Hey everyone. I've been back from our trip to PNG for a couple weeks now. Work has been pretty busy so i've been a bit late putting together a report on this trip. I'm still editing down my full journal that I kept on the trip but I wanted to get something up as quite a few people have been asking about it. Anyone else that was on the trip please post some more pics in this thread. I don't have much in the way of kiting photos as I was always on the water.

First off, i'm a full paying customer with no affiliation. I get no discounts and i don't ride for anybody. I am truly Jo Nobody like most of you.

I booked a 10 day trip with Intheloop kiteboarding to shake off the winter blues. I didn't get into the sport until early this year so I was dying for some more time on the water. I decided on a planned 10 day trip to the Trobriand Islands aboard the MV Golden Dawn. Booking in was no issue, Marvin was good about replying to my emails and texts. Details were a bit scarce as things came together. It's not really like a trip to Cocos. This is a really new thing that intheloop are doing and it is still coming together a bit. It doesn't have the same level of formality as some other setups but I knew that going in and that was a bit of the appeal. Being part of something in it's infancy. If there is one negative bit of feedback I have is that the level of initially low (or maybe just percieved) organization puts some people off. This I'm sure will get ironed out a bit as the trips go on.

Boring bit out of the way, we got down to the travel. I'll post my full report later but I'll just mention a few key things that people are interested in for their own travel and you can ask any questions you like.

THIS TRIP WAS AWESOME! We kited every day that we were out. We were at a new kiting spot every day and kited some great places. The water is warm and the wind was up every day everywhere from 16-35 knots. We kited beaches and islands that had never been kited and the scenery was amazing.

MV Golden Dawn was great. Having a boat is really the only way to kite PNG. You get to access so many great spots and have none of the hassles of trying to get around PNG. The crew and food were first class. They took really good care of me being vegetarian as well which goes a long way for me. the accomodation is really good with air conditioned cabins. Most of the steaming to the next location happened in the evening or early morning so we were able to get a good night's sleep at a calm anchorage every night. One really great thing about the boat is that it's a fully equipped dive vessel. Any time you were too tired to kite orthe wind wasnt' quite there yet, you could grab some gear and go for a dive or snorkle. I'd never dived but one of the others on the trip is an instructor and offered to take me down on an introductory dive. It was amazing and a definate highlight of the trip for me. Thanks Geoff!

Every day the crew had our gear loaded into 2 zodiacs first thing after breakfast and we would take the short ride into the beach, meet the locals, and set up. The crew were always there to give us a hand setting up. not that there was a shortage of helping hands as most beaches we were greeted by between 20 and 100 curious children eager to see us and our crazy kites.

The people are what totally made this trip for me. The other people on the trip (11 of us in total) helped make it a great time. Everyone was super stoked on kiting and really up for a good time. We had a pretty big hassle in the airport in Port Moresby because of first and airline stuff up and then a mechanical problem with the plane. With the wrong people in our group it would have been aweful but everyone took it in stride and we had a great time out in Moresby even though we were meant to be on the other side of PNG. If it weren't for Intheloop's relationship with the surfing association of PNG we would have ended up stranded in moresby with no hotels available. Jason Pini from the surfing association put us up in a really great apartment and showed us around the city where he grew up. I can't thank the Pini's enough. They really showed us a good time.

Once we got to Alotau and set off for the islands we got to meet some incredible people. The PNG locals are amazing. Nobody is selling anyhting, nobody wants anything from you. They are just genuinely happy to have visitors and their hospitality is amazing. I loved visiting these people and seeing some truly wild places. They don't have much in the way of material things but are so happy and just want to chat to you, find out a little bit about you, tell you a bit about them, and most of all want to know how you like PNG. The kids especially blew my mind. They are super curious and are really impressed by kiting. They have races with these 2 foot long model outrigger canoes. They trim the sails just so and set them off on races that can span a kilometer or more and have to finish between two markers, maybe 5-10m apart. Needless to say these kids know a bit about sailing so they loved the kites. Being somewhat heavily tattooed, the kids all wanted to see and touch my skin. That was a trip.

So, as a kiting holiday, I think this trip is exceptional. At the price, it's such a good value. Everyone on the trip said they would come back in a second. The kiting is great but this trip is so much more than that. I loved my visit to PNG and I'd love to go again next year.

A big thanks to Marvin and Rachael, Craig and his crew, the Pini's, and all the people on the trip that made it such a great time.

Here are just a few of my favorite pics. There isn't that many kiting shot since I was always on the water. Maybe someone else has a few to post up.







Cheers
Josh

Few More.

Sounds great ! Did you guy's get waves as well ?

Thanks for posting the report sounds like a great trip!!!
and a worthwhile destination to check out. Good to hear a positive vibe on this forum

Too many disgruntled kiters sick to death of no wind me thinks

Waves? Yes.

The luxury of the boat is that you can steam to whatever location you like. This pic is of the guys on a long downwinder along an offshore reef that ran for miles and miles. Some pretty nice head high and bigger waves.


Does anybody have a copy of the group shot we got at Black Rocks?

Sounds awesome - I think I might book myself on a trip! Been heading up to PNG on a regular basis with work but never time or the conditions on Lihir Island to make use of a kite!

Hi Josh

Glad you had a good time man, the PNG crew have all gone to Hula for the weekend, camping in the village. not quite as lux as the boat!

