7. Most Memorable Vacation

A vacation is a time for rest and relaxation or maybe to go wild and have fun. Basically doing something out of your ordinary, everyday life. If I was to think back, probably the best or most memorable vacation would have to be the Christmas of 2010 at the island of Panapompom I spent with my dad and brothers.
I was still living in Papua New Guinea at the time and usually for Papua New Guineans during holidays people go back to their respective villages and provinces. For my brothers and myself, we have never been to that specific village where my dads father is from. 

My brothers, dad and I with a Elder of the village

Panapompom island, Milne Bay Province is my where my fathers father (my grand-father) is from. We have never been their because it was quite far from where I lived so the anticipation of what to expect was quite high.To get their, we needed to take a 1-hour flight from the capital, Port Moresby, where I lived to Milne Bay Province. Then from there, a 18-hour boat ride to the remote island of Panapompom. The boat we used was a old fishing boat that traveled like 2 knots/hour so I think that was the main reason why we took so long.

My brother and I pretending to be models on a driftwood

The boat ride there was quite horrible. It was cramped and I got severely sea sick. But once the morning came, we woke up to the sun rise on the beautiful open ocean and made me fall in love with it even more. 18 hours later we finally arrived.

In Papua New Guinea, you never ever go to the village empty handed. It is seen as very rude and people from the village always expect something. There's a common saying "you go lo ples big sot na coma back pipia" (you go to the village a rich man and come back with nothing). So we traveled with cartons of tin food, bales of sugar and flour just so people could get something. It is a normal custom, so we were used to it.

I think the best thing about this vacation was that the island is literally off the grid. No electricity, no phone signal, no running water to your house or proper sewage systems. The best part was not having to care about phones. It was the best bonding experience I could think of. With no distractions from the outside world, we lived a very subsistence lifestyle for about 2 weeks. I bonded very well with my brothers and dad and had some of the best experiences I will ever have in my life.

Another unique experiences was the WWII history of the area. Literally right outside my grand-fathers house was a WWII plane that had crashed on the beach. It is exposed and all that it left now it the propeller and engine. Usually villagers strip anything that can be removed, my grand-father was one that collected WWII memorabilia from the gunned down planes. I am not sure whether it was a Allies or Axis plane. Just a short canoe ride out and another plane is submerged in the shallow, crystal clear waters. This one has more of the body intact.

WWII plane in the shallow waters

Everyday we went swimming and fishing and gardening and just did what normal villagers would do. We visited the small dam that my grand-father built for the village for easy access of water throughout the entire village. Walked throughout the entire village and I think we met everyone, they were all so very welcoming. Walked up into the small mountainous hills to observe the gardening process. We also frequently paddled the canoes out to the smaller island just a few hundred meters from Panapompom. We would play sports with the local kids and meet elders daily. If we weren't doing anything, we would just sit on a make-shift patio called 'pata-pata' and observe the undeniable natural beauty and just appreciate life.

Like father, like son

Probably one of the most memorable experience I had was during Christmas eve. The villagers would gather after the church service and walk all the way to one corner of the island and go from house to house singing hymns in the local dialect. It started at exactly midnight and was anticipated to last till the morning of Christmas day. Thankfully we had a hymn book of all the songs in our local dialect so we all sang along. The island is quite big so walking from one end to another and going to every house was was going to take awhile. Each house the group went to we were showered with powder or deodorant and some even gave candy to everyone signing.

My dad and brothers, half-way through got tired and announced that they would go back home and sleep, but  wanted to finished it. I thought to myself, when else will I ever get this opportunity to do something this beautiful. There was one moment in the middle of the morning, I don't know what happened but the energy just rose so much, it was some of the most beautiful singing I have ever heard. It actually made me quite emotional. As we reached the last house the sun had risen already and we have been walking and singing for about 5 hours now. The last remaining people of stayed the entire night, myself included, all set down and they turned to me and thanked me for staying the entire time. I felt quite special.

We only planned to stay there for a little over a week but actually were on the island for about 2 weeks. This was mostly because the boat that brought us here did not turn up as planned. We had the best time ever but needed to go back because we knew my sister was due to give birth anytime soon and we were hoping to get back in time for the birth.

Luckily my dad had a friend who visited the island on his fishing boat and offered to give us a ride back to the mainland. The farewell with the locals was very emotional and quite heart-breaking. We did not know when we would see each other again and I was left an emotional wreck trying to mask my tears.

Working the 'Titanic' pose

The boat ride to the mainland was quite memorable in itself. We anchored in the middle of the Conflict Islands which is a cluster of small islands named after H.M.S Conflict by Lieutenant Bower in 1880. We then started fishing and had fresh fish for dinner while we slept under the beautiful stars. By the morning sunrise, we were passing through smaller island waving to local islanders who lived on the beaches. Alongside the boat swam a group of dolphins such a memorable experience and quite breathtaking.

At the Conflict Group of Islands

Throughout the entire boat ride back we kept peridoically checking our phones if a signal would come through, to check on my sisters status, still hoping to be their for the birth. When we fnally got signal we immediately called and found out that she already gave birth with twins, one girl and boy. This was the ultimate Christmas gift and we couldn't wait to go back home to finally meet these two precious gems.

Inez-Jade and Moere. My nephew and niece born while I was on Panapompom Island. 

If I think back there is just so much I could talk about, so many experiences I will never forget and just such an unforgetable vaction all around.

To my readers if you could experience a place that is literally off the grid cut off from technology, please do try it. You will not be disappointed.