Saturday, June 2nd- Friday we spent the day with orientation for the new arrivals, and securing the ship for sea. At 6:45 P.M. we let go from the wharf, and departed Port Moresby at 7. I stood the Midnight to 4 A.M. and we were all happy at how calm the seas were. We did roll in a SE swell as can be expected, but the winds were light and variable. I slept a little before and after my watches, the Noon to 4 P.M. as well. We are now back at Pai-A point at the only deep entrance to the river system here in Gulf Province. We are going slowly waiting for the tide to rise. We are going to have to do a lot of sailing on the jungle rivers, and Captain Jeremy wants to do it at night with the searchlight. Some of the rivers are shallow, others are narrow, but he wants to get nearer to our destination, a missionary hospital, before we anchor.

Sunday, June 3rd we again awoke early. I slept well, having been on watch at odd hours yesterday. Saturday, after arriving at Pai a we waited for the tide level to increase to where we could sail up river, but that also meant waiting until daylight was almost gone. Nevertheless Jeremy decided to plunge into the jungle rivers, using the searchlight rather than radar. Our little ship has a large searchlight, but it can not be operated from the wheelhouse, you need to climb onto the monkey deck, on top of the wheelhouse, and near the radar scanners. Dave went up and we kept the radars on standby. It was a beautiful sail. We had a gibbous moon to help us find our way between the river banks, and Jeremy had previously surveyed this stretch of the river and put it on google earth maps. After about three hours of river sailing we anchored, about half way to Kapuna Mission, our destination at the eastern end of the delta region we serve. There are other river bars that we could have entered that would reduce this five or six our sail through narrow bayous, but we have not surveyed them well enough to attempt entering areas we have not been before. This Sunday morning we got underway at 7 for another three hour sail through the narrow winding bayou of about ten miles in length that connects the Iviri River with the Pie River, then down the Pie to the Wame River. Kapuna mission is about ten miles up the Wame River, and that is where we anchored. The villagers all came out and waved and shouted to us as we approached. On these waters they see few vessels other than dugout canoes and an occasional long boat. After anchoring we went into the village, which was really advanced compared to the villages we visited last outreach. There is a mission hospital here, and they have an ambulance longboat that serves surrounding villages. The town has diesel generators and electric lighting that is on between 6 and 10 P.M. There is no cell phone signal or telephone here, but there is a ham radio setup and a limited access to email for the New Zealand staff at the hospital. Supplies are sent up on the oil company boats that call here infrequently, and deliver fuel for the generators. There is apparently some oil drilling activity another four hours or so up the river. The village has well constructed wooden houses with tin roofs for collecting water. It also has narrow (approximately 10" wide) walkways between houses so that there is no mud like in the other villages we visited and the grass was actually cut. I did see a ham radio station and tower, and they have some connection with the outside world. I took a few toy gliders and inflatable balls for the children, but they already had enough things to play with. All in all the village of Kapuna was a century ahead of the other places we saw.

Monday, June 4th, I awoke about 2 A.M., possibly by the beeping of the GPS anchor watch alarm. Our anchor was slowly being dragged downstream by the swift river current. I relieved Ben the man on anchor watch, and noted as the vessel was slowly pushed downstream. Finally the anchor alarm beeped three times and Jeremy came to the bridge, I did not need to call him. He called the Chief Engineer Ian, and the second mate David, as well as Peter the seaman, and after a brief engine warm up, we were able to heave the anchor up and re-set it about 30 meters further up stream and put out five shots of chain instead of four. Hopefully that will hold us. Now at noon Jeremy is considering moving the ship to another village in the area.

We made the shift in two parts, first, a two hour trip down the Wame River where we anchored for a few hours while Jeremy took the gray zodiac out to survey the unnamed river that goes up to the village of Koravaki. We made this move because the patients and doctors required too much time in the zodiac boats to make the trip between Koravaki and Kapuna a realistic trip. We will stay here about 36 hours, and I hope we don't have problems keeping the anchor set without dragging.

Tuesday, June 5th we are still anchored in a spot down river from Koravaki, on a rainy day but the rain stopped late this afternoon and we are going into the village to show the Jesus film after a day of medical work. I stayed aboard, while Captain Jeremy went out with his survey equipment to see where we were going to anchor tomorrow morning in the Waime River above Kapuna. We are very close to shore, and this morning our awning on the after deck got caught in some overhanging trees when we swung to the tide. This afternoon the stern got caught on the river bank, and we had to heave in some of our anchor chain to get off the mud. I did get a cell phone signal, and was able to get a brief call in to Ines, who just got back from Argentina, but was suffering from a chest cold. In just two weeks I will be heading back home! What a different world that is from the life here in the jungle!

