Misima, remembered by sailors who came alongside.
Coastal walks, hillside gardens, a festival welcome and friendships renewed. Follow these six visiting crews through their own journals and photographs.
Find PNG entry requirements, yacht clearance steps and the official contacts for a Misima visit.
Arrival guide & official contacts
Watch Grail Dancer’s short Misima update, with its original publisher links, and explore a filmed passenger journey from Alotau.
Julia Hazel recalls exploring Misima’s north coast, then sailing beneath steep forested slopes and waterfalls towards Cape Ebora. At the western anchorage, a school headmaster showed the visitors around the village. A scramble to hillside gardens brought a closer encounter with the landscape and the people who work it.
Jeshan goes to PNG · September 1999
A personal sailing journal with photographs of the journey.
Writing about the first Louisiades Rally, organiser Guy Chester recalls arriving for fuel and formalities and finding a community festival. His account describes Showcase Misima 2008, a Miss Misima event, a church service, feasting and reciprocal gifts between island hosts and visiting crews. It offers a visitor’s memory of a welcome shaped by Misima’s people.
MySailing · published 5 August 2009; visit in 2008
A first-person feature by a participant and rally organiser.
The Erica crew’s 2008 journal records a stop at Misima for arranged clearance, a celebration with other sailors, a delivery of supplies to the hospital and a chance to buy fresh produce. Their wider voyage centred on a boatbuilding project at Gigila, a separate island in the Louisiades. The account shows Misima’s role as a meeting and provisioning point within those journeys.
SV Erica’s travels · published 1 December 2008
The Misima stop is part of a longer account of the Gigila project.
Robin Jeffries describes two sides of Misima: arriving off Bwagaoia’s jetty and visiting the produce market, then stopping at Ebora in the west. The crew spent time around the village and climbed into hillside gardens, passing waterfalls along the way. The original account includes photographs and clearly separates Misima from the other Louisiade islands visited.
Cruising the Edge · September 2016 voyage; published 26 January 2017
Look for the “Misima Island East” and “Misima island West” sections.
Marguerite’s Sailing2XS journal recalls hiring a car to explore Misima, stopping at a road tunnel and continuing on foot along beaches and over headlands. The walkers met people travelling to a football grand final further along the coast. It is a glimpse of an island day beyond the harbour, told through a visiting sailor’s eyes.
Sailing2XS · November 2016 post
The heading says 2018, but the publication date and dated text identify 2016.
Phil and Bruce describe a seven-day crossing from Bundaberg, with rough weather giving way to easier sailing before arrival at Misima. They delivered equipment for the hospital and reconnected with fellow sailors over dinner. The following morning, they took local passengers aboard for the onward voyage towards Rossel. Their journal places practical help and longstanding friendships alongside the ocean passage.
Maranatha · Skipper’s Update No. 3, 27 July 2019
Part of a recurring sailing and Christian mission journal.
These are attributed summaries of historical visitor accounts. Their dates, services, prices and arrival arrangements describe the time of each visit. Check current information directly before planning a voyage.
Misima’s people hold the stories of their own places. We welcome islanders’ memories of these visits and sailors’ accounts shared with permission.