Does Anyone Dive PNG Anymore?

[thanksforallthefish]

In November we spent a week at Tawali Resort (Milne Bay) ... the resort and staff were superb and the diving was absolutely fabulous.

Most days we did 2 dives at the first site and then shift to a different site for the third dive, then back to the dock where a new tank was waiting to do an afternoon / evening dive on the house reef.

The house reef was amazing, pipefish, mandarinfish, anenome fish just to mention a few we even saw a spotted eagle ray (unfortunately not when we were diving), and as the area is volcanic there are many crevices to poke into and some lovely swim throughs.

The swim throughs reminded me a lot of a dive I did in Port Villa called Black Sand Cave.

I do believe my wife did a trip report somewhere, I will try to find it and post a link.

[Lunahippo]

thanks everyone! i've put down deposits on the mike ball 4 night minke whale trip and then doing about 8 days with lissenung- so excited but the trip is so far away! this will definitely be a big solo adventure :-)

[Jeffro_TBS]

I dove Kavieng in October. It was really nice with a good mix of reef and wreck sites. Having said that it's a long way to go from Aus. when there are some great alternatives closer. I'd probably go back to Vanuatu before going back to PNG (but Solomon's is planned for July )

I wonder if people don't think about PNG because they don't think it's safe? Everyone I spoke to before going kept asking about whether I was worried. I know Moresby can be dangerous and you need to be sensible wherever you go, but I never felt like it was an issue.

[bowlofpetunias]

Tawali Resort, Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea

The adventure begins with the trip. We flew direct from Sydney to Port Morsby with Air Niugini. We spent the night there relaxing at a reasonable hotel quite close to the airport.

The airport was an eye opener. Signs all over indicating where weapons and ammunition must be surrendered! The next flight was on a Dash 8 to Alotau Airport.

The Bus ride was a real adventure. Picking up other passengers at secure compounds along the way. Two hours of driving past villages and scattered shacks. Children and adults waved and smiled as we drove across rickety bridges and forded shallow streams. The Ocean was tantalizingly blue and turquoise. Children, dogs and adults splashed in the water and the little outrigger canoes were everywhere.

At last we passed the security gates and arrived at the "bus dock" The Gear was stowed on board and we clambered on for a 25 minute trip across deal flat seas. Trailing my fingers in the water I was astounded by how warm the water was.

[bowlofpetunias]

I will do this trip report in installments... here is a slide show of the resort itself. The Food was plentiful and of good quality. The accomodation was clean and quite well maintained. We did have two power failures during our stay but they were dealt with quite quickly. The rooms were good sized and the air conditioners were much appreciated. The balcony gave a lovely view but we spent most of our time diving so didn't use the balcony except to hang gear!



There were two baskets in the room which you are instructed to put your gear in. There are tags on the "dive board" that correspond with the numbers on the baskets (your room number A and B) The crew came took the gear to the Dock and made sure it was at whatever location you were going to dive. You posted your Tag on the Dive Board indicating where and when you would be diving. A green sticker on your tag advised the crew you would be diving Nitrox. The big boat went out at 8am for 3 dive trips. Only one day did they have a two dive trip. We requested and were provided with steel tanks. We did bring out DIN converters which turned out to be helpful since they didn't always have enough DIN tanks.

Normally we did two dives on the first site and changed to a third site for the final dive. When the group enjoyed one dive site and requested our third dive be there the staff were happy to oblige. All of the sites had enough to offer that a second dive allowed a different second dive anyway. Changes in conditions resulted in appropriate changes in dive sites.I haven't had time to sort through the dive pics I will post pics from some of the dives later.


On return to the Resort we were provided with tanks to do evening dives on the House Reef. The Mandarin Fish were fairly co-operative and there were heaps of fish to check out. The Dive package provided for unlimited shore dives and you really could dive the House Reef repeatedly and never get bored. There were lots of swim throughs created by the volcanic rock flows. A large School hung around the Dock and the area was teeming with all kinds of fish including Aneneomie fish, pipefish, Angelfish, Parrot fish and even a large resident eel. We watched a blue spotted ray swim across the House Reef from the viewpoint of the outdoor entertainment area.

A DM was provided for the House Reef Dives to offer any assistence needed. They didn't babysit us once they realized we were competent and preferred to do our own thing on the Shore dives. There was always someone close by when we surfaced at the end of the dive to take the gear and hang it to dry so they could have it at appropriate place for the next dive. It was a real treat to be able to just go off and please ourselves for these dives.

[bowlofpetunias]

First installment in the Dive shots... I am putting these in as slideshows so I don't fill the place up with shots you have to scan through if you don't want to. I was amazed at just how tiny the Pygmy Seahorses were. The DM's were amazing at locating these critters.. even when they were showing them to us.. we sometimes had trouble locating them. I was thrilled to find one myself! Admittedly another one had already been located on the same Gorgonian Fan


Pipefish notice the one with the eggs on it's belly. I didn't see them until looking at the pics!



Nudibranches and flatworms .. quite a variety



now for the amazing variety of Ghost Pipefish! very hard to spot these guys


First installment in the Dive shots... I am putting these in as slideshows so I don't fill the place up with shots you have to scan through if you don't want to. I was amazed at just how tiny the Pygmy Seahorses were. The DM's were amazing at locating these critters.. even when they were showing them to us.. we sometimes had trouble locating them. I was thrilled to find one myself! Admittedly another one had already been located on the same Gorgonian Fan


Pipefish notice the one with the eggs on it's belly. I didn't see them until looking at the pics!



Nudibranches and flatworms .. quite a variety



now for the amazing variety of Ghost Pipefish! very hard to spot these guys


Glad Fish figured I did a good trip report.

I also did one on Madang where we dived in 2004 but that resort isn't operating any more which is a shame.

[auddy]

Hi, I'm planning to head to PNG, mostly will be in Alotau for 2 weeks mid-end Jan 2012. Other than Tawali and the Chertan LOB, are there any other spots or boats to get some diving in? The Chertan's schedule is already full booked with the 2 UW photographers' trip.

[Where2Next]

There is the Star Dancer - www.Dancerfleet.com - they are currently based in Alotau at the Driftwood resort area. I will be headed out there in almost a month!

[thranx]

There is the Star Dancer - www.Dancerfleet.com - they are currently based in Alotau at the Driftwood resort area. I will be headed out there in almost a month!

Dik Knight's Loloata Island resort appears to still be open. His people will pick you up at Port Moresby airport; then it's a short drive and boat ride to his private island. Excellent diving in the area (it's been awhile, but that's where I saw my glorious Rhinopius). Very reasonable and a superb alternative to staying in Moresby, even if you don't dive at Loloata. Email Dik and he can fill you in on where else to dive in PNG, what's going on, local conditions, etc. Fly in to PNG, stay a couple of nights at Loloata to acclimate and dive, then move onward.

[auddy]

Thanks, but changed my mind in the end about PNG, owing to the crazy increase in airticket price.