PNG Liveaboards: Recent Experiences

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reubencahn

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I was hoping some might post about their recent experiences in PNG (not many posts about it lately). I'm particularly interested in anyone who's recently been on the Golden Dawn. I did a Wewak to Madang trip on the GD in 2004 and am considering another trip next year.
 
I was hoping some might post about their recent experiences in PNG (not many posts about it lately). I'm particularly interested in anyone who's recently been on the Golden Dawn. I did a Wewak to Madang trip on the GD in 2004 and am considering another trip next year.

Im going to lissenung in Kavieng in 2 weeks time, and will post a report when I'm back .
 
PNG was a big disappointment. Our boat got switched out at the last minute so we had no nitrox and no private bathroom. The crew had little experience with camera handling. We went in March 2008. Vis was poor due to coral spawn which was interesting to witness in the daytime, but was bad for photography. We got one or two interesting critter pics, but I was underwhelmed. The word "Luxury" should not be advertised in the same sentence as any PNG live-aboard. I heard raves from a dive shop owner who has been there may times, but all the luxury dive outfits pulled out of PNG over a year ago I was told.
I leave for Borneo in October. Hope to have a nicer trip.

Diverindeep
 
PNG was a big disappointment. Our boat got switched out at the last minute so we had no nitrox and no private bathroom. The crew had little experience with camera handling. We went in March 2008. Vis was poor due to coral spawn which was interesting to witness in the daytime, but was bad for photography. We got one or two interesting critter pics, but I was underwhelmed. The word "Luxury" should not be advertised in the same sentence as any PNG live-aboard. I heard raves from a dive shop owner who has been there may times, but all the luxury dive outfits pulled out of PNG over a year ago I was told.
I leave for Borneo in October. Hope to have a nicer trip.

Diverindeep

What boat were you on? What area of PNG did you dive?
 
Just returned from a 12-night trip aboard the Telita doing a Kavieng to Rabaul itinerary.

I had originally chartered the GD but was informed in late July that the boat had hit a reef and shortly thereafter had fried an engine. As best as I know it is currently out of the water. You might want to contact Craig for an update but he's not always easy to get a hold of.

The Telita is a decent boat. All cabins are AC with ensuite. The boat holds only 10 and is just under 70 ft. long. The salon is smallish and used for breakfast and hanging out. Other meals are served upstairs, which is more spacious.

The dive deck is a bit cramped if for 10 people (we had 8) but still quite adequate, with a huge camera table in the middle. There is a rinse tank of sprts - a huge square bucket. The are two hot showers on deck and one head with shower just of the deck - most convenient.

The crew is about as good as I've ever experienced on any liveaboard - always there to help you with your backzip wetsuit zipper, putting on the BC, etc., even without your asking. They rinse all your gear thoroughly at the end of the trip.

The owner/captain is a Kiwi by the name of Paul Baker, and he's about the most accommodating and easygoing captain I've run into. We had a lot of fun on this trip.

Now that I've given you the pluses.......food was OK, nothing to rave about - I guess that is just a matter of personal taste/preference. And perhaps what you are going to dread to hear: the diving was well below expectations.

Big stuff is getting pretty scarce. Only on a couple of dives did we see sharks without having to resort to luring them up with a shark rattle. Schooling jacks and barracudas that might have numbered maybe in the thousands some years ago (last trip was in 2003) are now in the hundreds or less, if lucky. No rays to speak of other than a couple of stingrays.

The normal reef fish and corals remain decent - lots of anemonefish and dartfish, if you like those.

Macro stuff was OK but nothing that we hadn't seen before, nothing that was "wow".

According to Paul, who himself ran a Wewak trip or two this year, the Ninigo and Hermits Atolls north of Wewak are hardly what they used to be, and the southeast passage wasn't divable due to huge swells.

Granted, the lack of fish and the sea conditions can be a matter of luck too, and hopefully you will have better luck.
 
