Travelling to Boigu

Will on the outside and Paul inside.

Since we could not get the plane we wanted, Will the pilot always had some fun trying to fit in our gear. Paul had to climb into the plane and push from one direction, while Will pushed our gear in the side door. How the little plane managed to take off is amazing.

Naked lady

We were told about the naked lady... and so here she is in all her glory. The locals love her and made sure we knew about her before we left.

The weather was a little cloudier this leg, but boy did we get some wonderful views. The reefs off Darnley and towards Stephen Island are just spectacular. I reckon Stephen Island must need a BIA project.

Stephen Island Reefs in all their glory

Saibai Island

Saibai is a place I have visited before. It still amazes me the community is coping with the sea level rises. I have been there when the high tide flooded the school grounds and stranded the preschoolers in their building and many islanders were stranded at the shop. It looks so vulnerable from the air. A small village clinging to the last bit of beach by its toes. The island is very large and the one strip of houses just looks so fragile. Many Saibai folks were relocated to Bamaga some time ago. As it turned out, we heard more of the story two weeks later. I included this photo here for the Bamaga folks. Paul was on the other side of the plane taking photos of New Guinea while I was looking over Saibai.

Dauan Island, off Saibai

Dauan Island holds a fond memory for me. It's where I was stranded one weekend and wrote the submission for ACEC 2006. Its a spec off Saibai with an amazingly inspirational beach. The kinda place you might go to to write your PHD...

The photos on approach to Boigu deserve a blog entry of their own. Will opened the window for me and I shot as many photos as I could without the perspect clouding the images.