Rabaul, Papua New Guinea

Early in the morning we sailed into Blanche Bay toward the town of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea. At the turn of the 20^th century, the Germans controlled what was once German New Guinea and founded Rabaul. They lost influence in the area following WWI to the Australians. Like many places we’ve visited during this voyage, control of a place rests with whoever was the latest conqueror. Half of the large island of Papua New Guinea belongs to Indonesia, and the other half, New Britain, comes under the authority of Australia.

Rabaul is located on an island off the Papua New Guinea mainland. This region sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area with frequent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. The bay is in a large volcanic caldera and is surrounded by active and dormant volcanoes. A caldera is a large crater of a volcano filled with water. Santorini in Greece rests on the edge of a giant caldera. Looking at the large, round bay, the volcano that had created this caldera must have been massive.

Scientists have said that people were living in this region as far back as 60,000 years ago and that they have been cultivating land for over 9,000 years. It is said that at one time a narrow landmass connected New Guinea with Australia.

No roads connect the villages on the island, and it is very difficult to travel around the island because of the high mountains and deep valleys. Some of the highest mountains in Indonesia are on New Guinea. Even the capital of the island, Port Moresby, can only be reached by boat or air. Because of the remoteness of the villages, the people of one village have very little interaction with the people of other villages. As a result, 820 languages are spoken in Papua New Guinea. A form of pigeon English, based on English, German, and local languages is spoken by some of the islanders.

Rabaul during WWII was the site of a Japanese fortress (with over 100,000 troops) and a major supply base for their Pacific fleet. The town remained in Japanese hands until the end of the war in 1945. The bay is littered with the wrecks of Japanese freighters, cargo ships and warships. The mountains are also riddled with tunnels the Japanese dug using slave labor. One of the tunnels was large enough to serve as a hospital capable of holding 2500 patients. A large cemetery holds the remains of Australians killed there during the war.

In 1990, over 17,000 people lived in Rabaul. That changed when, in 1994, a major eruption of the Vulcan and Tavurvur Volcanoes (which sit on either side of the entrance to the bay) produced clouds of ash that covered everything to a depth of several feet. Eighty percent of the buildings collapsed from the weight of the accumulated ash and the island now has some empty villages, roads, and an abandoned airport. Only 4000 people continue to live there. Ash from the active Tavurvur Volcano occasionally coats the area, and the streets can be slick, especially when wet.

The Vulcan Volcano is now covered with vegetation, easily making it look innocent of the disaster it wrecked on the islanders. The still active Tavurvur Volcano has no vegetation on it. Surprisingly, the Matupit villagers live right beneath it on a narrow strip of land between the volcano and the bay.  Talk about people living on the edge. Some passengers touring the village had to pay tolls to cross the property of the villagers to get to some of the sites on their tour.

As we sailed into the bay, we could see smoke rising from Tavurvur. From high on the ship, we got a good view of the top of the crater, and with binoculars we could see slightly into it. Parts of the outside were reddish in color. We wondered if it was like that because of the heat from the volcano or because of mineral deposits.

Tavurvur Volcano

Fortunately, on the day we arrived, Tavurvur was spewing out enough smoke to make it look active but not any heavy ash—at least that was blowing our way. Volcanologists staff a monitoring station on the island, watching for early warning signs of another eruption. The island has a defined evacuation plan, but it makes you wonder how many people they could evacuate in a short time—and how much warning they would receive before the volcano erupted. We saw siren equipment sitting on tall metal structures probably used to warn the islanders of an impending eruption. A monument near the monitoring station has a plaque dedicated to two volcanologists who were killed by one of the volcanoes.

In a port presentation, we had been cautioned to wear our oldest clothes and shoes when going ashore because of the falling ash and the ash-covered roads. How many people actually take their oldest clothes and shoes on a cruise? Fortunately, the roads, although covered with large, water-filled potholes, were clear of ash. Either that or the ash had become so compacted it gave the appearance of macadam. One couple who had been to Rabaul before said that the falling ash during that visit made a mess on the decks and the crew had a terrible time trying to get it cleaned off.

The dock at Rabaul was not far from the volcano and we had a wonderful view of it while having breakfast. I’m pretty certain that will be the only time in my life when I’ll have breakfast within a short distance of an active volcano.

We had also been told that there wasn’t much to see in Rabaul. Even so, we at least wanted to walk into the town. As we left the ship, we passed returning passengers who were drenched in sweat and fanning themselves. And that was just after a short walk through the local market. It was well over 90F, with 80 percent humidity. Since we were so close to the equator, we shouldn’t have been surprised how hot and humid it was.

Before we left the ship, one of the returning passengers told us that if we really wanted to see some happy children we should take them some chocolates. We had accumulated quite a few left by our cabin attendant, so we took a bag of them into town. Since we didn’t want a trail of children following behind us wanting more, I handed the bag to a woman sitting with a group of children and told her they were for the children. That way she could distribute them, and hopefully lots of kids got some.

Vendors Along the Main Street in Rabaul

Walking along the dock, we looked down into the shallow water and saw lots of small black and yellow striped fish. Also in the bay we saw hundreds of fish that would surface in a circle, flap around, and then disappear below the surface again. It was amazing that they would all react together as they did. We saw this happen multiple times, and it intrigued us as to what type of fish they were and what they were doing.

We walked through the town market where people were selling mostly vegetables and fruits. A few vendors had beaded necklaces, T-shirts, and woodcarvings. We saw one man returning to the ship with a bag of mangoes. Later in the Lido, we saw a group of Japanese passengers trying to figure out how to cut a large fruit they had purchased on the island. A waiter took it into the galley and one of the chefs cut it up nicely and delivered it back to them. It looked like a papaya.

We returned to the ship just in time. Pouring rain drenched the island and even temporarily doused the volcano. It started smoking again a short while later, but with only wisps of smoke. We’re glad we got to see it really smoking that morning. It would have been disappointing to see a volcano that is supposed to be active and see little or no activity.

Just before we sailed, we went to the top deck to get a last view of Rabaul. On a railing, we saw a ladybug sitting there and wondered if it was trying to hitch a ride on the ship. We felt that once the ship got underway that it would probably get blown off into the sea. If we flicked it off toward the water, it might not make it to land. If we flicked it toward the deck, a passenger might step on it. We decided to leave it to its own fate.

Rabaul From the Ship

Rabaul made for an interesting port of call, and we were glad we stopped there, especially getting to see the volcano. So many of the Pacific islands we’ve visited before have become major tourist places with large hotels and traffic problems, and they no longer resemble the exotic island we expected it to look like. Although not a glamorous place, Rabaul is still more natural than a lot of other islands.

Between being subjected to the vagaries of the volcano and invaders during the war, the people on the island haven’t had an easy time of it. It goes to show you that life on a Pacific island isn’t necessarily paradise.