reubencahn
Contributor
Walindi and Star Dancer Trip Report
Part I: Walindi
Walindi is the home port of both Star Dancer and Febrina. When we decided to book on Star Dancer, we knew that 8 days of diving wouldn’t be enough. Walindi has a great reputation, so we decided to book a week of land based diving before our liveaboard departure. We booked airport transfers with Walindi. The cost was not included with our week-long booking. Walindi’s driver met us at the Hoskins airport and took us on the one hour drive to the resort. Our arrival/check-in at Walindi was the best I’ve ever experienced at dive resort. Usually, you arrive at a resort after 42 hours of flying only to be bombarded with information about the resort, the diving, the meals, etc. and asked to immediately fill out 3 different sets of forms. At Walindi, after signing a registration card, we were shown to our rooms and told the divemaster would meet us at dinner to give us a quick briefing. I really appreciated this civilized approach.
The Bungalows
The bungalow itself was quite large with a separate bedroom with queen sized bed and an outer room with two twin beds and a small dining table. A separate kitchen area had lots of counter space that I used for camera work and shelves below the counters that held our bags. The bathroom had a small shower with hot water which never ran out–though we took relatively brief showers. The soap provided in the bathrooms looked like bits of bars that had be all but used up on earlier occasions. Bungalows are a bit rundown. Beds were average for a remote resort, not particularly comfortable but no worse than others I’ve slept on. The bungalows have no air conditioning. There are overhead fans which, though noisy, provided enough air movement to get a good night’s rest. However, humidity is often near 100%, and nothing ever dried completely. The humidity alone caused the leak sensor in my housing to begin flashing. At the end of the week, I was happy to get out to see where humidity was much lower than on shore.
Food
Toast, fruit, some cereals, pancakes or French toast and eggs were available at breakfast. I’m not a breakfast eater, and found the food fine. My wife and son were less than happy with the eggs, French toast and pancakes which were consistently undercooked. Lunch was served on the boat each day. It was generally left overs from the previous night’s dinner with rice, bread, and cheese (occasionally moldy). The food was kept in a cooler on the boat, but there was no ice. After one of these lunches, my son and wife became ill, my son violently. Only tepid water, hot tea and coffee was available to drink. Dinner was the best meal of the day. While the meats (chicken, lamb, pork) were poor, the steamed local fish was excellent. However, only one whole fish was available at each dinner, so unless you rushed to the buffet as soon as the bell rang, you were out of luck. Several salads and vegetables were available at dinner, and these were generally very good. Deserts, always including locally produced ice cream, were excellent.
Dive Operation
The dive op is run by Dan and Kat, English expats both. During our time, they did not come out diving with us but stayed on shore keeping the operation running and repairing all the things that constantly break down in remote locations. Dan would tell incredibly funny stories at dinner. There is a dedicated camera rinse tank and smallish camera room at the dock. The room does not have the compressed air or supply of clean towels necessary. The boats are aluminum. Two are powered by twin outboards, one by a diesel inboard. It is the smallest and fastest. The boats have limited shade and limited seating, and could be crowded when filled to capacity. However on all but two days, we had 6 or fewer divers.
Travel time to many of the sites is an hour to an hour and a half. Boarding the boats at 8:00, we were generally not in the water until 9:30. Dive briefings were short but adequate by my standards. Dives were not time-limited. Two dive guides were in the water on all dives and were good at pointing things out. After the first dive, there was an hour surface interval, a second dive, then lunch (at a calm mooring, or sometimes at an island) and the third dive.
Diving
Diving in Kimbe Bay varies from very good to excellent. Fantastic hard corals, large fans and sponges, large fish, jacks, tuna, sharks, were seen on nearly every dive. Only rays were missing. Fish life is not quite as prolific as Komodo or northern PNG, but there are more big fish than at either of those locations. When we dove these same sites with Star Dancer, hitting the water at 6:30 in the morning, there were even more fish and more feeding action. This is a great wide angle location. There are decent macro opportunities as well, particularly at Restorf Island, but wide angle is the star here. If you really love macro, and don’t like wide angle, I think you might be disappointed by the diving. Visibility was generally 40 to 60 feet. There is a lot of plankton in the water, and getting clean pictures was sometimes difficult. Also, the water is very warm. My computer generally read 86 degrees Fahrenheit. I dove the entire time in boardshorts and a hooded vest, and I am a true warm water weenie.
Conclusion
Despite everything I liked about Walindi, I wouldn’t recommend it for other than a short stay prior to boarding Star Dancer or Febrina. The reason is cost. For our triple share bungalow, we paid $ 150 per person per night. Diving was $ 150 per person for two tank days and $ 180 for three tank days. These are liveaboard prices without the number of dives or quality of accommodations and service. If Walindi wants to charge these prices, it needs to spruce up the bungalows, improve the quality of food, and improve the comfort and convenience of the boats. Also worth noting, these are rates charged Americans, Japanese, etc. Australians and PNG residents pay lower rates which adds a sour taste to the experience.