Jas

Sounds like an awsome trip and work from Marvin and crew - well done

Trip was really really good. Josh and I were both just noobs starting out but going on a trip with Marvin and some other decent kiters got us up and going and boosting by the end. It was good having a tinny connected to the Golden Dawn that could do retrievals and did wonders to boost confidence. I plan on going again next year and taking advantage of some of the more advanced conditions I couldn't do much with this year - a couple of the sites were small sand cays with offshore winds for instance.

It probably does take a special type to go on the trip - i think if you travel and hate adversity, slow service, sketchy infracstructure and the like, it probably won't be for you - I think there's a very good reason why not many people go to PNG, and a lot of that is that most of the awesome sites aren't accessible by land. I've included a few of my favorite pics from the trip as well.

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chino said...

Trip was really really good. Josh and I were both just noobs starting out but going on a trip with Marvin and some other decent kiters got us up and going and boosting by the end. It was good having a tinny connected to the Golden Dawn that could do retrievals and did wonders to boost confidence. I plan on going again next year and taking advantage of some of the more advanced conditions I couldn't do much with this year - a couple of the sites were small sand cays with offshore winds for instance.

It probably does take a special type to go on the trip - i think if you travel and hate adversity, slow service, sketchy infracstructure and the like, it probably won't be for you - I think there's a very good reason why not many people go to PNG, and a lot of that is that most of the awesome sites aren't accessible by land. I've included a few of my favorite pics from the trip as well.

I think the kite caddy in the background is wondering why he can't be in the group photo!!

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I think the kite caddy in the background is wondering why he can't be in the group photo!!

no shoes no shirt no service!

thanks :) excellent report , looks great , and yes totally agree with you Weta

looks awesome - a bit of everything. May well consider for next winter.

love the massive local gallery in the open beach pic

would be a good idea to take lots of old surf t-shirts to give away to the locals.

love the massive local gallery in the open beach pic

yeah the villagers come out to watch when kiters turn up. Sometimes the kids get very excited and come in a bit too close when you are launching/landing/boosting. a few quick words from the boat crew and they keep a safe distance.

In this case i think they were all out for a mini sailing boat race. You can kind of see the toy sailing canoes in one of the shots, there is a kid running along the beach infront of them. they are scale replicas of real racing canoes. These mini canoes are amazing and there are big races most weekends. I have had a hard time keeping up with them when kiting they go so fast and auto steer them selves through gusts and chop. really cool to see. I donated a few dead kites for the guys to use as sail material. so next time you might see a north or slingshot sponsored mini racing canoe!

Thank you for the report. I might be moving to PNG to live for a couple of years and am glad to know that I can get out on the water from time to time. I currently live in the NW of WA and the water here is shark and crocodile infested, so no kiting here. Glad PNG is not! Are there many local kiters there or is it just the one touism operator running these tours?

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JayP said...



yeah the villagers come out to watch when kiters turn up. Sometimes the kids get very excited and come in a bit too close when you are launching/landing/boosting. a few quick words from the boat crew and they keep a safe distance.

In this case i think they were all out for a mini sailing boat race. You can kind of see the toy sailing canoes in one of the shots, there is a kid running along the beach infront of them. they are scale replicas of real racing canoes. These mini canoes are amazing and there are big races most weekends. I have had a hard time keeping up with them when kiting they go so fast and auto steer them selves through gusts and chop. really cool to see. I donated a few dead kites for the guys to use as sail material. so next time you might see a north or slingshot sponsored mini racing canoe!

There's an amazing shot of Clayton kiting through all the boats, and the boats winning. I wonder if they disqualified that race or not, hah.

Edit: Found the pic! And another few that I like.

Great post and pics.

Sounds like warm fuzzy-wuzzys all round.

Anybody else have pics?

outstanding more pics please, any videos anyone
looks great, good report, want to go sounds like a proper trip

i didnt realise anyone on seabreeze(corelegit kiters only) could stretch to more than one paragraph(i think thtas how you spell parachute) shut up rowdy you lardarse

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ApatheticEnd said...

a few to post up.

Ha Ha - I used to live in the units with the blue trim - awesome views. I shouldn't say this, but i remember watching a running gun battle up the slope in front between the police and a rascal. My wife and I just sat on the balcony sucking a beer watching it. I will qualify that with the fact that I lived for 5 years in PNG with a young family and never had one "security" incident. It is a safe place, you just get to see some interesting things...

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WildDuke said...

Thank you for the report. I might be moving to PNG to live for a couple of years and am glad to know that I can get out on the water from time to time. I currently live in the NW of WA and the water here is shark and crocodile infested, so no kiting here. Glad PNG is not! Are there many local kiters there or is it just the one touism operator running these tours?

Duke - there is a growing crew in Port Moresby. It used to be pretty much the Pini family (and those lucky enough to be taught by JayP - like me), but with a big influx of expats recently and a lot of organising by JayP things are growing rapidly. It is quite achievable to take off from work at 4.30 and get a solid hour in before dark. I do this regularly on my work trips up there these days.

The only areas that are consistantly kitable are around Port Moresby and SE from there, all the way out to the islands at the end of "Dragons Tail". Anywhere else in PNG would be similar to where you are now - no wind. Naturally the best spots are really only reachable by boat.