We visited Papua New Guinea, where we spent nine nights traversing Kimbe Bay on the MV Oceania liveaboard, and a little more than a week at Walindi Plantation Resort. Including travel time, which is substantial and can easily become problematic, we were out for 25 days from mid-May to early June.
Both the newer Oceania and the venerable MV Febrina begin and end most liveaboard trips at Walindi. Many or most liveaboard clients spend at least a day or two at Walindi, with many staying longer and diving the resort’s fleet of solid, aluminum-hulled boats. We spent four nights before and five nights after the boat at Walindi, although we ended up not doing too much diving there (I did eight, my partner did five).
Of 13 (I think) passengers on our liveaboard trip, five were from Hawaii; three from Switzerland; one from Dubai; two from London; and three of us from the continental U.S. All were well-experienced divers, except the two Londeners, one of whom was the captain’s mother–she and her partner snorkeled. All divers were experienced, everyone got along well, and there was no significant drama or disagreement.
PNG
PNG occupies half of the island of New Guinea, the second-largest island in the world. PNG is a country of about 10 million people, comprising about 1,000 tribes, speaking some combination of more than 800 languages. By colonial fiat in the late 19th century, the main island, which is the second-largest in the world after Greenland, is divided into New Guinea (West Papua), the furthest western reaches of which include Sorong, the origin of many Raja Ampat cruises, and Papua New Guinea, which in addition to its half of the big island includes the smaller, but still substantial, islands of New Britain and New Ireland.
Although PNG is technically subject to British protection, I found little evidence that it benefits from the relationship: just five percent of its citizens have access to sanitary toilets, much less potable water; malaria is endemic to varying degrees throughout the islands; electrification is not common outside of cities; and on a village visit we were told that the villagers had one boat with an outboard but could not afford petrol.
PNG is synonymous with World War II in the Pacific; the Japanese military saw it as a bulkhead from which to conquer Australia, staged from the capitol city of Port Moresby. This plan was thwarted by Australian and PNG fighters, who repulsed a very aggressive attempt by Japan to cross the main island from north to south across the Kokoda Trail, a difficult jungle trail about 100 miles long and crossing two mountain ranges, which now attracts thousands of mostly-Australian hikers.
PNG has a reputation for both internal violence and attacks on tourists. We saw none of this, but of course were careful. Our conversations with Papuans left no doubt that the concern is legitimate (if overblown), but mostly confined to cities.
Travel
We flew Delta through LAX to Sydney and a Delta codeshare (Virgin Australia) to Brisbane, where we spent the night. The next morning we flew the national airline of PNG, Air Niugini (pronounced, of course, “New Guinea”), from Brisbane to Port Moresby and on to Hoskins, where Walindi’s folks pick up arrivals and drop off departing guests for the resort and boats. The drive is about an hour. Others came in through Singapore and Manila. Singapore Airways serves Port Moresby. Were I booking the trip again (and we think we will), I would carefully consider options which did not include Australia, which added a day to the travel time, or else do a week’s diving in Australia on the way back. For context, we left Ohio on Sunday afternoon, lost Monday to the international dateline, got to Brisbane Tuesday morning where we spent the night at a good airport hotel, traveled from Brisbane to Port Moresby on Wednesday, missed our Hoskins fllight, and arrived at Walindi on Thursday morning.
The Hoskins airport is tiny. Air Niugini has excellent airplanes, but a bad reputation for flight cancellations and delays. Our experience bore this out. We spent a night inbound at the Shady Rest Motel, in Port Moresby, because our flight from Brisbane was late, with our planned evening departure put off until morning. Air Niugini paid for the hotel and meals, and provided transportation. We were OK outbound; although our flight from Port Moresby (POM) to Brisbane was delayed, it actually left well ahead of the new departure time. The Port Moresby airport’s international terminal is quite nice, the domestic less so, but entirely adequate.
While we had a couple of hiccups (including a flight cancellation and brief termination of my entire itinerary by Virgin), we did not have major travel issues. However, it took a group of folks from Hawaii two or three extra days to get home, with unplanned overnights in both Hoskins and Port Moresby, and a friend who’s there now spent an extra two nights in Port Moresby.
Walindi
Walindi is one of a handful of SCUBA-focused resorts in PNG (others include Tufi, on the “mainland” of PNG, and Tawali in Milne Bay, on the eastern cost of the mainland. Walindi was started by Max and Cecelie Benjamin in the early 1980s. The resort has 10 comfortable bungalows, each with a queen and twin bed. The bungalows have nice porches and good sea views. Additional accommodations are in long houses, which we were told by others are fine. The only air conditioning is in the breakfast room/library, and the main resort facility, where lunch and dinner are served, doesn’t have screens. That room and the rest of the central resort facility have WiFi; the bungalows and houses do not, but we were able to use our phones as 3G hotspots, which worked surprisingly well.
