The Oceanic Discoverer eased into our morning anchorage beside Crown Island in the Bismark Sea. The morning sun lit the eastern sky, silhouetting the volcanic cone peak of Long Island in the distance. After breakfast we ventured ashore to visit the home of a large extended family that lives on this sparsely inhabited island. Elijah and his wife, their grown sons, in-laws, and numerous grandchildren are one of only three families living on Crown Island. We were warmly welcomed ashore by them and their many dogs. Their thatched-roofed houses were built on stilts just inland from the beach, near a shallow open well that provides them with fresh water.
The family subsists on both fishing and growing various crops for food. In addition, they sell some copra and smoked fish that they transport to the market in Madang, several hours away by boat. Many of us hiked inland past coconut palms and into the lush rain forest, passing several of the family’s large garden plots where betel nut palms and papaya were growing. Island imperial pigeons could be heard cooing in the distance, and occasionally the squawking cries of shrill channel-billed cuckoos were heard emanating mysteriously from the dense forest canopy. Eventually the heat of the morning turned us back toward the cooler, breezy shoreline. The narrow, volcanic black sand beach also offered a pleasant stroll beneath the shade of dangling box fruit and tropical almond trees.
By late morning we were underway heading northwestward to BagaBag Island. It was a relatively easy transit of several hours with a following sea. At Bagabag many people took to the water for snorkeling or diving to have our first views of the underwater world. Although the water was stirred up from the incoming swells, there was plentiful coral, and some interesting and colorful reef fishes to be enjoyed. After another intriguing day, by evening we were making our way farther northwest toward the entrance to the Sepik River.
