Pana Wina - Pastor Paskel's village (west)
▶ Our episodes filmed here
Our photos
Stories from our visits
Pascal and Marion fed us yam, sago, chicken and bush-fowl eggs, and we talked late into the night. They would rather catch a mud crab and bring it back to show us than see us cut our feet, but we went along anyway (Nov 2023).
Pascal walked us around the headland to the next village, pointing out the trees that make good canoes (Nov 2023).
The guide
- Position
- 11°08.86'S 153°00.25'E
- Our visit
- 6-13 Nov 2023 (diary), the last stop of the first visit (the two Panawina episodes), and again in Apr 2024 on the return. Instead of going up the river like most yachts, we anchored in the crescent sandy bay among the reef. Pastor Paskel showed us how bagi is made and an arm-span length worth about K1,000 (2023).
- Shelter
- Pana Wina's anchorages get very strong bullets in 20 kn+ SE.
- Ashore
- Beautiful, relatively quiet village with good produce and lots of mud crabs. Coconut plantation (people come from other islands for nuts). Fishing huts ashore make a good picnic spot. Pastor Paskel demonstrates bagi making and traditional stone axes and loves to share traditions.
- Anchoring (us)
- We anchored in the crescent sandy bay among the reef rather than up the river where most yachts go (Nov 2023). Our second spot, closer to the island, was the better one: a sand patch with no bommies and good depth. Quiet: one morning we had no visitors at all, a first in PNG. On the return trip we arrived after dark (about 10 pm, 7 Apr 2024).
- Ashore (us)
- Pastor Paskel and his family cooked us yam, sago, chicken and bush-fowl eggs, walked us along the beach to the next village, and showed how bagi is made and the old stone axes. The women go mud-crabbing (ask to go along). The fishing shelters ashore are a lovely spot to cook on a fire.
- People
- Pastor Paskel and his wife Marion - a pleasure to be around (2023)
Our sketch map
Drawn by us from OpenStreetMap, Sentinel-2 and our GPS. Not for navigation.
More in the Central Calvados
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This guide is free for everyone, sailor or not: explore the islands and watch our episodes right where they were filmed. The two of us made it from our own visits, footage and a lot of late nights over the maps.
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This guide is a set of personal cruising notes shared in good faith. Information can be out of date or wrong, and positions can be out by hundreds of metres. It is not a substitute for official charts and notices, your own eyes, local knowledge, or professional medical, legal or customs advice. You use it at your own risk: the skipper alone is responsible for the safety of the vessel and everyone on board, and the authors accept no liability for any loss, injury or damage arising from its use.