Trip Report PNG -- Walindi and Oceania, May-June 2023 (Part 1)

[cetacean]

Good to know, but as soon as I thought about somebody else making flight arrangements I got queasy—I’ve been doing it myself for a couple million miles. I should add, though, that the agent gave me a lot of advice on things like routes, connections, and stopover hotels—I dealt with the itinerary and tickets.

Very typical... I (almost) always book my own flights, unless traveling with a group gets us some advantage (sometimes you'll get a less strict luggage allowance as a group).

Getting close to 3M miles on UA alone (lifetime miles). I understand the feeling...

 

[cetacean]

@rmorgan

Tufi can both be challenging to get to and (when the weather isn't cooperating) hard to dive. If the chop picks up (at all) they will only dive in the fjords, which is excellent muck diving, but you will miss the fantastic reefs (better than anything close to Walindi). This is ultimately the biggest risk - if you have to work hard to get there, you want to be able

Re: the Solomons - yes, logging and mining is a growing problem. Having said this, best diving has been spared (so far). The Bilikiki still visits a large number of untouched reefs, and Uepi Island Resort diving is outstanding.

 

[rmorgan]

Re: the Solomons - yes, logging and mining is a growing problem. Having said this, best diving has been spared (so far). The Bilikiki still visits a large number of untouched reefs, and Uepi Island Resort diving is outstanding.

That's good to know. Thanks, cetacean. The short list keeps growing longer . . .

 

[DragonFruitLady]

Re: the Solomons - yes, logging and mining is a growing problem. Having said this, best diving has been spared (so far). The Bilikiki still visits a large number of untouched reefs, and Uepi Island Resort diving is outstanding.

Yep, we were at Uepi earlier this year. The diving doesn't measure up to Raja Ampat or Komodo but it is very good. Seems like the amount of fish is highly variable depending on the tides. Marovo Lagoon hasn't been logged in recent decades so it's not too affected by runoff. It is depressing to see the barren mountain tops from the plane across the islands.

 

[cetacean]

@DragonFruitLady - interesting... we were at Uepi about 4 years ago (pre-pandemic) and in Raja Ampat (and Komodo) this summer. I would have rated Uepi up there with both of them. Maybe not in the volume of fish, but certainly in the number of sharks (and more variety of sharks), mantas (every morning if you want to snorkel with them), and diversity of diving. Uepi also had more vareties and volume of soft coral (which made for some great reef-scapes).

Did you stay on Uepi? If so, how is the resort doing post-pandemic?

 

[tridacna]

Getting close to 3M miles on UA alone (lifetime miles). I understand the feeling...

Bugger! I'm envious. I'm a 2M with no chance of ever getting to 3. Too old and no more business travel. 3M = Lifetime 1K - nice. My only consolation was buying a lifetime pass for the old President's Club for $1k twenty odd years ago. Covers my wife too and she has never stopped thanking me for that.

 

[cetacean]

@tridacna

Yeah... roundtrip to HKG in a week, then roundtrip to Paris, and then later a roundtrip to Vienna, and it's starting to feel real. Finish the year with a trip to PH to dive, and might see 3M next year.

We will enjoy it (later), but right now it feels like a lot of sitting in a small tin can for many (many) hours.

 

[tridacna]

@tridacna

Yeah... roundtrip to HKG in a week, then roundtrip to Paris, and then later a roundtrip to Vienna, and it's starting to feel real. Finish the year with a trip to PH to dive, and might see 3M next year.

We will enjoy it (later), but right now it feels like a lot of sitting in a small tin can for many (many) hours.

I flew from EWR to IAH almost every Mon for work for five years. Tin can about sums it up. If I wasn't in 1B, I'd biyatch endlessly to the FAs. I'm doing EWR-SFO-EWR in Polaris in Oct. Costing me 770,000 miles. Lotsa PQPS but zero Lifetime Miles.

 

[Centrals]

There are so many to see above water in PNG.
Not easy to travel around. Expensive and tedious.

 

[rmorgan]

There are so many to see above water in PNG.
Not easy to travel around. Expensive and tedious.

it is a wild and mysterious country. if we’re able to return we hope to go into the highlands for some birds of paradise and tribal experiences, depending on the conflict situation at the time. A guy on the boat with us hiked the Kokoda Trail the following week—100 miles of mountains and mud. WWII looms large over the whole region.