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Posted By:
Nickens, Dan
Date Posted:
Aug 9, 2019
Description:
The jungle is a wild and unforgiving place. Even on its fringes there
are hazards aplenty. Sharks, crocs, violent wind and waves. Here
rests another victim.
Date Taken:
July 13, 2019
Place Taken:
Stettin Bay near Kimbe New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Owner:
Nickens, Dan
File Name:
- Photo HTML
Full size - <img src="/show.php?splash=7W6SEJNfEh">
Medium - <img src="/show.php?splash=7W6SEJNfEm">
Thumbnail - <img src="/show.php?splash=7W6SEJNfEs">
Category:
Yacht Tending PNG
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Read what others had to say:
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Nickens, Dan - Aug 09,2019
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Perhaps there should have been some trepidation about venturing into the wilderness of Papua New
Guinea. Maybe something to the effect of: “Red clouds at morning, flyers take warningâ€.
There was none of that. Just the excitement of heading to parts previously unknown and all the
splendor just waiting outside there.
| | Attachments:
Red Sky 2019-02-05 17.07
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Nickens, Dan - Aug 09,2019
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Arriving in PNG, clouds shrouding the interior gave it a sense of primordial mystery that it has
earned. A far outpost on the fringes of civilization. A place where people still live without the
shrouds of modern civilization. Some where the wild and untamed still roam freely.
Well, um, so the town of Port Moresby looked to be pretty much a mixture of third world and
encroaching modern.
Certainly the strange process of getting permission to fly was somewhat uncivilized. The flight
permit application went
nowhere fast until the not-so-subtle suggestion from a bureaucrat to hire an agent was taken. The
agency was little more than an instant creation of a shell controlled by the same official making the
suggestion. When a wire transfer was refused for the agent, the official generously offered to collect
it on their behalf.
Despite the awkward process, we had the promise of authorization. All we had to do was fly the
agent and another official to the yacht for an inspection of aircraft and pilot.
| | Attachments:
Port Moresby 2019-07-03 13.39
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Nickens, Dan - Aug 09,2019
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An innocent looking volcano loomed on the horizon across the bay from the Kokopo Beach Resort.
Kokopo was only the most recent provincial capital of New Britain because the volcano recently
destroyed much of the former capital, Rabaul.
The volcano was still smoking as we awaited our aviation inspection.
| | Attachments:
First View 2019-02-14 22.49
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Nickens, Dan - Aug 09,2019
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We were supposed to have a flight permit. We’d done everything we’d been told to do.
It was concerning that the agent appearing with the inspector knew nothing about aviation. Worse,
he said he had “lost†all the expense money he had been paid at the Port Moresby airport and had
no money or credit cards or means to pay his taxi or his hotel or have dinner. We had to pay again
or risk our opportunity to fly.
Fortunately the actual inspector was knowledgeable and articulate. He reviewed and accepted all
the aircraft documents and pilot credentials. Then he proceeded to provide important local
operational details that would make the flights safer and more comfortable.
He did ominously warn about the active volcano to the west, Ulwan (not the one that destroyed
Rabaul). He said it was still spewing dangerous ash in various directions. “The volcano creates its
own micro-climate,†he warned. “Do not venture too close.â€
Right. As if I’d take that advice.
“The closest airport to the volcano has been closed,†we were advised. Apparently there was a
commuter jet stuck there. It had arrived early one recent morning and landed, not realizing that
overnight the runway had been covered with several feet of abrasive ash. The engines were
trashed, and likely the landing gear too.
No worries for a SeaRey, of couse, as I could just scoot in on its belly.
We got our verbal approval to fly. Still, the paperwork had not been delivered and the plane had to
be moved off the upper deck so it could be setup for helicopter. There’s nothing worse than dipping
the airplane in saltwater and having to clean it without flying! (Well, there are worse things, but it’s
frustrating, particularly with a mostly quiet volcano off the port bow.)
| | Attachments:
Flight Abort 2019-07-05 15.11
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Nickens, Dan - Aug 09,2019
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Overnight our anchorage in Rabaul’s harbor was battered with ash…not from the volcano but from
local burning. The captain decided to move from protected waters of the harbor (well, protected
from wind and swell) to the more open water off Kokopo.
| | Attachments:
Ash Fallout 2019-07-05 19.23
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Nickens, Dan - Aug 09,2019
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As SuRi slowly cruised to our new parking spot, a race ensued with a pod of porpoise. SuRi lost.
The transit gave me time to carefully study the fuel in the airplane. It was rotten. And it had water
in it. The contents of the tank had to be removed and replaced.
| | Attachments:
Chasing Porpoise C 2019-07-05 19.52
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Nickens, Dan - Aug 09,2019
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Finally I got to fly. A test flight around the harbor was my first order of business.
On the drive from Kokopo to Rabaul Harbor to meet SuRi, the local taxi driver had assured us that
the islanders were good, God-fearing people. Catholics, in fact. Nothing like the savages and
headhunters living elsewhere on the islands. The locals “welcomed†everyone, including the
Japanese invaders in World War II. They didn’t even hate the invaders after some were enslaved to
build war facilities.
Better folks than me, I’d reckon.
| | Attachments:
Religious House 2019-07-07 02.22
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Nickens, Dan - Aug 09,2019
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The taxi driver also explained that a lot of local deforestation was happening. And that there had
been heavy, flooding rains recently. The rains washed down the mountains in a slurry of eroded
sediment, washing some huts and families out to sea. He didn’t mention any connection between
the forest and the floods, but it was pretty easy to see from SeaRey height.
| | Attachments:
Delta Flood 2019-07-07 02.20
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