Greetings - Finally getting around to sending out this email to you while in JAPAN with SATOMI. Here is my daily log from the PNG sailing trip! See you all in NYC soon... I am in the middle of my Eurasean / Asian odyssey and have had many adventures since starting my trip from NYC. After a 5-day and 4-night ocean crossing from the Louisa Archipelago, Karl Weiss and I landed in Australia. I am writing this section from a little Internet den in the working port town of Townsville. The original plan was to sail to Caines but due to changing adventures our destination changed to a location better suited to store Karls boat. My past experience with WeissWorld (Karl's boat) was from crossing Vanuatu to Brisbane 4 years ago. So I was familiar with many sailing jobs and equipment on the boat. But like most adventures, I jumped into this one not really knowing how it would be and just went with the flow. Karls boat is CUSH! Videotapes of 200 movies, autopilot, refrigerator/freezer, roller furling sails, swing keel, etc. Everything really nice. So I was expecting some kind of ride like that. Well... This was the year of equipment breakdowns so it turned into a more traditional sailing experience. Generator problems made for battery issues. So few movies and limited refrigeration. Blocks of ice from the Misima harbor merchants helped for a few of the first days but then no more ice for drinks or cooling for the days in the archipelago and the ocean crossing. But the most exciting part is with the AUTOPILOT busted we both had to drive the boat for each hour of the day and night for 4 days/nights! joeba

TRIP AT A GLANCE

Sailing Louisiade Archipelago Papua New Guinea with ocean crossing to Australia

- 3 days at Bwogoia Harbor at Misima Island due to poor weather

- Day-sail/overnight at Panapompom near Nivani in Deboyne Group, dive jap zero plane

- Day-sail/overnight at Panasia Island, with reef and bommie diving

- Day-sail/3-days on anchor at Moturina Island: village/yatch visiting, hiking, and diving

- Ocean crossing 5-day/4-nights via Duchateau Islands, Dianes Bank, Flinders Reefs, Great Barrier Reef, Townsville - no autopilot, little sleep, 24 hrs/day 2hrs on and 2h off driving boat, arrive Australia on my birthday ・June 23rd

- 3 days at Townsville and 2 days in Caines

- Fly to Japan for two weeks with Satomi and her family

DAILY LOG

Thur 6/5 Fly out of JFK 12 noon on 14-hour flight to Narita JAPAN. Got middle row isle with some extra seats adjacent so had a few good hours sleeping on the plane.

Fri 6/6 Arrive Narita at 11:30am Japan time ・2AM New York time and go to the hotel. Plan to take a short nap but wake up 6 hours later - missed dinner and afternoon tour time of Narita! Figured out the telephone calling cards ・called my sweetie Sato in NYC. Found an Internet terminal and sent a few letters. Missed late night dinner food service so had self imposed・fast until next morning・

Sat 6/7 Break my fast with 7:30am western style breakfast buffet. Work out for an hour at the hotel health club, soak in the ONSEN (traditional Japanese hot tub), then swim laps in the modern swimming pool. Late checkout of hotel, left bags and went into Narita town for the ｽ day tour. TOUR DETAILS OF NARITA GO HERE. Got on the 9pm flight to Port Moresby.

Sun 6/8 Arrive Port Moresby at 5:30AM in the morning. Get picked up by staff and driven to local Marina in the dark. The morning light begins to illuminate my surroundings as we motor in a boat to Loloata resort island- the dawn slowly spreads and the Loloata experience begins. Morning snorkel at Lions Island and afternoon scuba 杜uck・drive at Lions Island・

Mon 6/9 Loloata: 2 dives in morning: 105 ft drive of the light oil tanker Pacific Gas・and then reef dive, lunch, afternoon tour of Port Moresby with Ron.

