Canoe carving

Canoes are made from canoe trees in the garden. They are carved down to shape on-site, where the canoe tree has been cut down, as it isn’t very practical to move it to the village until it is much smaller.

One day when I went to work in the garden, we went to see two canoes that were in the process of being carved to shape and hollowed out in the centre. Here are two photos where you can see both canoes, and lots of wood that has been chipped off.

Canoe progress

This is what our canoe looked like the last time we saw it. I’ve heard that there’s been more progress on it. Soon the carving will be finished and it will be laid under a house awaiting our return, when they will then attach the outrigger part and it will be ready to use.

Pulling our canoe through the bush

Our canoe was being carved in the bush where the canoe-tree was felled. Since it was in the bush, it didn’t get worked on daily, but it got to the stage where enough had been carved and it was ready to be taken to Teop Island for further work.

We, and a bunch of men went to drag it out. They attached a rope to it, and everyone got on the end of the rope and pulled, with one man at the other end of the canoe pushing.

Here we are pulling the canoe. You can just see me near the front if you can recognise my clothes.

Some more photos of the men pulling the canoe after I stopped.

The men having a brief break – it’s exhausting work, running through the bush pulling a canoe!

Dangerous waters: There are sharks

When we arrived at one island on our survey trip, we found some people at the shore, cutting two sharks that they had recently caught.

Small hammerhead shark:

Baby shark:

They cut off the fins to sell as they can get good money for them.

Shark fin soup anyone?

Fins on top of the hammerhead shark.

It’s a strange world, with combination of modern technology and traditional materials. Here’s a traditional canoe that has familiar looking fishing gear, yet in the background you can see a modern boat with outboard motor, in the top left corner of the photo. (Did you know that you can click on the photos to see them bigger?)

Canoe trip to tropical island (post by Bill & Liz)

While we were staying at Jais Aben, we hired a canoe for half a day and we went paddling in the tropical waters around the resort. Liz sat like a queen in the middle, while Bill and Julie paddled the canoe. We canoed to a deserted tropical island and sat on the beach and swam in the warm water.

Here are photos of Bill and Julie paddling.

Here’s the view from the island with our canoe.

Here we are all sitting on the canoe.

And finally, the little island that we went to.

Canoe Festival

On my last weekend in Alotau, there was a canoe festival. I didn't spend a lot of time at it, but there was canoe races, cultural dances and lots of little stalls selling or promoting things. Here are some pictures…