Madang Water Life
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Madang,
Papua New Guinea
Monday, June 15, 2009
PNG 17......Madang Water Life
Madang is a busy port. It has winding
access channels with deep water, then inlets and islands which give
long water frontages and many landing points for a range of shipping.
You are never far from the waterside and cargo or people traffic is
a major business here.
The big boys come in under pilot direction.
There is a pilot boat and two bright red tugs who work the big boats
through the narrow entrance channel into the deep water wharves. Containers
come in and out. There deck cargoes from all over the Pacific and the
ships carry registry labels from as far away as Hongkong, Singapore,
Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Manila and Tokyo. To name a few. Sometimes there
are so many that they have to drop anchor out in the sheltered reaches
by the barrier island and wait for spaces to be freed up for unloading.
Yesterday there were 5 waiting. They were joined by a cable layer which
will link Madang to the undersea optic cable from Guam. Broadband is
on its way!
The Copra processing factory backs
on to the wharf, with its flat bottomed ‘landing craft’ type ship,
capable of carrying vehicles into shallow water landings on the islands
or in the estuaries of the Ramu or Sepik rivers, and returning after
collecting loads of copra for the Madang processing plant. The sweet
smell dominates the northern end of the town when the works is operating.
Alongside this big stuff there is the
occasional cruise liner which blocks off one end of the wharf. They
only stay a night or two, while the tourists are toured round the sights,
or disappear for a brief inland view of jungle and village life. The
money is there and it is important, but it is tightly organized and
set up so that the locals have little to do with the parceled version
of tourism. We get left in the wake.
More our size are the ferries and the
copra boats from Karkar which carry people and cargo along the coast
or out to the nearest islands. These are small diesel driven ferries
which are run by Star Shipping Luship and small private concerns. Conditions
are basic, and some of the trips along the coast might be overnight
to places like Wewak, Lae or Rabaul. This is the established system
which was so important before the coastal roads were built. The Raikos
with its mine site at Basimo is served by these ships, as are all the
places where roads have not reached. There is always a crowd around
the ferry offices when a sailing time is due. Timekeeping is erratic.
People with their baggage wait patiently until loading has been completed
and then they squash on board. There is plenty of demand for the ferries
and the business is good as long as the price of diesel doesn’t go
too mad.
Around these commercial trips are the
multitude of small boats of all shapes and sizes which carry people,
commuters, across the inlets to town or to the settlements. There are
a few high powered speedboats with 275hp engines which roar around with
their few exalted passengers, only slowing to avoid upsetting the smaller
boats with their wake. The inlets are dotted with outrigger canoes which
may be carrying people to town or home, or they may be out fishing for
the day. They look frail, skippered by men, women, or small children,
but the narrow hull and balancing outrigger float serve their purpose
in the sheltered waters or when the sea is calm. When the sea is calm
outrigger canoes gather at the prime fishing spots along the edge of
the reef. In the evening in the shallow waters at the edge of the town
by the Boat club they are loaded up with shopping and then with one
or two passengers cruise out across the bay in the gathering dark to
the settlements among the coconut palms.
The most frequent crossings are made
by ‘banana boats’, 14ft glass fibre dinghies with outboards 40-75hp.
They travel to and fro each day across all the narrow channels, bringing
hundreds of people into work or market, then returning in the late afternoon.
Problem is it can often look as if they are trying to bring all hundred
people in one boat. Overloading is common. As is overturning. Sometimes
the boat is so low in the water, buried under its human load, that any
small wave or wake from a passing boat will splash over the side and
threaten to tip all the passengers into the water. Boat watchers can
cast bets on who gets across safely when they see a particularly heavily
loaded boat. There is also the hazard of the speed boat which through
ignorance or arrogance declines to slow down. Still, the ‘banana boats’
operate their taxi services, with many satisfied customers every day,
so the risks must be small and discounted. It always happens to someone
else anyway. This we all know.
Occasionally in the midst of steel
and glass fibre vessels a greater skill will show, gliding dugouts with
no outrigger and a standing paddler who uses a long handled paddle more
like a broad spear. These are the remnants. Incredibly skillful. Balancing
delicately and confidently. Moving effortlessly among the more unruly
and raucous elements which have now taken over the water space. These
special gliding people are always old and alone. They carry small amounts
of cargo, or they move across the harbor’s inlets from one fishing
spot to another. The canoes are very long, made from one log and shaved
back and back to a thin, delicate shape which has a short curve in the
stern, a longer shallow curve for the prow. The canoeist leans into
the paddle stroke while standing upright, one foot in front of the other,
perfectly balanced and appearing to pull the canoe across the surface
in a long, smooth glide, then lifting the blade head glittering above
the water before the next smooth entry and pull.
Imagine the place when all travelers
were as silent as this.
