Oz, PNG & NZ trip report

[chinacat46]

Well this was a really long trip(7 weeks) so this is gonna be a long trip report as well. I've broken it up in parts and as I get it finished I'll post the parts. I'm leaving for Wakatobi and Lembeh Strait for 3 weeks on Saturday so I'll try and get the report posted before I leave. I took thousands of pics so it will be a while before I post pics. I'll probably put them on a website an add a link here but for now here is the first 3 parts of the report with more to follow.

Part I: Getting There 9/30 - 10/2

The flight from Denver to LA went fairly smoothly except United would not issue me a boarding pass for Air NZ flights.This was strange since United and Air NZ are both part of the Star Alliance and I've never had this problem before. I was able to check my bag all the way to Brisbane but I couldn't get boarding passes till I got to LA. Once in LA I made my way to Terminal 2 where Air NZ flys out of. I had 3 hours between flights and I spent nearly all of it in lines. First I had to wait an hour and half just to get a boarding pass. The flight was full and I ended up with a middle seat but luckily in an exit row so I had tons of leg room. After the boarding pass line I had to wait in another line where they check your ticket before letting you go stand in another line to go thru security. Got thru that madness about 10 mins before they were gonna start boarding. Turns out the plane was late so it was another 40 mins before they started boarding. After that things went fine. I flew from LA to Auckland changed planes and flew to Brisbane. My bag made it and I went thru customs. Then took the train from the international terminal to the domestic terminal where I had a couple of hours to kill before my flight to Townsville. That when off without a hitch and I split a taxi with two other people going into Townsville.

Part II: 3 days on Sea Esta(Pro Dive Townsville) 10/2 - 10/5

I checked in at the dive shop after arriving and left my bag there and went out for some dinner as the pickup from the shop was until 8pm. Got directions to Molly Malones and went and ate steak which I washed down with two Kilkennys(Hmmmn!) Got on the boat around 9 and we set out for the GBR around 11pm. Woke up on the GBR and beautiful weather. Did 4 dives including a night dive on different parts of Wheeler's Reef. We moved early the next morning and dove the same scenario on Davies reef. Saw lots of kewl fish including a big school of bumphead parrotfish, some whitetip sharks, some moray eels, tons of fusliers, anthias, parrotfish, wrasse, huge variety of butterfly fish, angel fish, unicorn fish, trigger fish, batfish, an occasional lion fish, barracuda, a tuna or 3 and lots more. This part of the GBR is a green zone and it's quite a ways off Townsville so it only gets dived by the this liveaboard and the reef was in excellent condition. Beautiful table corals and huge staghorns. Very very nice. The 3rd night we cruised to the Yongala Wreck where we did two early morning dives(first was at 6am). The Yongala is billed as the best wreck dive in the world. It might not be the best but it is a brilliant dive and since it's the only thing in the middle of nowhere every fish in the area makes it there home. It was a great dive with bull sharks, huge bull rays, a guitar shark, eels, a Queensland grouper the size of a VW bug, etc... and covered in soft and hard corals. It's quite a good size ship and two dives barely did it justice. I did 10 out of 10 dives. After that it was back to Townsville where I spent the night in the sugar shaker(Holiday Inn on Flinders Mall). Met about half the people from the boat at Molly Malones where we proceed to get pissed. Next day I flew to Cairns where I spent 2 nights at the Holiday Inn on the Esplande before departing on Monday morning on the Spirit of Freedom.

The crew was young and energtic and the boat was small & old and crowded. There are two bathrooms for everybody including the crew. Luckily the boat wasn't full but there was still to many people. Most of the other divers were Aussies except for me and a British couple who run a charter in the BVI's and spend 3 months a year in Australia. It was more like camping at sea then a nice hotel like the liveaboards I'm more accustomed to. No maid service and bring your own towel. I knew this beforehand and since it was only a 3 day trip I didn't mind it. The food wasn't very good and most of it seem to come out of a can or the freezer and then into the oven but the salads were fresh.

