Had a great new years and hope everyone else did too?

As LYC orphans we were rescued yet again from boat boredom by generous locals…. Aboard ‘Beaver’ (a comfy luxurious motor boat, with air conditioning, captained by Peter and Simon) we were whisked away to nearby Salumau Harbour, no more than 2 hours easy motoring from Lae…what a glorious change of pace that was! A little slice of paradise so close to the maddening crowds.

Salumau in days gone by was the regional centre of Morope Provence, until it was bombed beyond recognition by the Japanese in WWII. These days it’s a sleepy little village and the playground for Laes ex-pat community, particularly those with boats. This would be because there’s basically no other way to reach it. Funny really…one of our cruising guides specifically states one should anchor off Salumau if intending to come to Lae as it’s safer and far more pleasant (true that) and then goes on to recommend one travels overland to Lae for supplies….shit I’d like to see anyone try that! The terrain would be punishing to say the least!!...no boat…no Salumau I’d say.

We arrived in Salumau just before sun down New Year ’s Eve with many beers already under our belt, sat down for a slap up meal before heading out to the ‘White House’ (nothing presidential in the name really…the house is simply white) for the festivities. I’m betting half of the Lae ex-pat community was there… in fact the first lady had fed over 50 people that evening…and 40 the night before….so what’s a few more then eh. We simply spent the night chatting and boozing before retiring to our air conditioned comfort sometime after midnight (Peter and Simon coming in much later than us, miraculously managing to carry their esky back to the boat as well).

New Years Day we spent snorkelling and resting up for an afternoon on a zippy little motor boat for some game fishing… I have to say a 30 knot scoot out to the local fishing spots is quite a buzz in comparison to our rather measly 7 knot max…. and the fishing wasn’t bad either… we managed to bag 2 coral trout and a hefty mackerel, all of which were consumed the following day upon our return to hot, steamy Lae.

So here we sit, back in our security compound, praying our parts will arrive soon… they’ve made it to Port Moresby….so fingers crossed.