Manuel Sam,

Thanks for your reply. A shame about the GD. It's a great boat--similar to Telita--except the food was the best I've ever had on a dive trip. I'd emailed Craig a while ago but had gotten no response. In any case, this is the sort of detailed information I was hoping for. Of course, I was hoping for a very different report. Perhaps your trip was an anomaly but I'm starting to think that fish stocks are being destroyed so quickly that no place equals its reputation of even a few years prior. It seems as though Raja Ampat and maybe the Eastern Fields are the only places left.
 
I just got off the first cruise for the Spirit of Niugini after its six-month dry dock. We cruised out of Tawali to the islands just offshore (around Normandy Island). This was my second trip to PNG. The last one was on the Star Dancer to the south coast of East New Britain Island in 2005. Here is the trip report from that one.

Even though its dry season now it rained every day we were there, which really reduced the visibility and made the water look kind of green. We also never saw the sun the entire time. The road from the airport to Tawali was horrible, horrible, horrible. Its been raining there for many weeks and it was washed out and muddy. This was the worst part of the trip. It took us three hours to get from the airport to the resort.

BUT...the diving was amazing. There were areas of bommies filled with soft coral, sea fans, hard coral and lots of marine life around it all. We saw huge schools of fish and lots of fast predatory behavior. We also saw a whaleshark at Tawali. In the afternoons we would do muck diving, which was the absolute opposite of what we experienced on the walls and bommies, but was equally as amazing. I've posted some pictures from this trip on my scuba meetup group.

The boat and crew did a fine job for this shakedown cruise. Greg, who had formerly been doing some work for PHD, was our cruise director and did an excellent job. He went out of his way to make sure everything was as safe and comfortable for the passengers as possible. Everything wasn't perfect, but then we never went there with that expectation. We had pretty good food, lots of SP beer and wine, A/C, hot water, working toilets, comfortable beds, good charging stations, competent captain and crew, NITROX, and five dives a day if we wanted that. The Spirit of Niugini wasn't as luxurious as the Star Dancer, but had we had sunshine and perfect vis like I did in 2005, this trip would have been comparable. The owners of the boat are working out many of the details that will refine things, but for the most part it was an awesome trip to one of the most primitive and exotic destinations I've ever experienced.

The boat dropped us off in Alotau where we saw the Chertan also either leaving or coming in from a trip. I had not seen this boat before and I did not get onboard, but at a distance the vessel looked like a stubby little fishing boat. Not something I'd be too excited about getting on board after coming this far to dive. I may be totally wrong about my impression, but it didn't look to be very well maintained, at least cosmetically. I guess if the group was small and the price was right, any boat would be OK, but I absolutely agree with the comment that "luxury" and "PNG" don't go hand-in-hand, except for Tawali Resort, which is drop-dead gorgeous.

I'm sorry I can't tell you anything about the Golden Dawn. On my previous trip I also visited Loloata Resort which is out of Port Moresby. While in PM we stayed at the Airways Hotel. Expensive, but nice, with good food.

We also did the highlands before the diving portion of the trip. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND both Ambua Lodge in Tari and Rondon Ridge Lodge in Mt. Hagen. The tours arranged for us there by South Pacific Island Travel were absolutely perfect. I would go back in a heartbeat. It would be a real shame to travel that far and not do the highlands.

I'm working on a full trip report for this adventure, so I'll post something here when its done.

We too are working on plans to do a photo workshop in Borneo toward the end of 2009, however we are seriously concerned about the major problems they are having with limited diving permits. I hope this blows over, but we are holding off in our bookings on that one until we can guarantee our photographers that they can get to dive once they arrive there. I haven't heard great reviews from recent visitors.

I'm also looking forward to hearing about other's experience in the PNG area. Feel free to PM me if you are looking for other trip details.

Bonnie
 
Bonnie, thanks for the reply. I really enjoyed the photos on your site. I had a couple of questions. How would you compare the diving in in Milne Bay to that in Kimbe Bay? It sounds as though you felt Milne was equally good, but is one better for reefs or pelagics? (I know Milne Bay is known for macro.) What were water temps like? Finally, did you stay at Tawali?
 