The bungalows and long houses have good screens, and are well-shaded; each has two powerful ceiling fans which keep things comfortable. The resort’s electricity is turned off from late evening to early morning, but one of the fans and a couple of bright lights run off storage cells. The bungalow we were assigned was well-detailed, with wall coverings woven onsite, a bit of PNG art, and French press coffee and a small refrigerator. Water throughout the resort is potable, and plentiful, and bathrooms are modern.
A lovely swimming pool was built during the pandemic, and has unobstructed views over Kimbe Bay. A well-stocked bar is adjacent to it.
Breakfasts are cold or hot, as you prefer. Lunches are ordered from a menu (the fries are exceptional), and dinners are a substantial buffet. The local ice cream, by the way, is terrific--save room.
The resort has three solid dive boats, each with (as I recall) twin 175- or 250-hp outboards. One is a meter or so longer than the other two.
The Day-Boat Diving
First, don’t expect good (or any) diving on the Walindi house reef. Second, the checkout reef, “Hanging Gardens,” was disappointing; we did it late in the afternoon and without lights, but others who did it under better conditions also were not impressed. But the sites to which the Walindi boats travel are otherwise glorious. For example, Joelle’s, a sea mount 45 minutes or so from the resort, was laugh-out-loud fishy, with schools of trevally, barracuda, and tuna competing for space with groups of batfish and untold numbers of everything else. We did two dives at Restorf Island, a thumbprint of land with a rich reef on one side and a wall and slope which start within feet of the island on the other. Peacock mantis shrimp, at least two species of shrimpgoby, octopus, hawkfish, a bumphead parrot hanging around the stern in hopes of scraps, a decent assortment of nudis, and lots of tiny things–as well as the largest sea fan I’ve ever seen, maybe four meters across.
Both two- and three-tank dives are offered on the day boats. Nitrox is available, but not free. Lunch is provided on the three-tank trips, and is more than ample. Copious snacks are provided on the two-tank trips.
I have a gallery of pictures up, which I hope you enjoy if you choose. Most were taken with an OM Systems OM-1, and some were taken with an iPhone 14 Pro Max. Papua New Guinea, May 2023 - Rick Morgan
Both the newer Oceania and the venerable MV Febrina begin and end most liveaboard trips at Walindi. Many or most liveaboard clients spend at least a day or two at Walindi, with many staying longer and diving the resort’s fleet of solid, aluminum-hulled boats. We spent four nights before and five nights after the boat at Walindi, although we ended up not doing too much diving there (I did eight, my partner did five).
Of 13 (I think) passengers on our liveaboard trip, five were from Hawaii; three from Switzerland; one from Dubai; two from London; and three of us from the continental U.S. All were well-experienced divers, except the two Londeners, one of whom was the captain’s mother–she and her partner snorkeled. All divers were experienced, everyone got along well, and there was no significant drama or disagreement.
PNG
PNG occupies half of the island of New Guinea, the second-largest island in the world. PNG is a country of about 10 million people, comprising about 1,000 tribes, speaking some combination of more than 800 languages. By colonial fiat in the late 19th century, the main island, which is the second-largest in the world after Greenland, is divided into New Guinea (West Papua), the furthest western reaches of which include Sorong, the origin of many Raja Ampat cruises, and Papua New Guinea, which in addition to its half of the big island includes the smaller, but still substantial, islands of New Britain and New Ireland.
Although PNG is technically subject to British protection, I found little evidence that it benefits from the relationship: just five percent of its citizens have access to sanitary toilets, much less potable water; malaria is endemic to varying degrees throughout the islands; electrification is not common outside of cities; and on a village visit we were told that the villagers had one boat with an outboard but could not afford petrol.
PNG is synonymous with World War II in the Pacific; the Japanese military saw it as a bulkhead from which to conquer Australia, staged from the capitol city of Port Moresby. This plan was thwarted by Australian and PNG fighters, who repulsed a very aggressive attempt by Japan to cross the main island from north to south across the Kokoda Trail, a difficult jungle trail about 100 miles long and crossing two mountain ranges, which now attracts thousands of mostly-Australian hikers.
PNG has a reputation for both internal violence and attacks on tourists. We saw none of this, but of course were careful. Our conversations with Papuans left no doubt that the concern is legitimate (if overblown), but mostly confined to cities.