Tue 6/10 I have my 4 hour PNG interior travel odyssey from Port Moresby to Misima Island. It starts with a 4am wakeup call at Loloata Resort -> a 6:30 flight out of Port Moresby -> 2 stops along the way until final stop at Misima Island. With only one week at Misima, Karl is friends with everybody Kingsford is a customs guy who picks me up at the airport and gets me to the harbor. Karl is onboard entertaining a local village leader. They come to the doc then Karl and I head to the boat. Karl has a very nasty grape-sized infected blister on his foot. During Monday holiday, He went to hospital and got a bandage and antibiotics but blister infection is getting worse. We head up the hill to the hospital to look at it again. There is a woodcarving seller who had some nice bowls but I don't have any money changed into Kina yet. Karl introduces me to Jennifer, the manager of Misima Guest House. She is very friendly and protective of Karl and she finds a ride up the hill. I start my photographing tear with a nice picture of them together with a parrot. The hospital visit cost 2 Kina. Karl waits for 1 hour to see doctor. I wander off up the hill to see one more store up the hill the primary school and the bank to change some money. I head back to the dock and joke with the woodcarving seller and the crowd on which bowl to buy ・I buy an 80 Kina carved bowl. I get back as Karl is lying down about to get the blister cut away from his foot. And easy operation for only 2 Kina! We head to the Misima Guest house and have Fish dinner, Cerviche, fish crochets, fish/vegetable tamale, Greens/Vegetables, rice and coconut juice. Dinner is only 10 Kina ($3). We head back to the boat and watch the "Assignment" with Adrien Quinn, Ben Kingsly and Donald Sutherland.

Wed 6/11 Karl and I went to Customs to talk with Graham about 4pm Eric from Immigration comes on board and we do paperwork and passport stamps for leaving Papua New Guinea. Chicken dinner, more Cerviche, Rubgy game, Gadda, Karl and I on boat in evening watching "Air force One" movie, drinking Cognac and Tea, abusing old prescription pain relievers and staying up until 2 in the morning.

Thur 6/12 Gadda, Karl and I get up late after night of partying, watch 007/Thunderball and eat popcorn and mango for breakfast. The storm holding us back from sailing out of Misima past in the night the day is calm and moist. We head into town around 1pm, check in with Evi and Anni at the Misima Guest House about another dinner. Anni, Karl and I walk up to house nearby High school to see if woodcarvings seller is at house. We find him and Karl buys an 80 Kina wooden bowl and a 5 Kina LIME spoon. We go back to Misima Guest house for happy hour. Anni and Evi look through my camera pictures from the last few days. Randy and Laura from Pollen Path come to pick up laundry. Karl takes a few pictures of the staff and me. Dinnertime comes, Karl and I sit down to corn on the cob, carrots and onions, rice, sliced potatoes and marinated beef. We are both full after about half of the meal. Woodcarving man appears with the expensive 200 Kina bowls and an expensive carved staff. I pick up staff for 250 Kina! Karl is very tired so we head back to the boat. Gadda is waiting at the dock with another artist who is trying to sell a smaller carving of a man but Karl and I are out of Kina and don't buy it. Karl heads off to bed. I take my first shower in 3 days, do some yoga stretches naked on deck in the dark and take some time to work on the journal.

Fri 6/13 Karl is first boat into port and last boat to leave. Pollen Path and Perky Senior leave before us. We have one last morning trip into town and then off motoring to the Deboyne Islands in light winds (southwest of Misima Island). About a 5 hour motor/sail. Put up the jib half way there. Sailed into the entrance of the Deboyne Group lagoon and then continued to Panapompom Island. Dropped hook next to Nivali Island. Took a quick snorkel with Karl, wiped marine life off below water line of WeissWorld. Willie came by in his dugout canoe and I traded golden tee shirt for Papaya and Bananas. Willie stayed for drinks and Karl did his usual friend of the world routine・ Enjoyed steaks for dinner.

Sat 6/14 Project day, looked at one audio speaker that was intermittently failing. Looked at the autopilot, which failed and couldn't fix and then cleaned the cockpit. Snorkeled the 1942 Japanese ZERO aircraft in 6 ft of water. Enjoyed yet another steak dinner.

Sun 6/15 Sunday is the day for devotions and church for the islanders so no boats out fishing. Tobey comes by without any crayfish, returns the loaned batteries and says, too cold to go out night fishing last night・ Karl and I made a page for Toby's Island guest book and returned it to him. 10AM sailed out of Panapompom to Panasia Island. Start by motor sailing out of Deboynes Island Group lagoon and crossing south at 170 degrees to Panasia Island. Weather is a little rough with 25 to 30 knot winds. We shorten the large genoa to ease weather helm and get an easier sail. Fighting an ebbing tide between reef and Panasia as we get closer, took 4 hours overall sailing to get there. Panasia is a beautiful island/lagoon with a good anchorage on the south east wind shadow of the island. Great to hide the strong South Easterly trade winds. Take the dingy to inner reef to look for lobster. It gets real shallow so Karl and I start walking to the breaking reef. Unfortunatly getting back into surf through small breaker waves gives Karl and I several scrapes from bellies and legs getting dragged on coral. No worries, we are now snorkeling on the outer reef looking for lobster. No luck and we find a better route back across the reef to the dingy.

