South Pacific Float - days 8-10 (Sea Day, Papua New Guinea)

    Last three days included a Sea Day, a day at Milne Bay (Papua New Guinea) and a day at Kiriwina Island (Papua New Guinea).  

    At Milne Bay, we had a group tour that took us about 20 miles from the city to a 'Culture Village'  where we were welcomed with dances and traditions, some current (like nut/plantain/coconut harvesting) and some Pre-WW2 (like costume and dances).  I am not quite sure how I feel about these.  The guides and performers kept telling us how much they appreciated being able to share their traditions with us, and the importance of the small number of cruise-ships have on the local economy (7-10 a year).  But there is also a piece of this that feels like Western exploitation (especially the costume/lack-of-costume with some of the performers).
    I was hoping for some good bird-adventure.  Merlin claims >700 species locally (though it recognizes almost no songs), but actual spotting was minimal.  It was very hot/humid, especially in town.  And there was smoke from wood-fires/trash-fires that lingered throughout.  Not very many birds in town (other than sparrows), and nowhere really to walk.  After the tour was completed, we returned to the ship.

    Kiriwina was a different experience altogether.  We were signed up to hop to an adjacent island for a reef snorkeling adventure - but the snorkeling was cancelled because the cyclone last week churned up the reef and it was still cloudy.  Instead, there was another Culture Tour (this time in an actual village), followed by a seafood feast on the beach, with all freshly caught fish and 'crayfish'. 
    After the tour, as the feast was beginning, the wind suddenly kicked up (I had walked about 1km away to do some nature exploring).  I quickly made my way back to the group when the wind kicked up even higher, and the skies opened up.  The Tender service from the ship was suspended due to rough seas.  Our hosts tried to tarp over our shelter to help protect against the rain, which helped somewhat for some folks (I was not able to fit into the crowded shelter, which did not matter much because I was already completely soaked).  Then we were moved to the school-house raised hut to ride out the storm (which was incredibly generous - the locals that had been sheltering in the school-house took their refuge below the raised-house).
    After 90minutes of being pelted by rain, the skies cleared and the wind dropped, and all passengers still on the island were returned to the ship.  As we were lining up for the Tender service back to the ship, the ship staff were very apologetic, stating that there was no squall in the forecast, and if there had been, the landing would have been cancelled.  And they all strongly suggested motion-sickness pills for the return (they provided water and tablets).  
    It could have been much worse.  There were two tenders - one tied to the dock and another in open ocean - that could not land and could not embark/disembark folks.  Those people suffered through 90 minutes of extreme churn.  And the locals live storms like this on a regular basis.  So I have zero complaints.
    I did not get great images during the worst of the storm.  It is amazing how badly the phone's touchscreen works when your hands are soaking wet.
    Overall, our hosts and our Tender-pilots did an awesome job under very difficult circumstances.  And we have a story to tell.
    Again, not so many birds.  I could hear them, but the rainforest was too thick, and they seemed to generally be avoiding the village areas.

Photos:
    Milne Bay:
    Some children husking nuts at the Culture Village.  It is a normal job for children to do this for a good portion of the day.  The nuts are then sold to town.

    A view of the landscape through the front window of the bus:

    The one bridge in/out of town (single-lane).  Through those holes, you could see the river below.  People did a pretty good job of straddling the gaps.  Reminds me that I take a lot of things for granted.

    A Eurasian Tree-Sparrow (note the cheek-spot).  It is not a trick-of-the-lens sparrows here are more of an orangy-color.

    Kiriwina Island:
    Started out as a beautiful day:

    Our shelter, with the ship behind:

    Jana welcomed by our guide with a flower lei:

    Preparation for the Seafood Feast.  Here are the freshly caught 'crayfish'.  And my foot next to the one at the top of the pot, for reference.

    And the fish:

    The fisherman, after completing the morning catch, bringing fish up to the village:

    An Eclectus Parrot (also saw them flying overhead):

    In this warm weather, the insects never seem to settle down.  But I did get a good look at a couple.  Here is a Brown Pansy butterfly, and a Crow (Euploea) butterfly:

    An amusing shirt on a running child:

    Still a beautiful day:

    A White-Bellied Sea Eagle overhead, and a Great Frigatebird:

    The wind picking up, which may be difficult to see from still photos:

    And then no photos for a while.  My wet fingers prevented me from using my phone.

    Once in the shelter, a view of the ship:

    And some video of a Tender lashed to the dock - but it was too dangerous to let anyone off, or to detach the Tender.  The folks on this vessel were stuck there for 90 minutes of this.  I am sure this snippet was not the worst of it.

    After the storm passed, all was good again, and we could be evacuated back to the ship:

    Epilogue - walking around the third deck today (a sea day), I found Tender #16, the one that had been lashed to the dock.  Hard to get a good angle.  But it lost all of the siding on the one side, and in the rear, it took some serious damage:

    Also found today, from the ship, a mixed group of Red-Footed Boobies and Brown Boobies!  Thanks to Jana for texting me to go out on the deck with binoculars.  Hard to get a good image in-frame with these guys whizzing by.