Do Missionaries Have Fun?

Missionaries are just like everyone else- they need to get their noses off the grindstone occasionally. The four of us, Andrew, Jonathan, Annette & Beryl did just that in early May, 2011.






Andrew, Jonathan and Annette on the dock in Bissau ready to board the tub to Bubaque





We had been eyeballing a cluster of islands in the gulf of the Rio Geba off the Guinea Bissau coast. The area is about 175 miles south of Catel. Getting there involved a 4 hour bone crunching ride on public transport then another 4 hours on an ancient ferry from Bissau city down to the island of Bubaque.

By the time we found cute and cozy bungalow accommodations it was dark. We settled in for the night.

The next day a Toyota pickup hauled us to the southern tip of the island where we enjoyed a day on the beach. Most of these photos were taken that day.

The islands look very much like the rest of Guinea Bissau, just a bit more jungly. They are inhabited by the Bijagos ethnic group. These people are extremely poor. They depend on cashews and fish for their livelihood and a few of them benefit from the scant tourism enterprise.


 

 


We're out here enjoying the surf

 

Your typical desert island house

Approaching the dock in Bubaque 



Children from one of the Bubaque churches sing for us as we dock



Village near the port

We're out here enjoying the surf

Jonathan & Annette frying on a high risk volcanic reef

The rambling tree-vine on the beach that gave us a bit of shade



The jungle just up from the beach




The twenty-somethings seem to prefer the body bruising reef to the beautiful sand




The beach we had almost to ourselves (one cow in the distance)




Dugout canoe beached and bleaching in the sun, waiting for a fisherman




A really neat bird we haven't identified yet




Sponge and seaweed deposited on the beach



Herron looking for lunch



This net is done for




So is the canoe




Gull standing guard




Ruins of a colonial era vacation colony




View from the former vacation colony where we didn't stay



Shore birds picking up creatures from the receding surf




Getting his toes wet

 

Inter-island transport




Black and white herons checking out the tide pools

 


Bubaque dawn



Low tide cows



A canoe under construction




 A Bubaque storage shed that didn't come from Walmart




Early morning crowd on the beach




Bubaquensis waiting to see the boat off




One of the dozens of islands off the Bissau coast