Mon 6/16 Discovered real coffee on board and had a great cup of Venezuelan Coffee from Glenn Drumbheller. Buzzed out in the morning on dingy and took some pictures of WW, gave Karl additional tech lesson on his digital camera. He made steak and eggs for breakfast. Took another dingy ride back toward the lagoon entrance and snorkeled down current through large yellow antler coral and bommies. Saw an adolescent sting ray! Getting right back to sailing, thinking of sailing to Bagamin Island today 22 miles to the East. Headed out at 11am and start with the smaller second jib. Similar weather and wind but the smaller sail powers the boat better and is fairly easy to sail. Joeba on helm for 2 hours and Karl plotting positions and working odd jobs ・like engine failure as we sail close to reefs! Looks like fuel filters and Karl fixes issue quickly. Good thing as we are sailing with another ebb tide pushing us toward Haiku Iri Shoal. One long starboard tack and we barely get by Haiku Iri Shoal ・all ready to tack but we made it! Decided to stay at a closer anchorage so we stop at Moturina Island and barbeque some lamb chops that we had bought in Misima.

Tue 6/17 Woke up after sunrise, a calm and cloudless day. Took a swim and snorkel. Karl awoke and we took the dingy across the bay to an island where Karl had left a tennis shoe a few weeks ago but no luck! Dingied back to see a 70 ft boat under construction at a nearby village. Took lots of pictures of the local family with Karl and I together! Helped some men load wood onto a boat launch at the beach. Back at the WeissWorld for a game of backgammon and some very stinky brie cheese for lunch. Pollen Path・arrives at the anchorage. Decided to hike islands tall mountain so we dingy into shore. Islanders by now know about me taking pictures with my digital camera so someone shouts SMILE, So I take more pictures of children and women and show them the little display. Jeff and Maxi take us hiking up into the tropical jungle of the island. There is a path part way but we have to bushwhack up the side of a saddle to get to the next path on the top of the ridge. The ridge trail eventually turns into the mountain trail so the last 1 hour of a 2 hour hike was a steep as our bushwhack up the side of the saddle. Fabulous views! I give Maxi my whistle as a gift for watching my back during the hike up. I had to rest a lot on that last leg up!. The hike down took 45 minutes. At the bottom, Jeff and Maxi treated Karl and I to fresh coconut juice. Maxi climbed up a coconut tree, hacked down a bunch. Jeff trimmed a stake and ripped the outer husk off. Maxi trimmed the inner husk with his machete then Karl and I drank fresh juice! Took the boys to our boat for a short tour visit. Met with Bryan from 鉄econd Winds・and went off in the dingy to snorkel for lobster around the sandy bottom and bommies near the reef. No luck. We will see if the locals with night diving can do any better・ Over all a fine play day. Wrapped it up with barbequed chicken and some local potatoes.

Wed 6/18 Morning swim and getting ready for our ocean crossing. Drain and clean main engine fuel filtering system. Straighten out boat. Invite Second Wind and Pollen Path for sun set drinks and snacks. Took Bryan and Glee from Second Wind・out for a second day of reef diving. Saw lots of sponge and fish. Did some 30 ft snorkel dives to bommies.

Thur 6/19 Sleep very lightly this night. Get up at 4am to hang out in the cockpit and enjoy the last minutes gently bobbing by the beach. Find out from Karl that Peter from local village came by at midnight with lobster and squid. So, Karl prepped lobster and squid for breakfast! Start ocean crossing; motor sailed through cut on west end of Moturina Island at 9AM. On South West heading out of Louisiade Archipelago toward Australia! Doing watches 2hours on 2 hours off with Karl and we are both yawning. Not a good sign. Find some problems with boat: water leaking into bilge from bow chain locker, using 110 volt emergency pump to empty bilge brings batteries low, fuel filters on main engine filling up with sediment again. But, did 142 miles in first 24 hours.

