Papua New Guinea: Tufi Fiords & Offshore Reefs

[donsilcock]

In 2009 I was fortunate to be able to spend several weeks based at the Tufi Dive Resort in the Oro Province of PNG as part of a project I was doing with them.

It really is a tremendous location and one of my favorite places in PNG. The main wharf has some interesting critters, plus there are the remains of two PT Boats down at 50m. The "fiords" are actually Rias but saying you have been diving in a tropical fiord sounds a lot cooler...

There is some really great diving on the offshore reefs and the local villages offer some terrific cultural experiences - all in all, a great location.

I have finally got round to updating my site with a comprehensive set of pages on all there is to see & experience in the area and if you follow this LINK it will take you to the starting page and an overview of Oro Province. Then just follow the links at the bottom of each page to see the rest of the pages.

Don

 

[pazz]

Thanks for the great report about Tufi.

In November 2004 I spent 10 days at Tufi and thoroughly enjoyed diving the fiord and the outer reefs. I had some incredible visibility on the outer reefs, along with manta and hammerhead encounters. The weather was great so we were able to regularly appreciate the outer reefs, even with some boat mechanical problems. You could finish the dive day with an afternoon dive in the fiord, an evening Mandarin fish dive or a night dive around the wharf (decent muck diving).

On my last dive day I dove the PT boats, which was a great way to end the trip. I took a Sony DSC cyber-shot camera and Sony housing down on that dive (only rated to 40 meters – no problems)) and got some decent pictures. The lobster tail dinners weren’t bad either.

The Twin Otter flight over the canopy, along with landing on the grass runway, added to the adventure. The Dash 8 should help with the luggage/carry-on restrictions that the Twin Otter had.

 

[donsilcock]

Great to hear from another fan of Tufi!

The place does not get the attention it deserves in my opinion - probably because of it's relative isolation I think.

Like you say, the Twin Otter flight over the Owen Stanley Range is an experience you never forget.

Don