Madang harbour is dotted with little islands, many of the inhabited, so that people take canoes or banana-boats to work. The powered banana boats (aka PMVs, or People Moving Vehicles- usually the land-based minibusses that ply the PNG road network) take about 8 minutes to do the run from Madang town out to Krangket Island, the largest of the islands in the harbour, and for the princely sum of 50 toya (20c) each way. At the tip of Krangket Lagoon is a small private strip of land which sells itself as a resort- really just a couple of wooden huts with thatched roofs, some grass, some trees, and a teeny tiny beach of broken coral. However the real enticement is the water- still and calm and at a balmy 28 or 29 degrees C (82-84 degrees F) is like getting into a bath. The land slides away in a shallow shelf and then about 20m from the shore rolls over into deeper water, and coral grows in tufts all the way round the headland. Tropical fish abound (although I have to say, there are far better places for both coral and fish around Madang).
The island itself has an idyllic air. Walking from the boat stop takes about 20 minutes and you follow a narrow footpath between gardens heavy with greenery, overhung by shady trees, where bright sunlight casts speckled shadows on the ground. It's quiet but alive. No motor vehicles, but plenty of people going about their daily business, and kids always excited to see a strange face wandering through (easy to forget you're only 10 minutes away from downtown Madang). The island rings yet another lagoon in the centre, linked to the sea only by a narrow stream of water, bridged for passers-by by a pair of felled coconut logs. As a Saturday afternoon getaway from the normalcy of life in Madang, it seriously rocks.
View large on black.
Krangket Island, Madang, PNG. May 2008.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Krangket Lagoon