Part III: 7 days on the Spirit of Freedom(Ribbon Reefs-GBR and Osprey Reef-Coral Sea) 10/8 - 10/15

I got picked up at the Holiday Inn around 11am on Monday morning and after two more pickups we were taken to the boat. The boat holds 26 divers plus crew which is the most amount of people I've ever been on a liveaboard with. I think the Nekton boats in the Caribbean hold more but I've never been on one of there boats. As it turned out there was only 23 divers. I had opted for a quad hoping to save a little money since I rarely spend any time in my room when not sleeping. They break the trip up into a 3 day part and a 4 day part. The 3 day goes from Cairns along the Ribbon Reefs to Lizard Island diving the beautiful Ribbon Reefs along the way. On Lizard Island some people get off and others get on. They have a low altitude flight back and forth from Cairns so you don't need to miss any diving before flying. The 4 day trip leaves from Lizard Island and goes out to the Coral Sea to dive Osprey Reef and then returns to Cairns the following Monday. You can do the 3 day trip or the 4 day trip or combine them as I and most of the other passengers did.

They are very strict on this boat about rules and you have to have a snorkel and a buddy. You are supposed to be back on board with 700 psi or 50 bar as well. You also have to give them your time and depth and then sign after every dive. Nobody actually checks your air and you don't have to wear the snorkel just have one. The first dive I tucked the snorkel into my belt after that I tucked it into my dive bag and nobody ever asked me about a snorkel. Don't ask don't tell. They don't limit your dives but they do ask you to be back on the boat with 700psi. I did many dives over an hour and only twice came back with less then 700psi. They also want you to do your deepest dive of the day first and then shallower dives each dive after that so no reverse profiles. This seems stupid to me but at least they don't inforce it. Also traveling by myself I didn't have a buddy. When they asked me who my buddy was and I told them my camera they didn't laugh. I got an insta-buddy actually two. Both of them had cameras but weren't to good on their air. Needless to say they would go up early and I would find a new buddy to finish the dive with. I also dove with the captain on a couple of dives and he was into finding nudibranchs so we got along great. After the first 3 days I got a new buddy when a Japanese guy got on board. He didn't speak much english but he was a good diver and buddy.

The Monday we left they take you out to Normandy Reef which is where most of the day boats out of Cairns go and the reefs were trashed. With all the use and Open Water classes the reefs have taken a beating. We did two checkout dives there and then we checked out. We cruised over night and woke up on the Ribbon Reefs and the famous Cod Hole for our first two dives. There was some current when we got in but not to bad that quickly changed and after 30 mins we thought it best to head back for the boat. We weren't that far but it still took 10 mins and a lot of effort to get to the mooring line. There were already others hanging on it and it was clear it was gonna be very tough to get to the stern where the ladders where. Henry an I were the only ones who made it and most of the others had to get picked up by the dinghy. The second dive they feed the potato cods and I opted to sit outside the circle and not participate. The feed only lasts about 15 mins and then you are free to dive the area. The current had dropped and I got in a 68 min dive. Totally different place when there is no current. We did 3 more dives that day with the last being a night dive. The next day we did 4 dives then went to Lizard Island where we stayed overnight. The next day is the crossover day and there are no dives in the morning. You can go for hike on hot humid lizard island or you can hang out on the boat in AC. I don't do well in heat and humidity so I stayed on the boat. Two people were leaving and three people were getting on.

After the exchange of people and lunch we moved out to do two afternoon dives before the overnigt steam to the Osprey Reef of the Coral Sea. While the diving on the Ribbon Reefs is very good the viz wasn't great and the water temps haven't warmed upto where they will be in a few months but the coral is in good condition and the fish life is in abundance. However the diving on the Osprey Reef puts the Ribbon Reefs to shame. We lucked out and had an easy crossing and the diving for two days was brilliant. Really clear water(30-40 meter viz) and excellent hard corals and a few soft corals as well. We had 9 dives over two days including one night dive. I skipped the shark feed so I only did 8 dives. I really hate feeding wild animals and you could tell the sharks there have had there habits changed. We dove the site of the shark feed before the feed and the sharks would follow you and come very close where normally they wouldn't get near you. At the end of the second day on Osprey they start heading back to the Ribbon Reefs so there wasn't a night dive. We woke up on the Ribbon Reefs and did 4 dives before steaming back to Cairns for a Monday morning departure.

