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Leaving Arop, April 2009

The road was closed because of two landslides, so I had to leave Arop by sea. This meant a one-hour walk to Wauroiyn, also known as Arop Two, to get a boat to the town of Aitape. The ride starts in the river. We call this part of the trip our "Jungle Safari Cruise." 

Another boat was leaving at the same time. Why were they passing us?

Because it's my lot in life to ride in boats with motors that are not working properly. This motor had sat unused for several weeks and did not really want to go to Aitape on this day.

This woman and her child rode with us. She later served as an example of how not to be a passenger. As we went out through the breakers, she would yell in fear each time we got close to a large wave. When we finally reached the calm sea on the outside of the breakers, the skipper and his first mate yelled at her for a long time, explaining that many boats have capsized at this place, and many were caused by scared passengers distracting the skipper.

Reuben is not a translator, but he's a valuable member of the team. He helps in dozens of ways, from helping to run the generator to helping me wash the solar electric panels on the roof to helping me with shopping in town. No, he's not angry. He's trying to see across the lagoon on a very bright sunny day with no sunglasses.

As we crossed the lagoon and headed for the opening to the ocean, we passed the long strip of sand that was the old Arop village. Many people have temporary houses there so they can camp on the beach and spend some concentrated time finishing in the lagoon. A sailing canoe is a big help to get from the old village on the beach to the new one. This kind of canoe is called a wuak in Arop. Any other kind of boat or ship is also called a wuak.

Some pors and wuaks have names, including the wuak named "Black Action" (right).

These fishermen are hauling in fishing net into a por, the other type of canoe Arops use. Note the flat bow, which is designed to enable a por to float in very shallow water. We have seen pors longer than 50 feet.

The airstrip that finally opened for me is called Tadji. It is a WWII airstrip. After over 60 years, the steel Marsden Matting has barely begun to rust. Seabees used this stuff to build airstrips in a hurry. Many of them are still in use in PNG. The Marsden Matting makes them strong and slows down the growth of grass.

This stuff is also popular for other uses, including walls for buildings. This is why only 1000 meters of our 2000 meters airstrip is open. People have been trying to 'harvest' the Marsden Matting at the other end, leaving some of it sticking up, which of course is unpopular with pilots.

My pilot on this day was Bruce Hansen. Before landing, Bruce took a good close look at the airstrip, which had been closed for months. He was very pleased with what he saw, and I was pleased to take off with him a few minutes later.