NEW BRITAIN, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Date: (1)

Author: Gavin Anderson

I had always dreamed of one day diving in Papua New Guinea, one of the last outposts in the world and a truly exciting place to visit. Last year all my dreams came true at once Not only did I get my chance to dive in Papua New Guinea but I did so on one of the most luxurious liveaboard in the world, Peter Hughes’s Star Dancer!!
As, I stepped off the plane at the tiny Hoskins airport, the warm sweet smelling air seemed to revive me and I couldn’t wait to reach our final destination, Walindi Plantation Resort just 45 minutes away It may have taken me the best part of two days to reach this amazing country but I was somehow still full of enthusiasm. After helping ourselves to our luggage after a rather shambollic scrum down to reach the large table where it was heaped we were greeted by a couple of Walindi staff and a cool drink and cookie and soon on our way.
Papua New Guinea is situated just south of the equator, 160 miles north of Australia. Occupying an area the size of Spain, it encompasses the eastern half of the Island of New Guinea and some 600 smaller Islands, atolls and coral reefs. There are just short of 4 million people living here, and between them there are a staggering 200 different cultures and 700 different languages! The country (originally British New Guinea) was run by Australia, until 1973, when a form of self Government was introduced in the lead up to Independence on September 16th 1975. Today it remains a largely stable democratic nation, and a member of the British commonwealth. There are a few Rascals (bandits) running around but most Islanders are very friendly.
I certainly found the staff of Walindi Plantation Resort most friendly. Located on the edge of Kimbe Bay, surrounded by lush rainforest and spoilt with magnificent views over the bay to distant islands and volcanos, I found the place really magical and most exciting. Walindi was built over several years by Max and Cecille Benjamin who still run the resort today. Both very keen divers, they treat their guests like buddies, swapping dive stories and generally having a great deal of fun. Not surprisingly a large percentage of guests become friends and come back year after year.
Many people like to come a couple of days early and stay at Walindi, to get over their jet lag. I was doing things in reverse and spending my couple of days at the end of my trip, to get over my nitrogen overdose!! So after a quick look. I’d heard so many good things.
I was greeted by a couple of crew, both Papua New Guinea locals, turned out perfectly in brilliant navy-like attire: white shirts and smart blue shorts. They created an almost colonial atmosphere, but without shoes, so it was more relaxed than stiff upper lip! They were most helpful, taking my heavy camera bag from me and quickly showing me to my cabin. I was amazed to find it had 2 Queen size beds, with full en suite facilities and individually controlled air conditioning. There was even piped music with our own volume control. In the bathroom I found a little basket with some complimentary toiletries and on the back of the door my own bath robe, handy for use in between dives I thought. It seemed everything had been thought of to make this just a little different than your average liveaboard. After checking out my own cabin I was off to explore the rest of the boat.
The dinning room and lounge area were very spacious and fitted out like a luxury cruise vessel with individual tables set up in style for dinner. Upstairs there was a huge sun deck and down three floors a shop, a reading/slide mounting area and a photo processing laboratory. Towards the rear there were individual storage areas for dive gear, a huge 3 layer table for underwater cameras and video, two freshwater showers, two rinsing tanks, one for dive gear and one for cameras, mask anti-fog dispensers and even a freshwater drinking machine. This really was a dream liveaboard.
During the first night onboard a dive trip everyone tends to gets to know each other, and I took the opportunity to get to know two rather famous guests, Bill Gleason of Skin Diver magazine, and Peter Hughes, the boat’s owner himself! (It’s not every day one gets the chance to chat to two of the most successful and interesting people in the world of diving.) Star Dancer used to be based in Palau and known as the Sun Dancer before its complete refit.
Following a well earned sleep we awake inside the Garove crater, the centre of what was once a huge volcano. Overnight we had sailed 170 kilometres north from Walindi and Kimbe bay, out into the Bismark sea. We were surrounded on three sides by beautiful, wild, lush green islands each climbing steeply out of the water. There was a strong smell of sulphur in the air, a reminder of these islands’ volcanic past.
Breakfast is from 7.00 to 8.00 during which we leave our protective anchorage and venture out to our first dive site. Lama Shoal is basically a massive pinnacle which rises from depths of 100 metres to just 12 metres from the surface. Its walls are covered in gorgonians, bushes of black coral and delicate soft corals, which look like they’ve been specially created as artistic gardens. A steady current brings in many fish here and we were treated with wall to wall Chevron Barracuda and jacks. The jacks were performing a their kind of ballet right in front of us, the barracuda too. It was an incredible sight. At one point I deliberately moved into the centre of a barracuda shoal to see how it felt to be surrounded by so many fearsome looking creatures. I can tell you it felt pretty awesome and just a little frightening. In addition to the jacks and barracudas we were also joined by Grey Reef Shark, Dog Tooth Tuna and mackerel all on the hunt for breakfast.
On the top of the bank, down to 25 metres or so, there were many great places to hover and survey the marine life. At a cleaning station, I watched several fish come and go, some I’d never seen before and as yet still haven’t managed to identify.
Back on the boat three Orcas are spotted while we are relaxing between dives. Now I’d never snorkeled with an Orca before, and didn’t know whether it was really safe to do so, after all Orcas like eating sharks and very occasionally sharks mistakenly eat us, so where did that leave the relationship between us and the Orcas?