Saw tons of stuff over the 7 days including some great nudibranchs, twin spot gobies(one of my favs), sea snakes, huge school of barracuda(or so I thought until I got to Kimbe Bay in PNG), white tips, silver tips and grey reef sharks, and pretty much everything I'd seen on the previous boat. The boat was nice but had to many divers in my opinion. We had 23 the first 3 days and 24 the last 4 days. It wasn't bad when diving a big wall but when we dove some of the bommies it got to be a real clusterf**K at the top. They would stagger us into the water so you'd go down and circle the bommie as you made your way back to the top. It wasn't to bad down below but then near the end everybody was on the top which is the smallest part and of course thats where everybody would be near the end of the dive. It's just a suggestion so to say. The crew was more professional then the previous boat and the food was good but not great. Needless to say I still ate to much. The daily schedule was first breakfast(ceral, toast, juice), dive, second breakfast(varied but eggs, sausages, bacon, waffles, pancakes, beans, etc...) then the 2nd dive, lunch, 3rd dive, snack, 4th dive, dinner, night dive(only offered two night dives), dessert. They offered 26 total dives and I missed two. Skipped the shark feed and the very last dive since I was flying the next morning. I probably could have done the last one but aired on the side safety.

[Travelnsj]

Wow Chuck....great report....someday I have to try to make my way to the Yongala....gotta find a nicer liveaboard.....When at Lizard Island did you snorkel and see the Giant Clams?...those are the biggest I have see so far....

That 700 PSI rule is a real deal breaker to me....When I was on Mike Ball a few years ago....you pretty dove your own profile...at Heron Island they had that 700 psi rule and it was enforced!

Hey you know....you should of gone to Bali and did a little bit of diving then on to Wakatobi....instead of....Oh well...LOL....sounds like major jet lag....and I thought I had bad Jet Lag when I got back from Wakatobi.

Great report I'll look forward to the rest of it.

[chinacat46]

Part IV: Traveling to Hoskins, PNG 10/15

After getting off the boat in Cairns I hung out in town for a couple of hours before heading to the airport for my flight to Port Moresby. Checked in no problem and they told me to get some Kina(PNG money) as you have to pay 100K for your visa on arrival. Well I stood in line at the money exchange until it opened. I was second in line. They had no Kina so me and the 25 people behind couldn't exchange any money until we got to Port Moresby. I arrived in Port Moresby an hour and forty six minutes before my domestic flight to Hoskins was scheduled to leave. I stood in line forever to get my visa on arrival but I had no Kina. A woman in front of me said they would take Fifty Australian or you could wait till you got to the front of the line and then they would process your paperwork and you could go stand in another line to get the Kina come back and pay them and get your passport back. I gave them the $50A and they said I could exchange it I told them no I was late and to just take the $50A. They did as $50A is more then $100K but at that point I was running late. My bag was already off the carousel so I grabbed it and cleared customs. I already had my boarding pass but I had to recheck my bag you would think this is a quick process but even though there was only 4 people in front of me also just rechecking bags it took another 20 mins. I then made my way to the domestic terminal where you have to stand in line just to into the ticketing area. I saw on the monitor that my plane was boarding. Got thru that line and then had to stand in line to get thru security which was a real joke. I watched the guy using the xray machine and he was watching a woman and her kid while my bag went thru the machine. Why even have a screener if he doesn't even watch the screen. Got my bag with about 5 mins till my flight was scheduled to leave. I went up to the gate and the guy processes my boarding pass and says gate 9. All the gates are outside and I had no idea which way to go but luckily there was another person heading to gate 9 so I followed him. We got on the plane and I was wondering if my bag would make it on the plane. About 5-10 mins after boarding we left and when I got to Hoskins my bag had made the trip as well. Sure nice to have your dive gear. From the airport it's nearly an hour and a half ride to Walinda where I boarded the Star Dancer for 10 days.

Part V: Star Dancer - Kimbe Bay, Witu Islands and Fathers 10/15 - 10/25

Well it really really is a small world. When I was on the Spirit of Freedom there were 11 divers from Colorado Springs a good 3 hour drive from where I live in Colorado but still the same state. Five minutes after being on the Star Dancer I'm checking in and I look out the lounge onto the deck and see a guy I went on a group trip with to Raja Ampat and Lembeh Strait with back in Feb. He lives about 10 miles from me and neither of us knew the other was gonna be on the boat. Considering there was only 14 passengers what are the odds? Any way Dave and I were both just kinda of in shock seeing each other on the same boat in PNG. I've run into people before on trips but this one took the cake.

