alijtaylor
Contributor
The Island of New Britain sits, like a crescent moon on its back, to the East of the main island of PNG. It is volcanically active and the horizons to the South and East are dominated by perfect cones. We were diving reefs and the caldera of extinct (I’m told there is no such thing) volcanoes between the tips of the crescent of land.
FeBrina is a 22m steel hulled boat capable of taking 12 divers. There were 8 of us on board, me and 7 Aussies. The weather was not perfect. Our itinerary should have taken us North West of Walindi to Witu Islands and then across to the East to Father’s reef near Rabul and then back to Walindi. We never made it to Witu due to a tropical storm somewhere to the North and the sea conditions were somewhat lumpy, however I never felt the need for seasickness medication.
More importantly the visibility was generally excellent, often 40m+ and there was plenty to see. The whole of the visible undersea food chain seemed to be in evidence on some dives. From tiny shrimps and pigmy seahorses through little brightly coloured damsel fish and bigger butterfly and parrot fish to good sized-for-eating trevally and goofy bat-fish.
Tuna, Spanish mackerel and barracuda were also around. And there were sharks, usually slightly built white tipped reef sharks at only about 1m to 1.5m but occasionally deeper bodied, more serious looking grey whalers and silver tips.
There were a huge variety of corals, hard and soft including sea whips, huge Gorgonian fans, black corals and beautiful flower corals
I think my favourite dives were Inglis Shoals and Jane’s Gully. At Jane’s Gully we had great visibility and dropped down to 25m before swimming to a point where a school of chevron barracuda detained us briefly. Around the point the current was stiff and we drifted back disturbing a cuttle fish and three hawksbill turtles which, like ostriches, seemed to believe that provided their heads were under something they were safe. At the top of the reef, where we finished the dive we saw big sweetlips - with their fleshy lips, rounded cheeks and bright colours they look like petulant hookers. A school of trevally followed my buddy and I back to the boat but we missed the grey reef shark which accompanied some of the others.
At Jane’s gully the highlight were the barracuda which are so confident in their ascendancy at the top of the food chain that they let you get really close. Being right next to a parade of passing mean-faced, sharp toothed, barracuda is a real buzz. This site also featured moray eels, grey whaler sharks and a huge density of other fish life.
Alan Rabbe has captained FeBrina for a long time and has plenty of stories to tell. Febrina has an excellent local crew who made some difficult entries and exits from the water (due to the rough conditions) possible without any problems.
Although the boat is not the most expensive in the area the food, service and accommodation were of a good standard and we had a great time. The routine was first dive at 6.30am, second at 9am, third around 11.30am and then an afternoon dive mid afternoon. Robin and I did one night dive but there was not much enthusiasm for getting wet again in the evening but the option was there if you wanted it.
Most of the dives were less than 30m – four of the 8 of us were using Nitrox. The facilities for cameras were good with plenty of recharging points and 2 good rinse tanks. The daytime air temperature was a pretty constant 28 –30C and the water was the same. I used a lycra skin but most people were in 3mm suits. I had absolutely no problems getting to the departure site for FeBrina and back but have heard enough stories to recommend that you plan to turn up at Walindi a day early if you can. The resort is a comfortable place to overnight and it their day trips are a good opportunity to test your gear.
Thanks to all the locals on the board for advice when I was determining where to go in PNG. I have added a few pictures to my gallery
FeBrina is a 22m steel hulled boat capable of taking 12 divers. There were 8 of us on board, me and 7 Aussies. The weather was not perfect. Our itinerary should have taken us North West of Walindi to Witu Islands and then across to the East to Father’s reef near Rabul and then back to Walindi. We never made it to Witu due to a tropical storm somewhere to the North and the sea conditions were somewhat lumpy, however I never felt the need for seasickness medication.
More importantly the visibility was generally excellent, often 40m+ and there was plenty to see. The whole of the visible undersea food chain seemed to be in evidence on some dives. From tiny shrimps and pigmy seahorses through little brightly coloured damsel fish and bigger butterfly and parrot fish to good sized-for-eating trevally and goofy bat-fish.
Tuna, Spanish mackerel and barracuda were also around. And there were sharks, usually slightly built white tipped reef sharks at only about 1m to 1.5m but occasionally deeper bodied, more serious looking grey whalers and silver tips.
There were a huge variety of corals, hard and soft including sea whips, huge Gorgonian fans, black corals and beautiful flower corals
I think my favourite dives were Inglis Shoals and Jane’s Gully. At Jane’s Gully we had great visibility and dropped down to 25m before swimming to a point where a school of chevron barracuda detained us briefly. Around the point the current was stiff and we drifted back disturbing a cuttle fish and three hawksbill turtles which, like ostriches, seemed to believe that provided their heads were under something they were safe. At the top of the reef, where we finished the dive we saw big sweetlips - with their fleshy lips, rounded cheeks and bright colours they look like petulant hookers. A school of trevally followed my buddy and I back to the boat but we missed the grey reef shark which accompanied some of the others.
At Jane’s gully the highlight were the barracuda which are so confident in their ascendancy at the top of the food chain that they let you get really close. Being right next to a parade of passing mean-faced, sharp toothed, barracuda is a real buzz. This site also featured moray eels, grey whaler sharks and a huge density of other fish life.
Alan Rabbe has captained FeBrina for a long time and has plenty of stories to tell. Febrina has an excellent local crew who made some difficult entries and exits from the water (due to the rough conditions) possible without any problems.
Although the boat is not the most expensive in the area the food, service and accommodation were of a good standard and we had a great time. The routine was first dive at 6.30am, second at 9am, third around 11.30am and then an afternoon dive mid afternoon. Robin and I did one night dive but there was not much enthusiasm for getting wet again in the evening but the option was there if you wanted it.
Most of the dives were less than 30m – four of the 8 of us were using Nitrox. The facilities for cameras were good with plenty of recharging points and 2 good rinse tanks. The daytime air temperature was a pretty constant 28 –30C and the water was the same. I used a lycra skin but most people were in 3mm suits. I had absolutely no problems getting to the departure site for FeBrina and back but have heard enough stories to recommend that you plan to turn up at Walindi a day early if you can. The resort is a comfortable place to overnight and it their day trips are a good opportunity to test your gear.
Thanks to all the locals on the board for advice when I was determining where to go in PNG. I have added a few pictures to my gallery
