There's great snorkelling around the jetty on Samarai Island, where boats from the mainland arrive and depart
Staying on Samarai Island: Everything you need to know
Once a busy international port, and capital of Papua New Guinea’s (PNG’s) Milne Bay Province, Samarai Island is now a sleepy backwater. Its formerly busy streets are grassed-over, and the hulking wharves and creaking colonial-era mansions slowly decaying in the tropical heat. As Chris Shorrock explains, it’s a world away from the rest of Milne Bay Province and well worth a stay.
Where is Samarai Island?
Samurai Island sits in Milne Bay Province’s China Strait, off the eastern tip of the PNG mainland. It’s part of the Louisiade Archipelago, sandwiched between Sariba Island, Logea Island and the PNG mainland.
The once-busy streets on Samarai Island are now grassed-over
Samarai Island is steeped in history
This tiny island, less than one square kilometre, predates PNG’s capital, Port Moresby, and was once a major port on the shipping route between Australia and East Asia. During colonial rule, Samarai Island was a centre of commerce and the social hub in Milne Bay for high society. There were cars, a cricket pitch and social clubs, two hospitals (one for whites and one for locals) and a busy international port.
The Samarai Island 'power station' is now only used as a back-up for the new solar farm
In 1968, however, the colonial government realised it had outgrown this tiny speck of land in the China Strait and moved the provincial capital to Alotau, on the mainland. The international port closed soon after, and the island has been left to its own devices to slowly moulder and decay.
There is still a hint of the island’s heyday, with its old colonial mansions, imposing wharves, derelict shopping precinct and colonial monument (“His aim was to make New Guinea a good place for white men”). But the most tangible holdover, and the one the locals seem most proud of, has to be the island’s 24-hour electricity, a massive step-change from any other islands in Milne Bay Province.
Shops and warehouses lie abandoned on Samarai's empty main street
How to get to Samarai Island
Public dinghies leave Alotau from Sanderson Bay. Ask around here for a dinghy going to Samarai. They usually depart Alotau in the afternoon and return the following morning.
We paid 50 kina to get from Samarai Island to Alotau, and the journey took over three hours. It would usually be less, but we hit bad weather, fuel shortages and mechanical issues en route (always be ready for the unexpected when travelling in PNG).
Locals from the nearby island still arrive by dinghy or canoe to do their shopping on Samarai
Staying on Samarai Island
Maggie’s Homestay is THE place to stay on Samarai Island. In one of those old decaying colonial mansions and overlooking the football pitch at the centre of the island, Margaret’s house is Samarai Island in microcosm: mouldering on the outside, lovingly cared for inside, with patchwork linoleum floors, doilies galore and copious china in a multitude of display cabinets.
Maggie's Guesthouse is a lovingly cared for old colonial house surrounded by tropical gardens
Old photos of Samarai and inhabitants long-departed adorn the walls. A hole in one corner of the living room allows in a stream of ants, and another next to the shower reinforces the feeling of needing to step gingerly. But it’s Margaret herself who really brings the island to life with tales of colonial times when the island was a cosmopolitan melting pot of 2,000 people.
Samarai Island's coastal walkway
Margaret is a font of local knowledge and the owner of Maggie's Homestay
Maggie’s Homestay has a cold shower, rooms with fans, 24-hour electricity (courtesy of Samarai Island’s new solar farm and the old diesel generator facility), and a lovely front garden overlooking the football pitch. Meals can be provided and combine local and ‘colonial’ cooking styles. It cost us 200 kina each for one night’s accommodation, including meals.
Maggie’s is next to the football pitch in the island’s centre. There’s a small shop in the front garden and a community centre next door, where Maggie and her partner Cyprian show films for the local kids in the evenings. If you ask at the jetty on arrival, someone will be able to point you in the right direction (we just showed up and were accommodated with no trouble).
Cyprian’s number is +67572961372 if you want to try contacting them in advance.
The dilapidated wharves and jetties of the once-bustling international port on Samarai Island
What to do on Samarai Island
Samarai’s diminutive size makes it easy to explore with limited time. Its charm lies with the friendly locals and its decaying old-world feel. It’s easy to get a feel for this by strolling around the island.
Walk the island’s circumference for ocean views. Explore the derelict port area, with neatly-cut grass carpeting the once bustling roads and locals fishing off the old international jetties. Or climb the island’s only hill for panoramic views of Samarai’s neighbouring islands.
To cool off, and see the fantastic underwater world surrounding this island, dive in next to the jetty (where dinghies pick up and drop off passengers). We went snorkelling to the right of the jetties. The seafloor was carpeted with anemones, each with its resident clown fish, some as long as five inches. Further out, under the jetty itself, the water was filled with shimmering shoals of fish, and pipefish (similar to seahorses) hung out on the wooden supports.
Samarai Island’s history resides in its people
Margaret has dreams of opening a museum of Samarai’s history on the island. Until that day, however, the island’s history lives on within people like her. Which is why staying at her homestay is such a memorable experience. As she wistfully talks of days gone by, you are transported back to the Samarai of old, her words and hospitality bringing to life a sepia world gone forever.