Day 28: Nights adrift on the Bismarck Sea

The Bismarck Sea has been (almost) just ours to sail for the past ten days, island-hopping around the insular provinces of PNG. I haven’t posted updates for a while as there is no data, electricity, etc etc here…
Every few days another ship’s in sight on the horizon. No earth other than atolls and islands where meeting villagers and exchanging dry food for fruits, stories, dances and life tips.
After a not-so-serene night in the bay of Kavieng we left early for New Hannover where we chose the small island of Ungalabu to spend a day and a night. Hermit Island kept us longer and as it was difficult to leave we had to skip Ninigo on the way to Indonesian Papua.
Now Vanimo’s in sight, last city before the changing border with Indonesia. That’s where we’ll clear formalities for leaving PNG, then clear in at Jayapura tomorrow morning.
Recorded over and underwater much of last night, under a cristal clear milky way; at the bottom of a sky full of new constellations cassiopea’s upside down. I also have tons of jungle sounds from Hermit Island: bamboos, rats, spiders, ants and reefs.

The Bismarck Sea’s very calm and deep blue, when no shark seems to be around we swim over 2500m of darkness and unknown. Some parts are  "undocumented", grey on the map: as no cargo ever uses these routes no one needs to know what’s underneath. Sometimes birds take a break on our boat to rest… or die.