13 Oct 2015

Discovering Madang

We had a great day in Madang at the start of our Melanesia Discoverer voyage which heralds the start of the 2015/16 South Pacific and Southern Ocean programme. The specialist birding group set out at 0500hrs for an excursion into the hinterland while the remainder of our complement enjoyed a guided tour around the Madang township. During this outing they experienced their first ‘sing sing’ welcome before transferring to the Spirit of Enderby and settling in for the next two weeks. Later in the afternoon we departed Madang and had a pleasant run up to the Sepik River.

We dropped anchor at 0500hrs yesterday morning so the birders could depart at 0600hrs on a Zodiac cruise along the banks of the amazing Sepik River. They returned to the ship to devour a much appreciated breakfast after a successful morning. The whole group went ashore at 1030hrs to visit the small village of Kopar at the mouth of the Sepik. Here we enjoyed talking to the locals, buying some of their beautiful hand-crafts and exploring the village, always accompanied by small groups of inquisitive children.