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We spent 3 weeks cruising Bougainville in September/October 2025 and can only highly recommend the area.

Clearance

The team in Buka was very responsive and helpful–they even answered WhatsApp questions during the weekend.
Contact them ahead of your arrival:
Derick (Customs Buka) +675 7357 3817
Sylvester (Immigration Buka) +675 7009 8883
5 officials came to our boat shortly after we had anchored and did all paperwork aboard. We later went to their offices in town to pay the 80 Kina (about 20 USD) fee for biosecurity. They first asked for 100 kina for the taxi boat, but we offered 50 instead, which seems more reasonable and was accepted.
We checked out from Buka as well and it seems we were the first boat to do so as there were discussions about formalities. First customs insisted on coming aboard for the outward clearance, but after we explained that this would be highly unusual they were okay with us coming to their office to clear out.

Kieta (halfway up on the eastern side) is also a port of entry and if we had known that before we would have cleared in there to have a chance to visit the town of Arawa (former capital) and organise a tour to the Panguna mine (that caused all the bloodshed in the 90s, see “history” further down), or somewhere else up into the spectacular mountains.

Derrick from customs mentioned that boats that would like to stop in Takuu or Carteret on the way to Buka could Whatsapp and Email in advance to ask for permission to do so before the official clearance. Very practical as they lie upwind (in tradewind conditions) to the east from Buka.

Security

The officials assured us that we were perfectly safe in Buka town as well as on the island–the only town in PNG (according to them) where you can leave your car unlocked and walk around at night without worrying.
Apparently there’s no emergency number you can call if you should run into trouble, but Derrick gave us this number: +67573818036 (Albert Besten, Transitional Crime Unit Buka)
People were generally flabbergasted when we told them that there are travel warnings for Bougainville on the internet. They insist it’s the safest town in all of PNG and after almost 2 weeks here we believed them: the taxi-boat driver just laughed when we asked him to keep an eye on our boat when going past every 10 minutes or so. “I’ll check, but nobody would climb up on your boat!” The vibes in the bustling town are friendly, everyone’s helpful and eager to chat with strangers. We didn’t have a single negative encounter, on the contrary, everybody’s been extra friendly to make us feel welcome! We had people frequently stop by just for a chat while we were in the anchorage. The only thing that was a bit annoying was how close the taxi boats went past us–but that’s not meant to threaten or menace, people simply want to take a close look and to shout and wave

Transport and excursions

It’s convenient to flag down taxiboats (2 kina) to town as the pass can be rough with current and traffic. Coming back we had the problem that ALL taxi boaters were waving and competing to take us home, shouting “sailboat, come here” In town we took PMVs (public motor vehicle) which cost just 1 kina in the vicinity of Buka. Apparently taxis cost 10 kina in the town area, but we didn’t take one.
We did a roadtrip with friends around Buka island to the picnic spot on the NW side (the end of the suprisingly new and paved(!)road) with some sights like caves and springs, but I’m sure PMV drivers would be happy to point out sights if you hopped on one going up towards the northern tip of the island (Haku). Alfons, the waiter at the Kubul beach club (out north past the airport), is a tour guide and happy to take you around.

Shopping

There are ATMs in town (we usually go to BSP because of the reasonable fees), but the system was down while we were there. Fortunately you can pay with card at basically all supermarkets and they also do cashback! The numerous supermarkets all have the same, basic range. Jomik is among the larger, popular ones (and it’s owned local!), the New Household is another big one in town. Out past the airport West Wind and the neighbouring supermarket have a nice range of imported goodies (cheese, chocolate, etc.), but they are quite expensive and some things were expired or had obviously gone bad (like the last bag of oats).

Buka lagoon

We stayed for two weeks in Buka, mainly in the town anchorage, but we also explored the nearby lagoon. Charts are off, but it’s easy to navigate with sat images.
- White Island seems to be the official picnic island for everyone and the island with its white sand beach is quite pretty. Unfortunately the reef is dead (we were told one man used to go dynamite fishing there, but he died a while ago, so maybe there’s hope it’ll recover…)
- Vungan Island a bit further south is another pretty anchorage in front of an uninhabited islet. We saw a wreck on a nearby bommie and went there for snorkeling: great reef and lots of fish around the wreck.

Around Bougainville

The eastern side has lots of beautiful islands and islets with white sand and nice reefs! Wherever we anchored we had boats coming out as we were the first sailboat ever to visit (according to them) and they were excited to take pictures and climb up to take a look. Sometimes we had half the village aboard–a few small things got nicked (sunglasses, shackles) in the general chaos, so be careful not to have temptations out… So many people came out to trade (for shirts, sunglasses, etc.) that we soon had more veg and fruit than we could eat. That’s what cruising must have been like in the 1970s before the locals in the more popular areas of the Pacific got tired of fleets of sailboats and lost interest (or even got hostile).
The villages in the bays on the northern side are equally friendly and happy to see visitors, but we were warned not to visit the western side as there have been some incidents with sailboats years ago (which might no longer be an issue, but we haven’t checked).

History

Bougainville has a troubled past: the islands that historically and geographically belong to the Solomons were “given” to PNG by the colonial powers and their struggle ignored when they declared their independence a week before PNG in 1975. The (Australian owned) Panguna mine polluted the central area without bringing profits to the island and the protests of the people resulted in a civil war with 20 000 victims. Those days are long gone, the bloody past is forgiven. “We have a culture of making peace”, the mayor of a village here told us and showed us a rock on the beach where peace agreements are carved in. The people of Bougainville are eager to step towards a successful future with new sources of income from tourism and they certainly deserve a chance.

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Buka, Bougainville, September 2025 (Papua New Guinea)

We visited Buka despite travel warnings and felt really welcome in a safe, clean and friendly town! Pics of our 2 weeks here: the bustling channel and town, the "posh" island Sohano and a road trip we did with our friends.

(34 photos)