Papua New Guinea vs Indonesia

[silent running]

Best big animal dive I've ever done was a bommie in outer Milne Bay, around 2007. Don't remember the site name, was on Golden Dawn, but it's probably reachable from Tawali. The picture in my avatar was from the end of that dive. The 2 divers behind me were Kim and Gordon Smith inventors of the KISS CCR. Fantastic visibility, silvertips, hammerheads, a huge 12' sand tiger/raggie, silkies, an oceanic manta with an 18' wingspan(!), plus bunches of reef sharks. And, a rhinopias on the mooring line. Unbelievable.

Had plenty of good shark activity in Eastern Fields down south, including a great hammerhead, a school of several dozen silvertips at Portlock Reef, many whaler sharks and scalloped hammers. Saw dozens of big sharks on the Papuan Barrier Reef, including a huge bull shark, 10+' and fat as a baby whale. It made 2 very close, slow passes by the 3 of us and looked us right in the eye. Completely unafraid, scared the **** out of us and we got out of the water immediately.

Snorkeled in the blue water of Kimbe Bay with a pod of 2 pilot whales, a melon headed whale and 2 huge bottle nose dolphins.

PNG, OMG!

If Chertan is still doing charters they should know Milne Bay as well as anybody and if you make a point of asking for big animal sites, they may well oblige you...

 

[silent running]

Deleted, duplicate post!

 

[chillyinCanada]

silent running! Wow, sounds great. You're obviously a shark lover!

 

[silent running]

silent running! Wow, sounds great. You're obviously a shark lover!

Yes indeed, I only go to places where sharks are seen regularly. They are a bellweather species, if they are there then the rest of the food chain is healthy and intact.

On a side note, if you really want to increase the frequency and quality of your big animal encounters, consider learning to dive CCR. There are many more benefits beyond the wildlife encounters. I have been diving rebreathers for 20 years and got certified soon after I began diving, and very glad I did.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I'm sharked out. Used to love to dive with them but finally got my fill in the Maldives. Glad you're still a lover and on CCR!

 

[silent running]

I'm sharked out. Used to love to dive with them but finally got my fill in the Maldives. Glad you're still a lover and on CCR!

I hope nothing bad happened! What species did you see there?

I'm very interested in them, I especially like watching them hunt and strike. But the main reason I seek them out is to dive in the healthiest environment with an intact food chain, top to bottom.

 

[chillyinCanada]

No, I just got bored. We'd go down and hook in and dozens and dozens if not hundreds of sharks would swim back and forth in front of us. Sometimes a little duffer would come and stay in place beside me. We'd side eye each other . . .then his great big brother decided to get in between us. So he and I side-eyed each other. That was cool but just watching sharks go back and forth was dead boring to me.

Mostly whitetips on those dives. On other dives, leopard, guitar etc.

There's a newer operation on Fuvahmulah, that's really showing off the tiger sharks. I haven't been so not sure if they're being scented or not.

 

[silent running]

No, I just got bored. We'd go down and hook in and dozens and dozens if not hundreds of sharks would swim back and forth in front of us. Sometimes a little duffer would come and stay in place beside me. We'd side eye each other . . .then his great big brother decided to get in between us. So he and I side-eyed each other. That was cool but just watching sharks go back and forth was dead boring to me.

Mostly whitetips on those dives. On other dives, leopard, guitar etc.

There's a newer operation on Fuvahmulah, that's really showing off the tiger sharks. I haven't been so not sure if they're being scented or not.

Understood, yes, reef hook diving has limited appeal. Good to know about the tiger shark place.

Have you been to French Polynesia?

 

[chillyinCanada]

Understood, yes, reef hook diving has limited appeal. Good to know about the tiger shark place.

Have you been to French Polynesia?

No, I've not yet had the pĺeasure

 

[chillyinCanada]

No, I've not had that pleasure.

As for those particular hook in dives, everyone else found them awesome. It was just me yearning to be free.