17 Oct 2017
Bound For The Solomon Islands
The windy weather of yesterday had ceased by morning with just the last of the cloud clearing from the mountains and promising a somewhat cooler day. By 0700 we had all had breakfast and were boarding the zodiacs to head ashore, here our mini vans awaited for the drive up the old mine access road.
Arriving at the summit of the road we left the birders to enjoy their morning amble and birding along the road while the rest of us continued down to the site of Panguna Mine, it was a facinating morning with visits to view the open pit, tailings (with view to the west coast of Bougainville), Panguna town and the concentrators.
Meanwhile the birders had a very successful morning getting good views of many of the hoped for Bougainville endemics. After lunch aboard the Spirit of Enderby it was shortly time to head back ashore for a visit to Arawa including the library donated by Lloyd Jones of Mr Pip fame and also the town market. We then enjoyed a performance on the beach at the Catholic Mission by local cultural groups before clearing PNG customs and preparing to sail the short distance to the Solomon Islands.
As morning dawned we were welcomed to Rabaul by her volcanoes, dominating the skyline to the west of us and illuminated by the rising sun. The Spirit…READ MORE
It was an early start for our birders this morning with the zodiac departing from Spirit of Enderby at 0245 under a starry sky, but they were rewarde…READ MORE
Overnight last night we had a little more wind than normal on our bow but it was still a comfortable ride and by dawn the hills of Mussau were clearl…READ MORE