INTELLECTUAL PURSUITS
When not on shore, the main activity was lectures, up to three a day, delivered by a retired archeology professor who is an expert on West Papua and a marine biologist versed in fish of the region. Both were excellent. The ship’s captain, Gary Wilson, a big fan of Tasman, gave talks about the explorer and, every evening, read excerpts from Tasman’s journal. The lounge is set up with a half-dozen video screens so everyone gets a view for presentations and nightly documentary showings, the only form of after-dinner entertainment. Another popular diversion was bridge and engine room tours. There are no TVs, and satellite Wi-Fi access wasn’t always available.
No one on our ship had done our itinerary before; it was planned out by the captain and an on-the-ground local expert. The idea was a diverse look at a place with some 275 local dialects. We visited four villages and one larger town, some with Catholic cathedrals, others with mosques. In each, we were met by dignitaries, costumed performers, and locals of all ages who greeted us with a few words of English. English-speaking local guides, some having traveled great distances, showed us the sights.
Between villages, snorkelers and divers among us set off in Zodiacs to explore colorful coral reefs, though they never found the elusive whale sharks, the world’s largest fish; kayakers did an early morning launch from a white patch of sand; walkers strolled beaches and through the jungle. For birders, there was the delight of spotting hornbills; for gardeners, glimpses of wild orchids and Venus flytraps.
The ship’s two 60- passenger Xplorers could board all passengers in 20 minutes, taking us around such remote scenic attractions as bays dotted with mushroom-shaped limestone karsts and to prehistoric art painted on cliffs that were once caves. The blood red–colored depictions — handprints, humanoids, geometric patterns — were a sign that we were not the first to visit, by far.