of pounds of supplies and donations and almost
two weeks on passage, we had actually arrived
at Mal Island in the Ninigo lagoon.
Plus we had arrived in plenty of time to
witness the spectacle of the August racing
season of the Seimat outrigger sailing canoes,
a culturally rich and highly competitive event
dubbed 'The great Ninigo Islands canoe race'.
Almost immediately, an outrigger canoe
pushed off the beach to our west bringing the
first of new friends Michael Tahalam, for a
visit aboard. Thus began our idyllic five week
adventure in one of the most remote and friendly
cruising destinations we have visited in 13 years
of wandering about the Pacific on Carina.
AT THE NINIGOS
The magnificent Ninigo Islands, a group of 31
tiny islands set in seven atolls, are part of the
Manus Province of Papua New Guinea.
These islands, like their distant neighbors
of Wuvulu and the Hermit Islands, are seldom
visited. During a busy year only a handful of
yachts visit and most of those are friends of
yachts who have already been to Ninigo. We
were such a yacht.
Not only had friends urged us to sail there, but
a few had sent us donations to buy supplies plus
gifts and asked us to carry letters for the families
they had learned to love during their own
visits. We sailed into Ninigo with humanitarian
donations and purchased goods provided by
57 individuals representing 18 yachts and 15
different countries.
Those who cruise here choose to come for
many reasons—the healthy lagoons that make
for stunning anchorages set alongside pretty,
neat villages amongst them. But above all, what
is most attractive and endearing and what
brings friends of friends back, are the warm
wonderful people and their still-f lourishing
sailing canoe culture that allows them to
sustainably live on little except pluck, hard
work and love.
That is why we went and that is why we hope
someday to go back. If we cannot, we will, like others
before us, send back our love through others.
The colonial history of these islands saw
various powers claiming ownership and selling
the islands and resources to the highest bidder.67
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