Unlike the Spirit of Freedom(Austalia really) the diving on the Star Dancer is much more relaxed rules wise. They assume you are an experienced safe diver until you prove otherwise and treat you as such. They encourage you to dive with a buddy but realize that most divers with cameras or video aren't neccessarily gonna be right next to there buddy. I sorta buddied with Dave but he shoots video and I have a PHD(push here dummy) camera aka as point and shoot and we don't often look for the same things. Any way they allow you a lot of freedom and most of the time it was same ocean same dive type buddies. Sometimes it wasn't even the same dive. I did a 90 minute muck dive myself and never got deeper then 33 feet. A lot of the times I was near one of the guides as they usually could find the kewl nudis, pygmy seahorses, bubble shells, etc... I'm pretty good at finding nudibranchs and flatworms as well as few other small things(e.g. squat lobsters, proclean crabs, orangutan crabs, crinoid shrimp, to name a few I found) So between what I found and the guides found not to mention other divers there were lots of interesting things to view and photograph.

There was also an interesting mix of people on board. There were 5 French 4 of whom were traveling together plus Pierre my roommate. Also an older German and American couple from Switzerland, a young(27) Aussie, a couple from AZ and another American couple working for the state dept. in Sri Lanka and Dave and I from CO. Pierre was a nice guy but he wanted to keep the room as hot as possible and I wanted to use the AC. I don't do well in heat and humidity and told him he could put on clothes but I couldn't peel off my skin. We worked it out and kept the room at 22-23C. He wore sweats to bed and I wore some briefs. We also had lounge wars with the Europeans as they wanted the AC off and the rest of us wanted it on. They have two AC's in the lounge so the Europeans were on oneside with the AC on fan and the rest of us were on the other with the AC on. The 4 French also pretty much hung together diving although I would sometimes be near them when I found something kewl. I would show it to them but they never really returned the favor and a few times they actually pushed me out the way to get in and photograph things. Needless to say I stopped calling them over after a few days of this type of behaviour. The Swiss couple consisted of Marian who dove and her husband who snorkeled. Mairan was the absolute worst went it came to pushing people out of the way. Near the end of the trip Dave mentioned something about it to me and I said you don't need to tell me about it. So I wasn't the only one she was shoving out of the way. Dave got pissed on one night dive when she just followed him around. I started calling her his shadow which really ticked him off. I don't think this trip did anything to improve US-French relations.

The diving in Kimbe Bay is very good and very warm(86 degrees on every dive). The viz wasn't very good but from what Jamie the trip director said was we just got a bad week(10 days). I guess we hit a plankton bloom. Most of the diving is on reefs with a few muck dives. The muck dives aren't very good compared to Indonesia and the ones I would do in Milne Bay. The reefs are very nice and in good condition but not as nice as Indonesia or Milne Bay my next stop on this trip. Theres a lot of fish life and in some cases like at Krak-a-fat I saw the biggest schools of Jacks and Barracudas ever. Thousands of jacks with a shark comming from the deep every now and then and picking one off. Got into the middle of them on one dive and it was awesome. Also some kewl macro stuff but again nothing like Indonesia or Milne Bay. I also pulled a bonehead manuever at Krak-a-fat. I saw this huge (6 foot) dogtooth tuna swimming around the reef. I was at about 30 feet at the time and it was probably down around 80 or so. Any way I angled down to try and cut it off to get a picture, In my haste I didn't stop to clear my ears and paid the price. I felt a crack in my left ear and pulled up at about 70 feet OUCH! It didn't bother me until about a day and half later when it started to give me major problems. Luckily one of the French dudes was an ENT and he checked it out and gave me some medication. Had a major barotrauma but luckily for me didn't puncture the eardrum. I missed the rest of the day as well as the next day and part of the next. Missed 9 dives all told but I would have skipped the shark tease so really only 8. I went back in against the ENT's recommendations or as Dave said AMA(against medical advice). I call it a shark tease as they didn't really feed the sharks but take down chum in a container which has wholes in it. The sharks can smell it but can't eat it. Any way I guess the ENT got a little close and the sharks didn't like his flash but from what I heard they bit his fins and he paniced and bolted to the surface. He now is against shark feeds. Three other divers on board besides myself also skipped the tease as well. A lot higher percentage then when I was the only one out of 24 on the Spirit to sit it out. Saw some kewl stuff including a nudibranch and a bubble shell I'd never seen before as well as turtles, cuttlefish, octopi, numerous types of rays, leaf scropion fish, crocodile fish and the list goes on. Even with my ear problems I did 31 of the 40 dives offered.

