Watam Village/Sepik River, Papua New Guinea

We wake to find ourselves in Broken Water Bay just south of the mouth of the Sepik River. There’s quite a large rolling swell going on and the ship’s stabilisers are working to keep us from swaying too much.
Orion anchored at the mouth of the Sepik River with the island of Bam in the distance

Last night’s sailing from Madang has taken us past some of the most active volcanoes in Papua New Guinea and in the distance we can see the Island of Bam. Bam is located 37km northeast of the mouth and is the conical summit of one of western Papua New Guineas most active volcanoes, with the most recent eruption taking place in 1960.
Map of the region showing our heading -  Google map link

The Sepik region is an immense grassland reserve, surrounded-d by one of the world’s greatest rivers which runs 1,126 kilometres from the mountains to the sea. The history of the Sepik region reflects the influence over the years of the missionaries, traders, labour recruiters and administrators. Parts of the Highlands remain untouched just as they were when first discovered in 1933. In fact some villages have yet to see a white man.

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