Sailau Expedition

In early 2011 Robert Prettejohn conceived of the idea of sailing throughout the Louisiades on a Sailau. Contacting Guy Chester, organiser of the Louisiades Yacht Rally the two planned the trip and Guy arranged the contacts to charter the sailau Hex and its crew. Hex was well known to Guy and is owned by Juda from Panasia Island. Juda’s adopted son, and good friend of Guy, Mackenzie was the guide for the first trip.  

Robert, his son Seton and three friends did a three week trip around the islands. This gave them enough time to stop and be immersed in village life. Hex and its crew performed admirably with the skipper, Randal Suani quickly gaining huge respect from the “dimdim” tourists Robert, Seton, Ian, John and Mitch.

See below for Seton’s movie, Robert’s great photos and extracts from Mackenzie’s journal.

Seton’s Movie

Seton has made a wonderful movie (see below) which says so much about the trip without words being needed.

Mackenzie’s Journal

Robert has written some great descriptions of the adventure and these will be added. Mackenzie, the local guide, wrote a daily journal. Mackenzie had spent three weeks with Guy Chester on the yacht Sanctuary during the 2011 Lousiades Yacht Rally,  before this, the first ”Dimdim Tourists Sailau Trip”. This was the first group of such adventurous travellers without their own yacht..so much discussion had been held between Mackenzie and Guy about what the tourists would want… here is a few extracts of Mackenzies journal:

Wednesday 12 October (day 4 and after a few long days sailing) – Loeba Island

“We spent the whole day relaxing, fishing, snorkelling and diving for crayfish. The white folks gave a soccer ball to the boys. They began their soccer match on Loeba island. After playing soccer they went diving for fish and lobsters. They caught a few and we had fish, rice and vegatables for dinner. After dinner, boys played ukelele and sang songs. We sang songs and played ukelele for about four hours then went to sleep.”

Saturday 15 October

“When we finished having breakfast, we loaded all our belongings and sailed to Panewau Village where the school is (Moturina Island). We presented some school stationary and some first aid to the headmaster of Moturina Primnary School, Mr Sailas Guma. We then walked over to the south coast of Moturina Island to buy rice and sugar from the store. When we arrived at the store, heavy rain fell and we waited for three hours for the rain to stop so that we could return. Anyway, when we returned, we bought and traded some local food from some of the locals at Panewau village. After all the buying and trading, we then sailed to Nunala Mal Island. Its a beautiful white sandy beach island south east of Brooker Island. We arrived at Nunula Mal Island at 5 pm. We cooked dinner, had it and went to sleep early after the tiring day.”

Wednesday 26 and Thursday 27 October

“We arrived at Gulewa Island at 4:30 pm. We cooked dinner, had it and waited for six hours for a good strong breeze so that we could cruise on to Misima. At about 11:30pm, we could feel a bit of good breeze so set off for Misima. The white folks slept on Hex as we sailed along. We sang songs and played ukelele and made the journey live and enjorable. We sailed the whole night till day break.

After dawn, at about 6am, we cooked rice and noodles with aibika for breakfast on Hex (whilst still sailing!). Everyone was excited because it was the last day of the adventure trip. …Anyway, two hours later, after breakfast, we could see dark clouds forming right around us. After half an hour, it reached us. The dimdims were afraid but the crews said we will be safe. Heavy rain fell with dark clouds everywhere, big seas and very strong wind. We know that this is a storm. But Hex is still strong and capable for such weather condition. We couldn’t make it to Bwagoia right through, so we stopped at Alhoga Village on the south coast of Misima Island, west of Bwagoia. Rain was still falling heavily…

…After lunch, at about 12:30pm we sailed off again for Bwagoia. Strong wind, big seas and heavy rain, we still sailed on beacuse it was the last day for the trip. At 3 pm we arrive at Bwagoia wharf.”

Friday 28 October

“At 7:30am, we all walk to the Guest House to meet our friends and say goodbye to them. We had breakfast with them. They gave us gifts as we shook our hands with our eyes full of tears as if someone is dead. When everything was over, we walked back to Hex. Everyone’s very sad for missing each other after knowing and getting well with everyone.”

Conclusion

“From the first day of the trip, we were shy to talk with each other and found it difficult on how to cook or prepare meals for the white folks. Anyway when days went bye, we learnt to prepare meals and egt to know each other very well. Every village or island we visited, we gave presents and payed money for camping. The most gifts we gave is to the schools and aid posts.

Anyway, all the islands that we visited, the locals were very pleased to welcome us and amazed to see dimdims sailing on a sailing canoe.” 

Robert’s Photos