[Travelnsj]

Quite an adventure.....How did you like the PNG diving vs the Osprey reefs?....sounds like you had a lot of Patience with people pushing you around underwater. I have had some nasty confrontations topside when people do that to me!....great report!

[jastark]

Wow, I'm jelous. The Aussie report was great, lets me know what to expect next week as I'm going to be on the Nimrod Explorer, and they kinda go to most of the same sites.

[chinacat46]

I enjoyed Kimbe more then Osprey reef but I like macro and looking for it. I know you enjoy sharks so you would love Osprey although I don't think you could stomach the trip to get there. There are a fair amount of sharks and big stuff to be seen in Kimbe though so it's got a bit of everything not to different from Palau but not as much current. Although there were a few dives that had some fair current in both places.

[chinacat46]

Part VI: Traveling from Kimbe Bay to Milne Bay 10/25

After my flight to PNG and the endless lines I encountered I was hoping it would be an easy matter to just travel around the country. To get from one place to another though you usually have to go thru Port Moresby and this was true for my flights. To make the morning flight out of Hoskins we had to leave the boat at 4:30am(got up at 4). It takes an hour and half to travel to the airport via stuffed vans. The flight from Hoskins to Port Moresby was damn near full and even if you had a seat assignment you don't always get your seat. They sometimes give a seat out more then once so first come first serve and then you grab a seat and that forces somebody else to sit someplace else etc... Three of us from the boat myself and the couple(Joan & Ed) from AZ were heading to Tawali Resort and we decided to roll the dice and check our bags all the way thru to Alotau which is where you get picked up by private bus to go to Tawali. We arrived in Port Moresby at around 8am and our flight to Alotau wasn't until 4pm. Port Moresby is not a place to hang out in but we got the low down on what to do. If you have a layover in Port Moresby find the person or booth for the Airways Hotel and tell them you are a transit passenger and they will take you by courtsey bus to the pool/resturant area of their hotel. You can eat and relax as well as do a little shopping there. They also have internet but you need to get a manager to bring you to it as it is in an area reserved(card key) for the paying guests. I hung out at the hotel all day while the couple from AZ made a trip to the Port Moresby Art wharehouse and back. Any way staying at the hotel sure beats having to hang out at the Domestic terminal of the Port Moresby airport. I don't want to seem nasty but the smell at the domestic terminal is very bad. Most people in PNG don't shower. Wet scuba gear smells better. Any way when we got to Alotau all our bags were there except Joan's scuba gear bag. It showed up two days later. From Alotau you travel via private bus for over an hour and half and then you transfer to a boat for about a 10-15 min boat ride to the resort. Got there around 7pm after getting up at 4am. Dinner and a shower and off to bed.

Part VII: Tawali Resort @ Milne Bay 10/25 - 11/4

Tawali is a beautiful resort especially considering where it is. The resort consists of main building(reception, lounge/bar, dining area, gift shop, outside deck and viewing area), library, 16 bungalows, dive shop, two docks and some support buildings. Each bungalow is air conditioned, has two queen size beds, private deck and bathroom. The main building isn't air conditioned but they do have ceiling fans which help quite a lot if they are turned on. They have free wireless internet in the main building. It was nice to be able to get online a couple of times while I was there but I tried to limit it as other people kept asking me to use my computer so they could check there email. I didn't mind to much but people would start hovering over me if I brought it out. So if you go to Tawali bring your own laptop. I did quite a few beers bought for me though. The food was good and plentiful. All meals whether on a boat or at the resort are buffet. Breakfast is typical fare, cerals, eggs, bacon, pancakes, waffles. Lunch and dinners usually had a couple of choices and the deserts after dinner were always a winner.

