Before dinner last night, Leon mentioned to us that he would take us into the mangroves tonight for a magical experience, and he was right. We walked out through the trees on the two by four walkway that will eventually become a full walkway, but is still under construction. We followed the beams of our dive lights while balancing on the thin pathway. We were all miles behind Leon who was roaring ahead of the rest if us, but eventually he stopped at his surprise location, and we all caught up. We stopped and were told to turn off our lights, we did as instructed and all of a sudden an array of lights in the trees came into play. Fireflies were dancing amongst each other flashing their green lights and giving us all a thrill. We sat down on the planks and looked up into the canopy overhead. Soon we spotted another group lower down, and when asked where the Yerevan by Eudon, one of the guests from Singapore, I pointed out in the dark like an idiot forgetting that it was pitch black and my arm was invisible. I admit at times I am a bit of an idiot, and Eudon pointed out to me that he couldn't see where I was pointing as he assumed that was what I was doing. This gave us all a good laugh. We sat and watched for a while before heading back.
(A Papuan Firefly)
I woke up this morning, and my ears were still terribly blocked up, so I decided to take the day off, I slept in until nine, and went over to the photo studio. I hung out with Claudia for the day, as Leon went out on the div boat with Eudon and Jeanette. Even though I didn't do any diving, I had some interesting experiences. First off at lunch, I tried a local dish that all the Papuan workers love. Its called Papeda, it looks a lot like clear glue, and has a slimy gluey texture, it is made from a sago palm tree, which is cut in half and the insides are harvested and processed. This is then put into a fish soup as a starch instead of rice. I prefer the rice. My lunch was a grilled sapper and rice, and was delicious.
After lunch, I took a nap, and woke up in time to see a local boat that had come in to deliver the kayu gatal wood and tali, which are the wicker like strings they use to attach the beams to one and other. These are the materials used to build the resort, but what amazed me was the quality of the boat that it was brought in. It was the typical Papuan style long boat, but this one had not yet been painted. It was made out of amazingly coloured wood, the same kayu gatal that is used in the construction of the resort is also used for these boats, but most of the locals slap awful colours on them.
(Beautiful Papuan long boat, it is apparently rare for them to be unpainted)
They bring the wood in large quantities, and soak them in the salt water for a while before it is used. It amazed me how much wood they could fit in this little boat. Even the Papuans know the best engine though, they all use the 2 stroke Yamahas usually around 40 horsepower. The boat had three men aboard, and a young boy, and between them they unloaded the wood and tali very quickly.
(Throwing the wood overboard to soak and cure)
Even the young boy was lending a hand. It was amazing to see how much faster these guys worked with no equipment than the lethargic Bahamian workmen with all their machinery. They were more friendly too. I went out to take pictures of the boat with my wide angle lens, and one of the guys knew three words in English and he told me "Papuan wood boat" and gave me a thumbs up. As I was there shooting he was leaning on the sides of the boat to give me Bette angles on the other side, all the while doing his job and smiling.
(The Papuan Long boat, all wood, The tali are the rolled up branches on the left)
Before dinner we were all hanging out in the dining area, officially named the "resturant", but I find it to welcoming and personal for that name. We were sat on the benches having a beer, and the most amazing sunset came into view, it was stunning, amazing oranges. I ran back to the photo lab to get my camera, and got som great shots. After the sunset we had a great dinner, mushroom egg rolls, aubergine stir fry, chicken tenders, and a great big fish with a yellow chili curry sauce, all followed by chocolate and banana pancakes.
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