Fri 6/20 Good to see sun after a long first night but both of us are tired. Winds finally drop to 15-20 around 9AM. Day 2 of crossing goes well with calmer seas, lighter winds and sun! Except we had a major problem with roller furling main sail stuck ｾ of the way up! Karl tries to roll up main sail main many times but stuck at first roller. He decides to drop the main completely so we motor slowly straight into wind while he disconnects internal halyard and pulls main sail down on deck. We store sail in area across from galley. Karl also goes to the bow with a calking gun to try and stop the leaks in bow chain locker. I cook up a great dinner of hot squid and refried potatoes, which taste great.

Sat 6/21 Squalls continue all day but I am lucky to get on watch just after a squall or go off watch as another squall approaches. We both get wet. Jib furling line gets pulled out of base of sail so Karl ties down so it could not accidentally unfurl. Use genoa all day, sheet in at times as some heavy weather makes for heavy weather helm. I get frustrated trying to keep a 210 course so Karl relieves me 1 hour early. For 90 minutes Karl is doing the 210 dance with Weiss world going 7+ knots while anticipating every wave or roller hitting boat and wind changes! I take a caffeine pill to stay awake on a watch and am up socializing with Karl on his next watch. Got a little sleep and reported to my watch 10 minutes late ・only once on trip. 20-25 knot winds most of day and most of night. I put together another great dinner of squid, chicken, potatoes, onions and garlic. I go to stern end to wash feet off and apparently pull apart the SSB cable assembly ・another project for the captain! I claim that it must have been "the other guy" Karl and I are getting along well, joking and laughing our way into the night

Sun 6/22 At 6:45am with only 20-30 minutes of sleep, Karl doesn't want to get up but does. Such a great day! 10-15 knot wind, semi calm seas, sun comes out and we dry out foreward bed, towels, cloths, etc. I take my 3rd shower of the trip. Karl takes his first. First time taking nap in the aft cabin on Karl's large captains bed, it is so much nicer than trying to catch a few ZZZs on the main cabin couch as we had been doing. At night, wind picks back up to 20 knots and it is dark going through our first really big hazard, the Great Barrier Reef. Karl picked Palm Passage with 15 mile wide passage and light houses at ocean side entrance and bay side exit. Karl falls asleep for one hour in middle of passage and I let him sleep a pretty dangerous thing to do in such a rough spot. In reflection, I realize that was just plain stupid. I am just happy that Trust in Karl has worked out as usual. And I am amazed at Karl's ability to quickly fix any thing broken (whether by me or by nature),

Mon 6/23 Daylight we are driving the boat in the bay onward to Townsville. Townsville is a smaller working town with a large water port. Many natural resources are shipped into and out of here for the Queensland area of Australia. I can't wait to get on dry solid land but that will not happen until 1:30pm ・sigh. Pass Palm Island, I have some trouble sailing off the wind and cause us to take another 2 hours to tack to pass Magnetic Island. The sun comes out so Karl and I go down to shorts and hats and sail into Breakwater Marina Townsville into the gas/customs dock. Customs and immigration staff arrive about 15 minutes later. Karl is already buddy-buddy with Linda from past entries and customs/immigration goes well. I get my first hot shower in days. We go into town to tour and bar hop. Karl knows many people and we talk to a lot of locals. He takes me out to his favorite restaurant for a rib eye steak BIRTHDAY dinner and it was a fine thing. We visit the 的nternet Den・and I get a few emails off to my honey and some friends. Go back to the boat and get our first full night of sleep.

Tue 6/24 Karl and I are amazed at having 12 hours of sleep. We have a huge breakfast on terrace overlooking walking mall. We have huge retail therapy at Opal shop and I buy many aboriginal art inspired pieces for gifts. We spend another hour at the Internet Den working on my usual Friend Spam summary email while emailing to my honey on some hotel details for our Japan trip segment in later June. I get an amazing 1.5 hour massage from Jeri at First Things First massage studio. She does Structural alignment on my hips and back and Crainial adjustment on my neck and head. Feels like a strong chiropractic session so I make the rest of the day a very easy one. Karl and I do laundry at the marina. Karl goes out with some drinking buddies while I stay at the boat and start to organize and pack for the next segment of our adventure. Peter, wife and kid come to boat and Karl takes us all out to the Casino buffet where many jumbo shrimp are consumed. Too much food but good company ・we are both very tired and go right to bed.

THE FUTURE Wednesday: Joe goes to Billy Bong to see the animals. We prepare the boat for storage. Thursday: put the boat up and take the train to Caines Friday: play in Caines Saturday: fly to Japan and spend two more glorious weeks with SATOMI