Pamela - Hinai Bay (Sudest)
▶ Our episodes filmed here
Our photos
Stories from our visits
As soon as we anchored, Thomas, the chief's younger brother, paddled out and said 'welcome home' (Oct 2023).
Caroline, who preaches at the church, took us with the village women to plant yams in a garden a long barefoot walk away. Each of the three kinds of yam goes in a different way up, and they laughed and corrected us when we got it wrong (11 Oct 2023).
We panned for gold in the creek with Caroline. People said it can take a week of hard work to find a gram, worth about K150 (Oct 2023). Gold was first mined here in the 1880s.
We met one of the men translating the Bible into the local language. The New Testament was finished, and he was taking a year off before carrying on with the Old (Oct 2023).
The guide
- Position
- 11°29.88'S 153°20.99'E
- Our visit
- 5-14 Oct 2023 (diary; the five Pamela episodes) and again in mid-Apr 2024, after Midawa (our track and footage). We filled our drums with creek water carried down from the village (Oct 2023).
- Ashore
- Pastor Thomas is very welcoming and friendly. Small spring to fill water containers. Site of the first gold find in PNG. Small creek to swim in near Solomon's garden; ask to go up the nearby river to see the village and swimming hole.
- Water
- Small spring.
- Anchoring (us)
- We sailed into the bay in heavy rain and wind (Oct 2023) and couldn't see a thing - come in with good light, there are reefs and rocks. Thomas, the chief's younger brother, paddled out as soon as we anchored. It felt so safe we left the kayak in the water overnight. No beach at the anchorage.
- Water (us)
- After about 7 months without decent rain (Oct 2023) we still filled 80 L of 20 L drums from a small creek above the village. Tie the kayak in the cut in the mangroves to be closer, then carry down a steep, muddy bank. People wash dishes downstream, so fill above them and treat it. Don't paddle up the river: crocodiles. The village also catches rain in a few tanks.
- Ashore (us)
- One of the most welcoming villages we visited ('welcome home'). Walk to the gardens (we planted yams with the women), swim in the creek near Solomon's garden, go to Sunday church, and with a guide go up the river to where families pan gold: the first gold mined in PNG (1888), now kept for the local people. It took about a week of hard work for one gram (K150, 2023). We were told the last yacht before us came in 2010.
- Trading (us)
- We gave fish, rice, tea, fishing line, hooks and sinkers, flour, books and clothes. Baskets of sweet potato, yams, greens, pumpkin, bananas, pawpaw and coconuts came back, often as gifts.
- People
- Pastor Thomas (2023); Solomon - garden by the creek (2023)
Our sketch map
Drawn by us from OpenStreetMap, Sentinel-2 and our GPS. Not for navigation.
More in the Sudest (Vanatinai)
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