5 – 24 June 2010
It is now 15 months that we have been non-stop on the road from Asia to the Pacific. The diving has been spectacular but its the people we have met along the way that made our journey so much richer. The honest and open faces of people in the deep unvisited parts of the Coral Triangle were a joy to photograph. The molasses brown Melanesian faces with their insanely long curly eye lashes made great portraits and this entry is dedicated to these beautiful people of New Ireland.

Heartstrings are tugged when a baby smiles

Carefree boys sitting around ready for their photos of be taken

A natural leafy shade against the morning sun

A teacher’s daughter, this young girl knew how to smile for the camera

Young boy Lapan holds a pet green turtle

The Lissenung Island girls who made sure we were all well fed and cared for

One sunny morning, I gave a WWF Coral Triangle slideshow from my hardworking laptop to the children and parents of Enuk Village. There was a lot of laughing as I tried my best to tell our photo stories and the conservation message. “Is it good to take turtle eggs from their nests?” I asked. They shouted “Yes!” I shouted back “Nooooooo! No good!””

While I clowned around, Yogi sneakily took the photographs of the laughing kids of Enuk

And they listened and watched intently as I told them the stories of fishing, of animals, of turtles. We met their teacher a few days later and she made these kids draw what they saw during our slideshow! And they drew fish, and turtles and mantas!

A lovely group photo of our well travelled WWF flag with the students of Enuk village, some parents and elders with the Freunds and the Amons

The kids looked like they had so much fun doing this so I just had to have my turn. Glad I didn’t break the rope!

Charming Enuk Village is made up of two long islands facing each other with a narrow channel between them. This is how the kids went to school and back home
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