Diving in PNG

[JanR]

My wife and I will be embarking on a World Cruise in just 9 days and will be in PNG March 5-7 with stops in Alotau, Kiriwana, and Rabaul. We have heard of how fantastic diving in PNG is, but we are struggling with finding dive sites that could fit with our cruise schedule. Our ship arrives in each port at 9 am and leaves between 4pm and 7pm depending upon the port.

Thoughts?

 

[Centrals]

There is wreck diving in Rabaul. Contact the local operator for advice.

Good luck.

 

[silent running]

My wife and I will be embarking on a World Cruise in just 9 days and will be in PNG March 5-7 with stops in Alotau, Kiriwana, and Rabaul. We have heard of how fantastic diving in PNG is, but we are struggling with finding dive sites that could fit with our cruise schedule. Our ship arrives in each port at 9 am and leaves between 4pm and 7pm depending upon the port.

Thoughts?

I would contact the local dive operators and see if they can do a private itinerary tailored to your time in port. I have dived in or near all three of those places and they are fantastic. I wouldn’t miss those places unless the cost of hiring a boat and guide is outrageous…

 

[cozcharlie]

Just as general background (and not remotely specific to PNG), cruise ship passengers are often kind of a pain for dive operators around the world that don’t have a concession with the cruise line.

While dive operators with cruise ship concessions are on an an entirely separate business model (think high volume low quality with cruise line taking half off the top ) , independent operators without concessions are dealing with customers who will only dive one day and are at the mercy of the cruise company as to whether the ship stays on schedule and if the passengers can get off the ship promptly and then get to the dive boat on time etc. Any delays associated with these one day and done divers also irritates the the multi-day land based divers who are sharing the same boat. That may be why another poster suggested trying to get your own boat set up as opposed to trying to jump on a shops scheduled dive

A world cruise sounds like an awesome adventure , was just giving you this background since you may find some lukewarm responses to your inquiries around the world. Good luck and hope you are having fun

 

[Fibonacci]

I would contact the local dive operators and see if they can do a private itinerary tailored to your time in port. I have dived in or near all three of those places and they are fantastic. I wouldn’t miss those places unless the cost of hiring a boat and guide is outrageous…

I've dived PNG three times now (Walindi, on MV Febrina to Rabaul, Kavieng in New Ireland and Clem's Place at Dunung Island... a remote area on the far NW coast of New Hannover... and would return in a heartbeat!

Your world cruise sounds fantastic, however I've found many PNG operators like to get divers in the water early (9am at the latest before the winds spring up and temperatures increase) so with your vessel scheduled to arrive at 9am plus the vagaries of tides, and port facilities operating on 'island time' I doubt you'd be off by 10am, then travel time to the dive boat, then travel to the dive site putting you in the water 11am at best.
Need two dives to make it viable so finish diving 2:30pm then back to the cruise ship maybe 3:30pm could be cutting it fine for a 4pm departure?

As @silent running and @cozcharlie say it may be much better to see if local dive operators would create a custom dive trip at each of the three locations, if you ask other passengers you may be able to make up a small group 4-6 divers to make it more attractive for the operator and also split costs? Could the cruise operator make enquiries to other potentially interested passengers?

Either way sounds like a great trip, the scenery off Rabaul is spectacular... at one site we had three volcanoes in silhouette in the distance!