Diving Papua New Guinea

[WhatAnIdea]

Hello,

I am interested in diving Papua New Guinea and would like to hear from people in the US mid west as to the best choice(s) for travel, airlines, etc.

I'm also curious to hear anyone's thoughts on the best time of year to dive in Papua New Guinea and experiences with the various dive operators, etc.

Thanks in advance,
Lou

 

[Code Monkey]

I think the time of year depends on what you want to see. We are diving Kimbe Bay this July -- that's the time and place for big animals. I think you can do Milne Bay in winter if you want to do muck diving. We chose Kimbe since I've heard that the muck diving is not quite as cool as Lemba (which is cheaper).

We'll be doing Tufi and the Fabrina live-aboard.

 

[caymaniac]

Star Dancer and Febrina are located at Walindi, however there are trips that start at different locations. A really great trip is Kimbe bay off from New Britain/PNG.
I think about anytime of the year is good, we went in July as well. We had one evening with wind/chop and one afternoon when a storm passed over the boat while we were diving.
We've dove from Loloata just minutes away from Port Moresby but Kimbe Bay was well worth the trip.

 

[Valwood1]

Hello,

I am interested in diving Papua New Guinea and would like to hear from people in the US mid west as to the best choice(s) for travel, airlines, etc.

I'm in Dallas. One itinerary is LA to Brisbane to Port Moresby to [any place in PNG], with Qantas to Brisbane and Air Nuigini to Port Moresby and other PNG stops. There also are flights to PM from Sydney.

Dove at Lissenung Island (north tip of New Ireland) in August 2009. The weather and conditions were great.

I rarely use a travel agent, but did for the air to and from my PNG destination, and was glad that I did, since Air Nuigini schedules are variable. The agent was:

Bettina Schmidberger
International Travel Consultant
DIVErsion Dive Travel
PO Box 191, Redlynch QLD 4870 AUSTRALIA
*Travel Agents Licence # TAG 1545*
Phone + 61 ( 7 ) 40 390 200
Freecall 1800 607 913 (within Australia)
Fax + 61 ( 7 ) 40 390 300
Email bettina@diversionoz.com
Website Diversion Dive Travel - online dive vacation experts for Australia, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Indonesia and more

 

[Where2Next]

I am also traveling via LA, Brisbane, then Port Morseby. I am going on the Star Dancer - they have had some really good specials lately.

 

[alijtaylor]

I'm not midwest USA but would make two points - if you are doing a lieveaboard plan to arrive at the departure point a day before departure - can save a heap of stress.

Secondly decide which sort of diving you most want - muck, pelagics, wrecks etc and do some searching for operators and times of the year. I hugely enjoyed 10 days on Febrina in September for great brommie and reef diving with a good few pelagics thrown in. There should have been a day or two of muck diving too, but the weather systems kept us out of that area.

Enjoy - it is a fantastic destination!

Alison