Part I: Walindi
Walindi is the home port of both Star Dancer and Febrina. When we decided to book on Star Dancer, we knew that 8 days of diving wouldn’t be enough. Walindi has a great reputation, so we decided to book a week of land based diving before our liveaboard departure. We booked airport transfers with Walindi. The cost was not included with our week-long booking. Walindi’s driver met us at the Hoskins airport and took us on the one hour drive to the resort. Our arrival/check-in at Walindi was the best I’ve ever experienced at dive resort. Usually, you arrive at a resort after 42 hours of flying only to be bombarded with information about the resort, the diving, the meals, etc. and asked to immediately fill out 3 different sets of forms. At Walindi, after signing a registration card, we were shown to our rooms and told the divemaster would meet us at dinner to give us a quick briefing. I really appreciated this civilized approach.
The Bungalows
The bungalow itself was quite large with a separate bedroom with queen sized bed and an outer room with two twin beds and a small dining table. A separate kitchen area had lots of counter space that I used for camera work and shelves below the counters that held our bags. The bathroom had a small shower with hot water which never ran out–though we took relatively brief showers. The soap provided in the bathrooms looked like bits of bars that had be all but used up on earlier occasions. Bungalows are a bit rundown. Beds were average for a remote resort, not particularly comfortable but no worse than others I’ve slept on. The bungalows have no air conditioning. There are overhead fans which, though noisy, provided enough air movement to get a good night’s rest. However, humidity is often near 100%, and nothing ever dried completely. The humidity alone caused the leak sensor in my housing to begin flashing. At the end of the week, I was happy to get out to see where humidity was much lower than on shore.
Food
Toast, fruit, some cereals, pancakes or French toast and eggs were available at breakfast. I’m not a breakfast eater, and found the food fine. My wife and son were less than happy with the eggs, French toast and pancakes which were consistently undercooked. Lunch was served on the boat each day. It was generally left overs from the previous night’s dinner with rice, bread, and cheese (occasionally moldy). The food was kept in a cooler on the boat, but there was no ice. After one of these lunches, my son and wife became ill, my son violently. Only tepid water, hot tea and coffee was available to drink. Dinner was the best meal of the day. While the meats (chicken, lamb, pork) were poor, the steamed local fish was excellent. However, only one whole fish was available at each dinner, so unless you rushed to the buffet as soon as the bell rang, you were out of luck. Several salads and vegetables were available at dinner, and these were generally very good. Deserts, always including locally produced ice cream, were excellent.
Dive Operation
The dive op is run by Dan and Kat, English expats both. During our time, they did not come out diving with us but stayed on shore keeping the operation running and repairing all the things that constantly break down in remote locations. Dan would tell incredibly funny stories at dinner. There is a dedicated camera rinse tank and smallish camera room at the dock. The room does not have the compressed air or supply of clean towels necessary. The boats are aluminum. Two are powered by twin outboards, one by a diesel inboard. It is the smallest and fastest. The boats have limited shade and limited seating, and could be crowded when filled to capacity. However on all but two days, we had 6 or fewer divers.
Travel time to many of the sites is an hour to an hour and a half. Boarding the boats at 8:00, we were generally not in the water until 9:30. Dive briefings were short but adequate by my standards. Dives were not time-limited. Two dive guides were in the water on all dives and were good at pointing things out. After the first dive, there was an hour surface interval, a second dive, then lunch (at a calm mooring, or sometimes at an island) and the third dive.
Diving
Diving in Kimbe Bay varies from very good to excellent. Fantastic hard corals, large fans and sponges, large fish, jacks, tuna, sharks, were seen on nearly every dive. Only rays were missing. Fish life is not quite as prolific as Komodo or northern PNG, but there are more big fish than at either of those locations. When we dove these same sites with Star Dancer, hitting the water at 6:30 in the morning, there were even more fish and more feeding action. This is a great wide angle location. There are decent macro opportunities as well, particularly at Restorf Island, but wide angle is the star here. If you really love macro, and don’t like wide angle, I think you might be disappointed by the diving. Visibility was generally 40 to 60 feet. There is a lot of plankton in the water, and getting clean pictures was sometimes difficult. Also, the water is very warm. My computer generally read 86 degrees Fahrenheit. I dove the entire time in boardshorts and a hooded vest, and I am a true warm water weenie.
Conclusion
Despite everything I liked about Walindi, I wouldn’t recommend it for other than a short stay prior to boarding Star Dancer or Febrina. The reason is cost. For our triple share bungalow, we paid $ 150 per person per night. Diving was $ 150 per person for two tank days and $ 180 for three tank days. These are liveaboard prices without the number of dives or quality of accommodations and service. If Walindi wants to charge these prices, it needs to spruce up the bungalows, improve the quality of food, and improve the comfort and convenience of the boats. Also worth noting, these are rates charged Americans, Japanese, etc. Australians and PNG residents pay lower rates which adds a sour taste to the experience.
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