I finally had the chance to head out and explore some parts of PNG that have been on my bucket list for a very long time.

The PNG kiters booked out a charter on the MV Golden dawn for 9 days traveling out east of Alotau towards some remote islands and reef systems. we scored excellent weather conditions with steady 20 knots SE trades and sensational water.

I dragged my family along, 3 kids (5, 4 and 2) and my wife who is heavily pregnant with No.4. the rest of the crew were all PNG based kiters with varying levels of experience. 1 fellow had not even managed to get up on his board yet!

Our plan was to push hard and cover nearly 500km going to 2 spots a day. But that all came to an end on the 3rd day when we anchored up to a lagoon so picture perfect there would have been a mutiny if the capt had pulled up the anchor. 2 days later we managed to move on with a much reduced itinerary. no longer heading as far east as i would have liked. But still with many new locations along our way.

This part of PNG seems to be an endless arrangement of low lying atolls punctuated by some massive towering islands. It felt like every stop had something special to offer, from compact shallow lagoons. km long sand bars and shallow coral reefs teeming with life and disappearing into the blue depths. the local villagers were extremely happy to see us and share their way of life. one old man was so overcome that we had chosen his island to stay he wanted to kill a pig and have a feast.

I mixed up my time with kiting, diving, photography and playing with the family. 1 good kite sesh each day was enough for me. the diving was sensational and right off the boat where we were kiting.

while i had taken a big quiver of 4 kites and 3 boards, everyone else had a 2 kite set and the trusty twin tip. two of the more experienced riders turned up with just a single kite and board. 9m switchblade and a 10m VarialX. they only missed 1 day of riding the whole trip. while the wind was reading a solid 20 most of the time it was not as punchy as 20 knots we get in port moresby. i spent most of my time on my 13m C kite which would have had me over powered back home.

because of the reduced itinerary we didn't get out to the wave spots i had hoped to ride. the one island we did get to there was sizeable swell rolling in, unfortunately we had a low tide and the waves were braking onto dry reef. pity as there were some sweet sets lining up. flat water spots are dime a dozen out here, but it will take more time to sus out the best waves. plenty of wind plenty of swell and 100km's of reefs.

Disclosure: my uncle is the captain of the boat, i have been helping to establish kite tourism in PNG, i don't receive any benefit from people coming here, i just think PNG is an amazing place with some great conditions to kite in and want to share the experience.

here are just a few pics from the trip, there will be many more posted on the "pom kiters" face book group page in the coming days so check it out if you want to see some more pics.