More on Telita.
The Telita has been out of operation for a while. It is now jointly owned by three people to include Craig DeWit who is the owner of the Golden Dawn. On our July trip we chartered the boat and Craig was the captain. He was training another person, a local PNG person, for that role. He said that this person would captain the boat and he would depend on Bob Halstead and his wife to be the host/hostess. I would be very specific in asking what is going on in this regard and make sure you are satisfied with who is running the show. You should ask who is guiding the dives.
We were on the boat for 10 days in July 2003 out of Milne Bay. The weather was not good. It rained every day. Seas were such that we did not get to several sites and I found several of the sites less than ideal. We did get a good variety of corals and little creatures.
Cabins are variable. Two have ensuite facilities. The other three share. They are comfortable but not large. I had the ensuite cabin on the main deck.
Food was OK but not spectacular. Many liveaboards provide mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks. We did not see these on the Telita.
They have Nitrox but they were not providing consistent 32 EAN fills. They would fill a tank. The next dive would be topped off with air and thus we would get fills that would be anywhere from 21+. I think the person they trained to do Nitrox was not on the boat.
I was also on the Paradise Sport in PNG last year - late April or early May. It was their third trip out of Walindi and they were definitely learning the sites and how to operate in the area. I did not think we got on many sites at the right time.