While the resort is very good the dive operation could use some improvement. I was told that one of their big boats was in Alotau under repair. Since it was probably waiting for parts this could take a long time in this part of the world. I had a friend Dave who was here before the Star Dancer and the boat was out of commision then as well. So with one less boat then they normally have this more then maxed out the other boats and put restrictions on where you could go. They have two small boats and one other big boat. The small boats are to small and slow to go to the outer reefs so you are limited to a number of sites if on a small boat. The big boat is faster and more roomier but in 8.5 days of diving I was only on the big boat for 3(2.5) days one of which was my last day of diving and I couldn't do the last dive of the day. They offer 3 boat dives a day. All the boats leave at around 8am(rarely 8am this is island time). If you are on the big boat you are out for the day and they have lunch onboard. If you are on a small boat it's two dives back to the resort for lunch and then an afternoon dive. The small boats say 5 divers max but that is to many when you add a guide and boat operator. I was on one with 5 divers, 2 guides and an operator. Made it very tough to suit up it was so crowded. I payed good money to come here and dive so it ticked me off a bit that they didn't have another boat. I want the service I thought I was paying for not excuses about a boat being out of service(rent one). I dove a number of sites 3 times cause the big boat was taken over by a group of 12 plus 2 others who arrived on the same day as them. The big boat says max 12 divers and min 4 divers but two of the days I was on it there were 18 and 17 divers, the other time there was only 6 of us.You can also do a night dive but they only have two sites. The house reef(from the dock) and sponge heaven a small island which is a 5 min boat ride. I did 4 night dives(2 on the house reef and 2 on sponge heaven). The afternoon dive is scheduled for 2pm if you are going from the resort. It is really more like 2:30 and in one case we didn't leave till after 3pm. The crew needs to get things together a little better. One night dive I was told 6pm and they didn't come to get me until 6:20 and then had to go back to the dive shop dock since the guide forgot his flashlight. Usually when you wait at a dive op it's for another diver not the crew. It was a lot of little things that made the diving operation seem to be poorly run. The guides also seemed so-so as well. A couple of them were great at finding stuff and seemed to really enjoy diving while the others just seemed to go thru the motions.

Lets face it if you dive enough and your not 10 feet above the reef at some point no matter how careful you try you will kick something. But there is a big difference between a rare kick to some of the diving I saw displayed at Tawali. I dove with one guy I'll call Ted the Destroyer or Ted for short. I dove with Ted for 5.5 days. He was a photographer and he had two big strobes and a huge case with handles and tray. Ted couldn't control himself with that big rig and the axiom that an object in motion will remain in motion, blah, blah applies to Ted. He would come in to fast and crash into things. He was overweighted so he was nearly vertical when doing muck dives. If you were behind him you were eating sand. After he was done taking a picture instead of trying to back out slowly he would turn and kick and usually got the reef(broke lettuce coral and staghorn) or nudi or croc fish or ornate ghost pipefish to name but a few of the things he left in his dust. If you wanted to see something you damn well better get there before Ted left. The only good thing about that camera was that it was film so he only had 36 shots. I don't know how he dives without the camera but he was a terror with it. There was also an older(older then me) couple from CA that were newbies and had no buoyancy control or experience in current. I had the unpleasure of diving with them for 3 dives one of which was at Lauadi a muck site. More sand to say the least. But the worst example I saw was the group of 12 from Indianapolis. This was the group that owned the big boat while I was there so I already disliked them. I'd say 9 or 10 of them had cameras and about half of them had no care in the world about just lying on coral(hard or soft) or anything else for that matter to take a picture. One even layed down in some corallimorph which got thru her 3 mil suit in a few places and she got a nasty rash(way to go reef!) I think I know why the outer reefs are nicer then the ones close to the resort. They get dived less. It's to bad cuz these are great reefs these people are starting to trash. I said something a couple of times to Glen the dive manager. He actually talked on the big boat one day about being careful. The problem is these people weren't trying to be carefull they were lying on things with no regard and just ignored him. Those people should be dragged thru fire coral naked.

