We spoke on the radio with Magic Roundabout and agreed to stop in Tufi for a rest. The cuttings into Cape Nelson are called Fjords by the locals; they are deep, but not very steep above the water. Tufi was in one of these Fjords, fortunately we found a mooring buoy, it was very close to the coral wall so I moored stern to. A couple of hour's later Magic Roundabout arrived and rafted alongside. There was a shop and a dive centre in the small bay, and nothing else, I quickly lowered the rib and rowed ashore, I bought a dozen bottles of cold beer and rowed back. We all relaxed for a while and enjoyed the beer. I then began cleaning the underwater hull of Loggerhead. We had to arrive in Australia with a clean bottom or be ordered to haul out. Overlooking the bay was a lodge or resort, while buying the beer I spoke to the only guest who advised that it had a restaurant and bar. Next day I trudged up the steep hill only to be told that it was not open to non residents, their loss.
Charley developed some symptoms that might be malaria, I had a test kit for the lethal strain which fortunately proved negative, a blood test is the only certain diagnosis. Her condition did not improve after a few days so she took some Malarone and we sailed towards Samuri Island. If no medical advice could be found there it was only three or four days to Australia.
To begin with the wind was on the nose at fifteen knots and the current against at one knot so progress was slow, the channel through the un-surveyed area was small so the only option was to motor, our SOG was only 3 knots for much of the time and Charley was not well enough to stand watches. For a few hours in the afternoon the wind freed us enough to make some progress, but as soon as it got dark the wind direction reverted, it also rose to twenty five knots and the sea state soon became unpleasant. Two and a half, to three metre waves.
With the desire to make progress I pushed as hard as I dare, the yacht coped magnificently with falling off big waves many times, slamming and shuddering into the troughs. Charley's discomfort came and went, during the better periods she kept watch while I slept. It was a long night, the wind direction remained the same the next day, it became obvious that we would not make Samuri Island in daylight so we looked for an anchorage. We crossed the strait and entered a natural harbour inside Normanby Island. It was so sheltered that Charley, with a high temperature, soon missed the cooling aspect of the wind at sea, it was completely still inside but outside the wind blew at over twenty knots.
We anchored in ten metres, and a dozen small canoes soon surrounded the yacht, the people were friendly of course, and advised us that we had missed some of the yachts we knew by two days. Our stores were getting low, but after a simple meal we slept for twelve hours. Next morning we awoke to look at our new surroundings, hills covered with trees filled the entire horizon, almost like a lake, a few wooden houses on stilts, and a few areas where the trees had been cleared for crops. The wind gusted strongly but there were no waves at all. We looked down on the reef we had anchored on and saw beautiful coral in good condition. I quickly donned snorkelling gear and dived down to check the anchor. It wasn't set of course but it had found a coral head to hook onto. Some of the locals arrived and Charley lent one her mask and snorkel, another brought a homemade spear gun and the man with the mask dived down for fish. I watched as he very skilfully caught some.
Charley had been in and out of fevers, chills and headaches for five days. The course of Mallerone seemed to be having an effect, and the worst seemed over, we hoped.
We intended to check out of PNG at Samuri Island but the weather forecast for the next two days was for 25-30 knot winds, so we decided to wait. We also had to consider the state of the tide as there was reputed to be a very strong flow to the north either side of high water. Samuri was also said to be a poor anchorage so we intended to make the stay a short one before the four day crossing to Cairns in Australia.