Bill Gleason, who always has a camera set up, Peter Hughes, who never uses a camera, and Captain Don, who grabbed his video were in the first boat within seconds. It was as if they’d rehearsed this situation before. As I slid over the side of the second of Star Dancer’s support craft I was still thinking about the relationship between Orca and man. Having heard shouts of excitement from Bill and Don I was keen to record these great animals on film, as I guessed they had. Unfortunately, or was it perhaps fortunately, the Orcas weren’t interested in us and all we were able to see was their rear view disappearing into the distance. However disappointing from the underwater photographer’s perspective it was an unforgettable experience.
Later that night you can imagine the conversation at dinner. I’m reassured to hear that there has never been a report of an Orca attacking divers out here, but there have been some incredible incidents. Divers from the FeBrina (which also operates from the Walindi Plantation Resort) had apparently watched an Orca catch and kill a hammerhead shark right in front of them, and they managed to catch the whole event on video, to authenticate the story!! On another occasion an Orca had caught a stingray in the same manner, with each incident the divers felt as if the Orcas were reassuring them that they weren’t on the menu!!
After a second dive at the shoal we head back into the shelter of the Garove Crater, as the weather began to deteriorate. Here we tied up to Dudu Rock, where we are able to do a couple more dives. Generally on the Star Dancer the crew tries to ensure at least three or four day dives and if anyone is interested a night dive.
Dudu Rock plunges almost sheer in places down to depths well beyond sport diving limits. There are many interesting things to see here including octopus, lionfish, hundreds of little sea cucumbers and several pretty nudibranchs. Following all the recent rain there was a good deal of particle suspension in the water, still the conditions concentrated our minds on the smaller creatures of the reef, and it was an interesting change to the large fish and scenic action of the mornings dives.
The next day we dived at Middle Reef, where a coral island towers from the depths, up to just 11 metres below the surface. Normally wide angle photography is the order of the day here but the visibility was not brilliant so I decided to concentrate on the local fish life! We found the buoy line tied off in about 13 metres at the edge of the plateau. Close by resides a brilliantly camouflaged stonefish. A skilful eye is needed to spot it! As at Lama Shoal a current runs here which helps attract many species of fish. There are jacks and barracudas Blue and Gold Fusiliers, unicornfish, surgeonfish, butterflyfish, bannerfish, angelfish, rabbitfish, foxfish, hawkfish, parrotfish, moorish idols, sweetlips, pufferfish, snappers, boxfish, and a whole variety of anemonefish. The list is endless. Just like Noah’s Ark! The beautifully marked Spinecheek Anemonefish is one of my favourite. A stunning bright red in colour, its has lovely white bands, which look as if they could have been painted on by an artists brush.
In the early afternoon we dived at a site known as Don’s Drifter. As the name suggests it’s a drift dive, along a sheer wall which plummets from a shallow plateau, down to depths well out of our reach. It’s a nice relaxing dive on which we spotted a young silvertip shark, shoals of unicornfish, fusiliers and plenty of sponges and sea fans. We make two dives here and our third at Dickie’s Place. Described as a ‘mud dive’ it turns out to be more like sand and shale, and there’s a lovely fringing shallow reef, with plenty to see, including octopus, Shrimp Gobies, nudibranchs the size of dinner plates, and about six different varieties of anemone fish.
The next day we dived at a reef called Swamp Tinny situated in Lamma Bay. Here, like at Dons Drifter, sheer walls plunge from a coral covered plateau. Festooned in beautiful soft corals and delicate sea fans these walls hide a miriad marine creatures. Hidden in a sea fan I spotted an old favourite, the Longnose Hawkfish and up nearer the plateau another hawkfish variety and a new one for me: the lovely marked Arceye Hawkfish.
One of my last views over the reef plateau here is of a scene with a small area of black coral sea fans and lovely pink soft coral, and a number of small fish in the background, which look as if they are falling as a shower of rain, a rather fitting scene I think to myself considering the weather.
Between dives at Swamp Tinny I snorkeled inshore to try and find the elusive Ghost Pipefish, and although failing in my initial objective, I surfaced close the the island’s jetty and ws rewarded by a gallery of friendly locals. I was amazed how well these people speak English. Most of us are only fluent in one language and these people can speak English as well as their own local language, and they probably speak some of their neighbouring islands’ language as well!
With the weather still not looking too encouraging our skipper decided to make a run for Kimbe Bay later that afternoon. Here, despite the somewhat reduced visibility, we had some excellent diving on a variety of sites including Inglis Shoal, and Kirsty Jane, steep drop offs from 15 metres, and the brilliant Restorf Island.
Out from here, is a fantastic reef system, with steep walls covered in an incredible kaleidoscope of colourful marine life, ranging from massive sea fans and huge amazingly formed sponges to beautiful sea whips and soft corals. Everywhere I looked I discovered something exciting, often something I’d never seen before, from Twin Spot Gobies trying to mimic a crab, fields of peculiar garden eels, fascinating razorfish hiding amongst brilliant red whip coral, various shrimp gobies, and an old favourite the mantis shrimp. Restorf Island is a truly great site, I spent my last dive here and despite the rather disappointing weather and lower than normal visibility I was most reluctant to leave. Current Holidays to NEW BRITAIN, PAPUA NEW GUINEA:   2005

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