Bonnie, thanks for the reply. I really enjoyed the photos on your site. I had a couple of questions. How would you compare the diving in in Milne Bay to that in Kimbe Bay?

I haven't been in the Kimbe Bay area yet (next time!). On my trip in 2005 on the Star Dancer we started in Rabaul and worked our way around the south side of E. New Britain Island. From what I've heard, the diving there is quite different than in Kimbe Bay. We had a lot more wide angle opportunities there. Compared to Milne Bay, there were some dive sites I liked more and some I liked less. Considering we had gorgeous sunny days every day in 2005 and nothing but rain in 2008 I'm factoring that in also. I think if the weather had been the same, I might have liked Milne Bay a bit more because of two sites in particular in the Calypso Reef area. I'm much more into big stuff than macro, but both offered a good mix of both.

It sounds as though you felt Milne was equally good, but is one better for reefs or pelagics? (I know Milne Bay is known for macro.)

New Britiain Island had a bommie about a mile south from the south coast that had a few sharks. Other than that we stayed close to the wall and didn't see that many pelagics. In Milne Bay we saw one whaleshark at Wahoo Point at Tawali, the Milne Bay Epaulette Shark at almost every dive site we visited and a few very small white tips at Balaban’s Bommie. I would have loved to spend more time there. The wall side of this reef was one of the most interesting walls I've ever dived. Lots of cuts that went way into and under the reef. I could have spent another whole day there.

What were water temps like?
New Britain Island in Feb 2005 we had water temps from 82-85 and amazing visibility. Milne Bay in Sept 2008 we had water temps from 80-82. Vis wasn't as good, mainly because they had been getting so much rain prior to our arrival.

Finally, did you stay at Tawali?
I stayed at Tawali on my trip in 2005 but only to check the place out. The resort is absolutely gorgeous and the food and wine were excellent. The gift shop there had some of the nicest artifacts I've seen in PNG. Spent a LOT of money there! The rooms are also very nice. Back then I put together a quicktime movie of the photos I shot during that visit. You can see them here: http://www.underwatercolors.com/PNG/tawali400x268.mov

I've still got hundreds of photos to go through so check back later for more.

Hope this helps!

Bonnie
 
Don't know if you'd consider this recent, but we were on the Telita for 3 weeks in May07. I just wanted to second Manuel Sam's description of the boat and of Paul Baker, the captain/owner - that pretty much described it perfectly, except that we were very satisfied with the food - not gourmet, but quite tasty, even after 3 weeks. Paul really goes out of his way to try to give his guests a good dive experience.

We had really bad weather for most of our trip. We started off with 10 days in Milne Bay, then did a 10 day repositioning cruise to Kimbe where we did mostly exploratory diving on unnamed bommies. It rained and/or was cloudy for probably 15 out of 20 days, viz was usually 30-40 ft at best, strong winds, rough crossings, and even a cyclone in the Solomon Sea that really whipped up the waves. Even so, we had a good time on the boat, with Paul continually making adjustments to try to find better conditions for us to dive in. The Telita is pretty stable - it doesn't have the quite the same stabilizers that Golden Dawn does, but it does have "wings" that are dropped into the water when it is really rough and they made a big difference.

As for the diving, I can't really say which bay was better since we didn't see much of Kimbe and we were only able to get to the really nice outer bommies in Milne once or twice. Two of my favorite dives (Bradford and Inglis Shoals) were in Kimbe. On the other hand, there seemed to be more muck in Milne and the bommies we did get to were great. Samurai Wharf off of Samurai Island is probably one of my favorite dive sites ever. We did see lots of fish and lots of sharks, but we much prefer muck, so in the future, we are far more likely to go back to Indonesia rather than making the trek to PNG. If you are interested in our photos, they are at Chimmy is about Scuba.
 
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