Travel
We flew Delta through LAX to Sydney and a Delta codeshare (Virgin Australia) to Brisbane, where we spent the night. The next morning we flew the national airline of PNG, Air Niugini (pronounced, of course, “New Guinea”), from Brisbane to Port Moresby and on to Hoskins, where Walindi’s folks pick up arrivals and drop off departing guests for the resort and boats. The drive is about an hour. Others came in through Singapore and Manila. Singapore Airways serves Port Moresby. Were I booking the trip again (and we think we will), I would carefully consider options which did not include Australia, which added a day to the travel time, or else do a week’s diving in Australia on the way back. For context, we left Ohio on Sunday afternoon, lost Monday to the international dateline, got to Brisbane Tuesday morning where we spent the night at a good airport hotel, traveled from Brisbane to Port Moresby on Wednesday, missed our Hoskins fllight, and arrived at Walindi on Thursday morning.
The Hoskins airport is tiny. Air Niugini has excellent airplanes, but a bad reputation for flight cancellations and delays. Our experience bore this out. We spent a night inbound at the Shady Rest Motel, in Port Moresby, because our flight from Brisbane was late, with our planned evening departure put off until morning. Air Niugini paid for the hotel and meals, and provided transportation. We were OK outbound; although our flight from Port Moresby (POM) to Brisbane was delayed, it actually left well ahead of the new departure time. The Port Moresby airport’s international terminal is quite nice, the domestic less so, but entirely adequate.
While we had a couple of hiccups (including a flight cancellation and brief termination of my entire itinerary by Virgin), we did not have major travel issues. However, it took a group of folks from Hawaii two or three extra days to get home, with unplanned overnights in both Hoskins and Port Moresby, and a friend who’s there now spent an extra two nights in Port Moresby.
Walindi
Walindi is one of a handful of SCUBA-focused resorts in PNG (others include Tufi, on the “mainland” of PNG, and Tawali in Milne Bay, on the eastern cost of the mainland. Walindi was started by Max and Cecelie Benjamin in the early 1980s. The resort has 10 comfortable bungalows, each with a queen and twin bed. The bungalows have nice porches and good sea views. Additional accommodations are in long houses, which we were told by others are fine. The only air conditioning is in the breakfast room/library, and the main resort facility, where lunch and dinner are served, doesn’t have screens. That room and the rest of the central resort facility have WiFi; the bungalows and houses do not, but we were able to use our phones as 3G hotspots, which worked surprisingly well.
The bungalows and long houses have good screens, and are well-shaded; each has two powerful ceiling fans which keep things comfortable. The resort’s electricity is turned off from late evening to early morning, but one of the fans and a couple of bright lights run off storage cells. The bungalow we were assigned was well-detailed, with wall coverings woven onsite, a bit of PNG art, and French press coffee and a small refrigerator. Water throughout the resort is potable, and plentiful, and bathrooms are modern.
A lovely swimming pool was built during the pandemic, and has unobstructed views over Kimbe Bay. A well-stocked bar is adjacent to it.
Breakfasts are cold or hot, as you prefer. Lunches are ordered from a menu (the fries are exceptional), and dinners are a substantial buffet. The local ice cream, by the way, is terrific--save room.
The resort has three solid dive boats, each with (as I recall) twin 175- or 250-hp outboards. One is a meter or so longer than the other two.
The Day-Boat Diving
First, don’t expect good (or any) diving on the Walindi house reef. Second, the checkout reef, “Hanging Gardens,” was disappointing; we did it late in the afternoon and without lights, but others who did it under better conditions also were not impressed. But the sites to which the Walindi boats travel are otherwise glorious. For example, Joelle’s, a sea mount 45 minutes or so from the resort, was laugh-out-loud fishy, with schools of trevally, barracuda, and tuna competing for space with groups of batfish and untold numbers of everything else. We did two dives at Restorf Island, a thumbprint of land with a rich reef on one side and a wall and slope which start within feet of the island on the other. Peacock mantis shrimp, at least two species of shrimpgoby, octopus, hawkfish, a bumphead parrot hanging around the stern in hopes of scraps, a decent assortment of nudis, and lots of tiny things–as well as the largest sea fan I’ve ever seen, maybe four meters across.
Both two- and three-tank dives are offered on the day boats. Nitrox is available, but not free. Lunch is provided on the three-tank trips, and is more than ample. Copious snacks are provided on the two-tank trips.
I have a gallery of pictures up, which I hope you enjoy if you choose. Most were taken with an OM Systems OM-1, and some were taken with an iPhone 14 Pro Max. Papua New Guinea, May 2023 - Rick Morgan
