D'Entrecasteaux Islands, Island group in Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea.
The D'Entrecasteaux Islands are an island group in the Solomon Sea, in the eastern part of Papua New Guinea, made up of three main islands: Goodenough, Fergusson, and Normanby. Each island is mountainous and covered in dense rainforest, with Fergusson being the largest and home to active geothermal fields.
The islands were charted in 1792 by French navigator Bruni d'Entrecasteaux during a Pacific expedition, and they carry his name to this day. They later came under German and then British colonial influence before becoming part of independent Papua New Guinea.
The islands are a key part of the Kula ring, a system in which people travel by sailing canoe between islands to exchange shell armbands and necklaces in a ceremonial way. This practice is still alive today and shapes how communities relate to each other across the sea.
The islands can be reached by small plane or boat, and the journey from the mainland takes some planning given the sea conditions. Visiting during the drier months tends to make travel easier and paths more accessible on land.
Fergusson Island has boiling mud pools, hot springs, and steam vents that visitors can walk through. This makes it one of the rare places in the Pacific where volcanic activity comes so close to the surface in an inhabited setting.
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