Friday, June 8th, for the past few days I have been down with a bad cold and cough, spending a lot of time either standing a watch or laying in bed reading. On Wednesday morning we weighed anchor and headed up river, going a few kilometers up river from Kapuna to near the town of Kairimai. This is a far nicer anchorage than down in Kapuna, because the current is constantly downstream, and we do not swing around at anchorage. We are only about 20 meters from the jungle, but we do not swing into the trees. Yesterday I worked in the dental clinic, watching fillings and extractions and giving the patients post-op. instructions. Some of them needed up to four extractions and several fillings. They were in and out within an hour. The teeth were fairly well rotted and often the roots broke off and had to be dug out. I prayed with the patients for their quick recovery and future good health. I showed them how to brush, and gave them a toothbrush and toothpaste. I was happy for the opportunity to work with the patients. Some of them came in dugouts with their families, others came in the zodiac launch we provided. All of them, even the adults, enjoy coloring to pass the time while they wait to see the dentist. Crayons and paper are in short supply around here. Today marks the half way point in our second outreach. This afternoon Jeremy invited me to go with him to Kapuna to participate in the maiden voyage of their new outrigger aluminum dugout canoe capable of hauling six tons of cargo, or over a hundred people, which it did after the ceremony, where I was introduced as a Mercy Ship captain and given a place of honor. Present was Dr. Lyn Calvert, the founder of the hospital, now in her 90's She came here in 1954 with her husband Peter and established the hospital. They had wanted to go to India, but the London Missionary Society, who sponsored them, told them they should go to Papua, which they knew nothing about. dThere were a number of times back in the 70's when they doubted their mission and almost closed the hospital, but they kept at it. It was a real honor to meet her, similar to meeting Mother Teresa in my estimation. She and her late husband Peter, both doctors, dedicated their lives to serving the people of this region. The rain fell throughout the ceremony, and I was drenched, and walking around in my shoes, but most people were in bare feet. They do not seem to mind the tropical rain, and after a while I just gave up trying to avoid walking in puddles. The kids really loved piling on the new boat. I talked with John, the builder, who will soon turn 74 and was choked up by all the attention given to his effort to build the boat. They all came for dinner aboard our ship in the evening, and I spent most of the time talking to their son Neil also a doctor who now operates the hospital. He told me that he was born here, buried his father here, and this is his home. I was reminded of the story of Ruth and Naomi.

Sunday, June 10th we once again weighed anchor at 6 A.M. and this time Captain Jeremy allowed me to take the conn for this three hour trip down the Wame River and then up the Pie River to Baimaru, which is a fairly large settlement with a sawmill and district government center. It has no wharf, but does have a number of sturdy buildings, and an air strip, although no scheduled air service. The best thing it had was a large cell phone tower, and we get good reception all around the ship. I called home and got David to answer. He and Ines are up at our lake house in Conroe. I was glad for the opportunity to handle this small ship in the small rivers of PNG. Jeremy wants me to come back in mid-September for outreach #7 as the relief captain. If the family is in agreement, I would like to have that opportunity to see the Western Province and the Fly River. After our arrival and anchoring at Baimaru, many of the crew went ashore to the church service. I was tired after standing a few hours of night watch, then the sail, so I stayed aboard and napped.

Tuesday, June 12th. Yesterday I did not do much. I actually slept in until after 6, since David took the morning watch. I emptied out the rest of my toys from under my bunk, and distributed them to the dental patients. I read in my bunk for a few hours, and in the evening we had pizza. The crew seem to really enjoy it, but I think it is kind of nasty, I did have one small slice of the "hawaiian" pizza, and later made some PBJ toast. Today I stood watch from 3:30 A.M. and helped Jeremy and Peter get ready for a surveying expedition to the mouth of the Pie River, in order to chart a way over the bar and into the ocean. That will save us about five hours of difficult river navigation going back to Pai-a point. Jeremy returned just after lunch, and says he found a way, and will show me how the software operates so that I can do it myself. Later, after an interruption of an emergency run in the Zodiac back to the hospital in Kapuna for a little girl with acute malaria with fever affecting the brain, Jeremy showed me the exacting process of filtering the raw data from a survey, adjusting it for the mean low water datum by subtracting the tide height at the time the sounding was taken, and then further filtering out the noise created by the boat bouncing on the waves causing a false zero, and then the general up and down caused by swells and waves, and finally getting a chain of reliable soundings. Then they have to be put on a google map plotting sheet that can be used for navigating the ship. It is a time consuming process and the software is not what I would call user friendly. After several hours he had enough data to determine that we did not need to retrace our steps to Pia-a point, but can go out of the Pie River, but the chart of the area is about useless, we must go over spots the chart shows are islands! After we are about ten miles off, we can once again rely on the chart.

June 16, Saturday, my time here in PNG is quickly coming to an end. We are now anchored at the beach about ten miles southwest of our dock in Port Moresby, and the crew are going for a swim until our berth becomes available this afternoon. Our last couple of days at Baimaru were uneventful for me. I did some chart work, and cleaned our standard compass, and conducted some classes for the deckhands on navigation. The doctors and dentists were busy until the last minute because on late Thursday a baby was born and was not doing well, the temperature was too low and would not raise. I think that the doctors made an incubator for him. Also on Wednesday there was a fight in the village and one man almost chopped off the arm of another man in a dispute about a dugout canoe. Our doctors were able to save the arm, only one of the two bones and one of two arteries were severed. He came back the next day for new dressings, they are pretty tough people. On Friday morning at 6 A.M. we heaved up the anchor, and once again Jeremy let me take the ship down the river to the ocean following the track line that he surveyed. Once we got out of the river the ship started pitching into the SE trade wind and seas, and many of the crew became seasick. One man vomited in the mess hall while I was trying to prepare my breakfast. We had only about a 16 hour sail outside until we reached the relative calm of the approaches to Port Moresby. We anchored at 3 A.M. this morning about 5 miles short of our swimming island, we chose an anchorage that was not so close to the beach. At 9 A.M. we shifted the final five miles to our beach anchorage so that those so inclined could go for a swim. I sent out text messages to Ines and David to let them know that I was back in cell phone range and would be until I fly home in four days.