PANASESA ISLAND IS FOR ADULTS. It’s the kind of island you would buy if you could buy and island. Which is exactly what businessman/conservationist Ian Gowrie-Smith decided. Not one to do things halfway, he bought the entire Conflict Island group. And he started a turtle conservation project, too. Conflict —it’s named after a British naval ship, not an actual brouhaha — is a group of islands in the Coral Sea 100 miles east of PNG.
Worth the Effort
The Welcome Wagon
Commander-in-Chief
Getting ashore at Panasesa, where we docked, required a hundred meter walk on a moving dock — something of a challenge for some of the passengers — followed by a threatening welcome dance by the young men, kind of a Haka with spears.
Your own bit of Paradise
But soon you planted your feet in the sand of the most paradisiacal place you can imagine. It is surrounded by turquoise waters where a sarong’d Dorothy Lamour might dance under swaying palms with gentle waves breaking on a white-sand beach. Hope and Crosby are optional.
With Dorothy Lamour, who needs Hope?
But after a walk around the island, a swim , maybe a snorkel and a bit of baking on the beach it’s time to pack away the memory of PNG for a cold winter night and return to the ship. And to reality. How many coconuts, after all, can you eat?
