This was the best stop so far. Rabaul has been a German, Australian and Japanese possession. It is best known as the huge Japanese base during WWII. It included 5 airfields, a seaplane and submarine base and support facilities for up to 100 ships with 200,000 personnel. To escape the Allied air attacks the Japanese dug hundreds of tunnels in the surrounding mountains.
It is also in the Ring of Fire, the harbor area is actually a caldera formed 1400 years ago… the last major eruption in 1994 buried the town and surrounding area in 8 feet of ash. The people escaped, but returned a few days later to find only the tops of the tallest structures visible. Most people relocated to Kokopo, a town further around the coast from the volcano, but some remained and have dug out some of the buildings or built new ones on top of the ash. Prior to the eruption, this was a large thriving town and tourist center; today it is quite primitive.
We booked a private van at the market; Helen was our guide and Richard our driver. They were both completely bilingual as both English and their native language are taught in the schools. They took us to the island (separated from the mainland by a sandbar which we were able to drive across) where she lived prior to 1994. Nothing will grow in the ash so the people that are trying to live there make their slim living by fishing. The houses were ramshackle, built of whatever could be gathered. It was heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time; the people were so friendly and the kids very cute and shy.
They also took us to the tunnels built by the Japanese and we were able to go into a couple of them and we visited the site of a Japanese airfield. One aircraft has been dug out of the ash (WWII - over 60 years ago). After that we went to the earthquake monitoring center on the mountain above the town.
They only get 6 cruise ships in a year, so our visit was one of the real exceptions to their daily routines. After our return we spent the time on the balcony watching the volcano and some of the local people circling the ship in their dubout canoes until our departure at 2:00 (short port stop!).
Today (Friday, March 6) is the Equator crossing ceremony for the new pollywogs onboard. Jim and I became shellbacks when we crossed the equator some weeks ago and “Golden Shellbacks” when we crossed the dateline on the same voyage. Wow, aren’t you impressed??
It is also in the Ring of Fire, the harbor area is actually a caldera formed 1400 years ago… the last major eruption in 1994 buried the town and surrounding area in 8 feet of ash. The people escaped, but returned a few days later to find only the tops of the tallest structures visible. Most people relocated to Kokopo, a town further around the coast from the volcano, but some remained and have dug out some of the buildings or built new ones on top of the ash. Prior to the eruption, this was a large thriving town and tourist center; today it is quite primitive.
We booked a private van at the market; Helen was our guide and Richard our driver. They were both completely bilingual as both English and their native language are taught in the schools. They took us to the island (separated from the mainland by a sandbar which we were able to drive across) where she lived prior to 1994. Nothing will grow in the ash so the people that are trying to live there make their slim living by fishing. The houses were ramshackle, built of whatever could be gathered. It was heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time; the people were so friendly and the kids very cute and shy.They also took us to the tunnels built by the Japanese and we were able to go into a couple of them and we visited the site of a Japanese airfield. One aircraft has been dug out of the ash (WWII - over 60 years ago). After that we went to the earthquake monitoring center on the mountain above the town.
They only get 6 cruise ships in a year, so our visit was one of the real exceptions to their daily routines. After our return we spent the time on the balcony watching the volcano and some of the local people circling the ship in their dubout canoes until our departure at 2:00 (short port stop!).Today (Friday, March 6) is the Equator crossing ceremony for the new pollywogs onboard. Jim and I became shellbacks when we crossed the equator some weeks ago and “Golden Shellbacks” when we crossed the dateline on the same voyage. Wow, aren’t you impressed??
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