EAST NEW BRITAIN
Arrive in Rabaul, East New Britain where you will be met by your guide. Witness Mount Turvurvur, the active volcano that constantly oozes black smoke into the sky. These ever-present plumes create a dramatic backdrop against which you will begin your island-hopping adventure.
You and your family will visit some key historical sites in Rabaul which will give you some context on this fascinating region. Enticing peoples from Melanesian seafarers to German colonists, the evidence of Papua New Guinea’s storied history takes the form of downed aircrafts, barge tunnels, and Admiral Yamamoto’s bunker, a mark of the Japanese South Pacific Operations. Meet your captain and make your way to your yacht. Meet your crew and get settled in before enjoying dinner on deck.
DUKE OF YORK ISLANDS
Arise early and head out in one of your vessel’s tenders. With a local guide cruise to a nearby bay where you and your family will get the chance to swim with inquisitive Pacific spinner dolphins that play in the bow wave of your tender. Return to your vessel for a restorative breakfast before a morning of spearfishing with local tribespeople. Learn how to manoeuvre local outrigger canoes and you will be taught how to successfully spearfish alongside tribal initiates. Try your hand at climbing a coconut tree and preparing any fruit you collect grating and processing the coconut milk before preparing a local delicacy with leafy greens and fresh fish on the barbecue.
Visit the Tokai tribe who will demonstrate their bold initiation ritual. Take to the water and snorkel above lost Japanese tanks that sit just four metres below the surface of the water. Seeing them is a surreal and eerie experience.
Helicopter inland and land among the Baining Mountains. Here you and your family will take part in a cultural experience like no other. The Baining Fire Dance is part of an initiation ceremony for young men who, adorned in ornate masks dance in the shadows and sparks of the raging fire. Enjoy an exhilarating drive back down the mountain as you return to your vessel for the night.
TAVUI AND WIDE BAY
Wake up and enjoy a refreshing breakfast before setting out to climb Mount Tuvurvur. This active volcano is a stunning moonscape with bubbling lava. You and your family can adhere to local custom and throw a sacrificial coconut into the crater.
Setting off early will allow you to beat the heat of the day and you get the chance to witness the suns ascent from this magnificent viewpoint. Returning to the bottom of the volcano, join local Matupit hunters as they dig for the huge eggs of scrub fowl that are buried in the sulphuric soil at the foot of the volcano. After working up an appetite, sit down for lunch with these egg hunters before taking a tender back to your vessel.
Heli over to the Southern Tip of New Ireland and make your way ashore to see the remnants of La Nouvelle France Marquis Del Rey settlement. Created in the late 1800s, this ill-fated colony saw the death of 120 would be Italian colonists. Spend the afternoon fishing and exploring in tenders and helis before rejoining your vessel at its new anchorage