January 14, 2026 Kiriwina Island, Papua New Guinea

Located in Papua New Guinea’s Milne Bay Province, Kiriwina Island is the largest of the Trobriand Islands and home to the majority of their 12,000-strong indigenous population. There are no paved roads in the village. The island’s social structure is based on matrilineal tribal clans, with unique marriage and courtship rituals. Americans occupied the island during World War II. There are various relics of the war, including the remains of an American plane, that can still be seen on the island. The islanders economy is based on the land (and sea) as well as the money received from goods sold to visitors.

This morning the light rain made for a muggy feeling after stepping out into the 28°C heat. Humidity was 79% at 8 a.m. with a NNE wind at 22 kph. Our glasses fogged up instantly as we stepped from the air conditioned ship on to the Promenade Deck. This is tender port. Going ashore you need to get a tender ticket as a means of knowing how many people can be loaded (120) before the announcement that the next tender boat is ready for boarding. People who tendered to the Kiriwini jetty before 10 a.m. when a rain storm intensified, reported a market setup by the locals with a variety handmade items.

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We joined Hillary and Tim from near Hamilton and Martine and Dave from north west of Brisbane for breakfast in the Deck 2 dining room. The waves looked about one meter high and no white caps. The tender boats started at 8 a.m. to take people to the Kiriwina Island jetty. The ride was supposed to be less than ten minutes. We collected our tender ticket just after 10 a.m. and waited 15 minutes in the Ocean Bar with other four and five star mariner loyalty program members, to get to the tenders.

Now the adventure began! As the tender platform came into view rain started, the tender was bobbing up and down, making it a challenge to enter the tender boat, but staff was assisting people gauging the best moment to step into the boat. Once the boat was full, it stayed tied to the platform. A few minutes later, an officer came onto the boat to advise the people that the captain had announced a cease of tender operations, while an unexpected squall passed by. It was too wavy to safely have the tender passengers return to the ship. The wind had increased to 35 to 40 knots (65 to 74 km per hour). The waves were more like 2.5 meters and splashing over the platform, normally about one meter above the water. Our tender boat bounced up and down and crashed against the platform occasionally. Just after 30 minutes, we watched as the rope securing the front of the boat to the platform frayed and then broke releasing the boat into the waves. We floated away from the ship and joined another full (120) capacity tender boat that had left the ship a few minutes before us and two tender empty boats that were returning from the jetty to get more people to ferry to Kiriwina Island. Margaret said that the passengers onboard the Noordam were aware of the drama on the water and felt sympathetic towards the people in the tenders.

The skies lightened, but the sea still roiled tossing the boats backwards, forwards, left and right. Several people got seasick and one person passed out briefly on our tender. The exit opening was loosely covered by a canvas flap. The humidity and heat in the boat had increased. Everyone was sweating and the windows had steamed up. Finally after 90 minutes the anchored ship turned away from the wind to create slightly calmer water to try to have the loaded tender boats unload. It took 15 minutes for the first tender boat to unload, then it was our turn.

The first people to attempt to exit were those people who had seasickness and the person who had passed out. They were assisted by crew member from their seats and assisted from the bobbing boat onto the platform that still had waves washing over it. Then the back rows followed from back to middle and the front section moved from the front to the middle in order to keep the boat somewhat balanced. As you reached the opening, watching the platform move up and down, from your perspective, the crew instructed you when to take your step onto the platform. There were three or four waiting to catch you if needed. Then it was up a narrow flight of stairs to the security station on Deck A, which today did not require you to put your backpack and phones through the Xray machine. You just needed to have your keycard recorded as arriving back to the ship. There were nurses from the Medical Center asking how you were feeling of every single person. It was quite a greeting.

We were back in our stateroom by 12:45 p.m. We changed and went to the Library Café for an Americano and a cappuccino and a quiet seat by the window. Once refreshed we walked around the Promenade Deck seven times, watching the four tender boats as they returned people from Kiriwina Island.

There were over 700 passengers visiting Kiriwina Island when the sudden squall arrived. There was no shelter on shore and people got soaked. Sandy and Sue were there and had dried off before being able to take a tender boat back. The Kiriwina Island jetty is narrow, 150 meters long and uncovered. The temperature was 28°C nd windy during the storm but the rain was warm.

Once the storm passed, the sea had calmed a bit, the first tender boats back to the island had food and water for the passengers as there was limited resources on the island. By 2 p.m. there were still 380 people waiting to return to the ship. Gayle Jones, from the Facebook group, has allowed other passengers to post some of her photos from the island.

By 3:15 p.m. all passengers and crew were back on the ship. The tenders were being assessed for damage. Tender 14 had a broken side window, the rubber bumper around the tender is pretty ripped up and a missing wiper on the drivers side. Tender 16 had some damage from crashing against the jetty during the storm and tender 11 on which we rode out the storm must have had starboard side damage from banging against the tender platform for 30 minutes.

Sitting by the window in the Ocean Bar for Happy Hour we watched the tender boats being re-stowed. Sandy and Sue dined in the Pinnacle Grill tonight so it was just us and Margaret and Ted at our table. We traded “war” stories from this morning. After dinner we went for coffee before finding seat in the World Stage to see two acts in 45 minutes. First guitarist Nathan Sinclair followed by comic magician, Phil Cass.

When we returned from the show there was a letter from the captain. It offered us a complimentary restaurant reservation at the Canaletto Italian specialty restaurant ($25 per person) at a date and time of our choice for tender passengers who had to endure 90 minute bobbing in the rough seas. It also may include the people who returned from the island on choppy seas. We will listen to comments tomorrow.

Clocks go forward one hour overnight.

Tomorrow we will be attending the Mariners Lunch in the dining room.

Total steps 9,427