Perhaps last night’s party was not such a good idea after all

Before dawn on day 8 we arrived a Karkar Island, another volcanic island occupied by traditional people and a large copra and cocoa plantation owned for 100 years by the Middleton family. This family has been long time friends with the family of the PNG e pert that we have traveling with us for the whole cruise, by the name off Simon Tewson. Simon was born in Australia, raised in PNG and for most of his life has been involved in tourism and mining all over the country. His knowledge is immense and he is a good story teller so we have been able to learn lots more than we would have without him. His relationship with the Middleton family is the main reason we are at Karkar.

This morning the weather was cloudy and we couldn’t see the top of the mountain so the chopper flights were postponed. We tried snorkeling in a few spots but it wasn’t as good as previous places. In fact I spent much of the snorkeling time either swimming or talking to local kids who came to visit in their canoes.

This afternoon we visited the working copra and cocoa plantation on the island.

Laundry duties, PNG style

It was surprising to see such a labor intensive process, employing 1500 people. Of course it could be done more efficiently but employment is the main reason the PNG government allows the foreign owned plantation to continue. After the plantation tour I again chatted with locals, mainly with the cook and cleaner who work for the “missus” but also with lots of children. Here are a few of the friendly kids we met.

Back on board, at happy hour I gave a slideshow presentation to the guests and a few of the crew. I had been asked to do that by several guests so I got one of the crew to help me convert some of my photos from an 11 year old Word document, then added a couple of maps and recent Isurava photos. Everyone seemed pleased so I was happy.