK not native PNG's. They get together at a bar at night and they knew Dario. They wanted to see the ship so he brought them for a visit.there was a banker, a manager of Lae hotel, travel agent, tour organizer etc.and they were quite entertaining with their humor.They said if they would have known we needed transportation they would have provided it for us.They said that Lae is not as dangerous as the media like to portray it but you do need to be careful in some areas.

We left Lae this morning at 7 am and we will be at sea for at least a week on our way to Borneo Malaysia.All day we sailed along the island of PNG and it was a beautiful sight. We have to go north and then west to get around the island and on to Borneo.

Our position at 9pm is 04S 146 E. I was up on the bridge and the sky was very interesting. It is dark and to the west the sky was lit up with lightning and to the northeast the moon was shining on the ocean.It was fantastic.

March 26th 2004:

Email from the Ship: We arrived in Madang PNG at 7am 3-23-04. It is a very scenic harbor and very clean. Several dolphins were frolicking around to welcome us. We walked to town to visit all the shops and the outdoor market. They had lots of bananas and peanuts and all kinds of other greens. It was very hot and humid. We walked to the local bakery but nothing looked very appealing to me.

We walked to Hotel Madang Resort for lunch. It is beautifully landscaped with a nice swimming pool which they allowed us to use.There was a conference starting "oceana customs" so there were lots of people around.

We had a shore leave on Wed until 3pm so we went to town again and went swimming.The people are very friendly here.They want to make sure you know where you are going and they will walk with us to show us. I sat down on the cement wall for a rest with all the locals and I had my backpack beside me. A very nice lady came to me and told me I better put it on my lap so noone takes it. Most of them speak good English and also pidgin.

We left Madang yesterday 3-24 at 6 pm and arrived in Lae PNG this morning 3-25 at 8 am. We had to drop anchor out near the harbor and wait for a berth to open. About noon we were told we could sail in and dock. We had 3 tugboats helping us into a space between 2 other ships. We stayed on board because we can@t go out on our own. Tomorrow the capt. arranged for someone to pick us up for the day.

March 22nd 2004:

Email from the Ship: In Papua New Guinea as you pass all the people walking you notice that they are chewing and spitting out large amounts of red saliva.There are patches of red all over the ground. Everyone chews betel nut. It is the nut of the areca palm, and it is a mild narcotic. People use it as a little pick me up during the day like a mid day cup of tea or coffee. They break open the husked nut and chew until they get to the kernel inside the nut. Nuts can vary in potency and a strong one might cause you to sweat and want to lie down for awhile. After the nut is chewed, they take the kernel, moisten the tip of it into a white powdery mix of mustard and coral limestone and bite off the frosted part and keep chewing. This is when the saliva turns vivid red and you will feel a rush. They say it tastes awful.The local people offer it to foreigners but it doesn@t attract too many drug fans because of the disgusting spitting of the large amounts of bright red saliva which stains everything it comes in contact with. The local people have red stained mouth and teeth. Even the children are using it.

March 21st 2004:

Email from the Ship: It has been raining for many days now so we are ready for some more of that beautiful weather again. We are in Kimbe PNG arrived here Sat noon 3-20-04 and we expected to load copra and leave by 6 pm Sat nite. Well, that didn't happen because of the rain. It is now Sun aft. and we are waiting for the rain to stop long enough to get the copra loaded. As I said before, sometimes if we are in a port where there is a lot to do and see, we are happy to be delayed by the rain. Here in Kimbe there is not much to do.

This morning Sun,, I decided to take a walk to town between showers. It was very muddy everywhere. There were lots of people walking and everyone was smiling and saying good morning. They were very friendly and it was a good feeling.I was not only wet from the rain but also from the heat and humidity so it felt good to take a shower when I got back to the ship. We are a little tired of the rain so we read, play scrabble and read and play scrabble some more.When it is possible it is fun to watch the loading. It's 9 pm now Sun eve and they have been loading for several hours so it looks like we will be leaving in the morning 3-22 and sail to Madang- another PNG stop.

March 19th 2004:

Email from the Ship: We left Noro at 5 pm on 3-16-04 and arrived in Rabaul, PNG at 7:30 am 3-17-04. Rabaul, the once beautiful city nestled in Simpson harbor with a backdrop of beautiful volcanic mountains was destroyed in 1994 when the volcano Tuvuvur erupted. All the roads, airport, restuarants and buildings were buried under the volcanic ash.The earthquake that followed crumbled the buildings.They have been attempting to restore the city with help from the government but even after 9 years much of it looks desolate, However when we were taken to the top of themountain to the station where volcanologist have equipment to monitor the status of the volcanos, the view of the harbor and what was left of the town was absolutely wonderful. Tuvuvur is still smoking and although the day was cloudy I attempted to take pictures to send to my website. We had lunch in the hotel restuarant that was dug out of the rubble and restored.It was good chinese food.

We sailed for Bialia Png at 5 pm 3-18-04 and arrived at 7am 3-19-04. It has pouring down rain. The dock is very small and it is built a long ways from shore with a oneway path or road to get to it. Because of the rain and the difficulty getting on and off the ship, we decided to stay on board today. There is very little to see on shore.

We are loading coconut oil through big hoses so the loading can go on even though it is raining.They will be done loading at 6pm but we won't sail until tomorrow morning. The passage into the dock is too difficult to do at night. We head for Kimbe which is a short sail from here. Both Bialia and Kimbe are on New Britain island which is a part of PNG