While the service provided by the dive op wasn't as expected the diving was still excellent and this ended up being my favorite of the 4 areas I visited on this trip. The water temp was 81 and the viz was better then Kimbe but not as good as the Coral Sea. Milne Bay has a couple of muck dives that are good enough to be considered an average to good muck dive in terms of Lembeh Strait standards. That means in my opinion these are good dives since an average site in Lembeh would usually wow me. The two muck dives to do in Milne Bay are Lauadi and Michelle. On these sites I saw numerous and different colored ornate ghost pipefish, many very kewl nudibranchs & flatworms, stonefish, scorpion fish, crocodile fish, flying gunards, boxer crab, some type of sea moth(not sure of type), porclean crabs and cleaner shrimp in some of the anemones, cuttlefish, mimic octopus, reef octopus, snowflake eel, green morays, leaf scorpion fish, harlquin shrimp, small painted lobster, many lionfish including zebra lionfish, twin spot gobies, banded pipefish, hairy seahorse. and emperor shrimp on nudis and on a sea cucumber to name some of the more interesting stuff. I complained earlier about having to dive some sites 3 times but these two sites were worth diving 3 times. Of the 4 night dives I did the house reef was hohum but sponge heaven was awesome on both dives. Saw some huge spanish dancer one which I measured at around two feet, some kewl pleurobranchs, cuttle fish, decorator crabs, 4 or 5 other types of crabs, different types of lobsters and more then a few types of shrimp, sleeping turtle and much more. I would have just liked to dive the outer reefs more which appeared to have more fish and world class beauty in terms of reefs. Great hard and soft coral with lots of different types of sponges, algae, huge fans and teaming with fish. Also saw a few rare things on the outer reefs including some different nudibranchs, a drop dead gorgeous black & yellow lacy scorpion fish(rhinopias), a hairy(roughsnout) ghost pipefish and a huge solar nudibranch to name the ones that most impressed me. Also saw pretty much everything I'd already seen in Austalia and in Kimbe Bay although I thought Kimbe had the most fish with the two biggest schools I've ever seen of jacks and barracudas. I logged 30 dives at Tawali. If I ever return to Milne Bay I think I would do a liveaboard. More dives and more of the outer reefs. The liveaboards also dive the good sites near the resort as well. I'd also say that most liveaboard divers I've met try to be carefull about reefs and don't dive like they are from Indianapolis.

Part VIII: New Zealand Holiday 11/4 - 11/19

I had planned to do two days of 2 dives each when in Picton, NZ but opted to give my ear rest so it would be healthy for my 3 week trip to Wakatobi/Lembeh which I leave for on Saturday 11/24. I visited some old friends in Nelson for a week and just played tourist in Picton and in Christchurch. Won't go in to the details but I did substitute a day of wine tasting for one of the days of diving. This was my 4th trip to NZ and was mostly made to visit my friends. My previous 3 trips I was there for nearly 3 months each and traveled all over both islands and Stewart Island as well.

Part IX: Odds & Ends

Getting home was fairly painless. I left Christchurch on Monday at 4:30pm and flew to Auckland. In Auckland they had mechanical problems with the plane we were supposed to fly on but luckily this being Air NZ's major hub they had a "spare" 747 there and swapped planes. We were only about half hour delayed and this was a bigger plane then they originally had scheduled so I ended up with an aisle seat and nobody in the middle seat. In LA I cleared customs and had a short layover before my flight to Denver. This flight ended up being delayed an hour due to mechanical problems. This was the longest delay I experienced. All in all the traveling wasn't bad except for long lines in LA on the way there and at arrival in PNG. Also except for in the US and the flight to Auckland the flights were normally not full and I almost always had an empty seat next to me. I was also worried about having to pay extra for overweight bags. I was really carefull packing and opted for a simple duffle bag instead of my usual wheeled bag. My checked bag usually weighted between 18.5 to 21 Kg and I was never charged anything since the limit on most of my flights was more then my bag. They never weighted my very heavy carry on though.

I had hoped to get in over 100 dives on this trip but due to screwing up my ear I only logged 95 dives with over 97 hours of bottom time. I dove in 3 different seas, the Coral Sea, the Solomon Sea and the Bismarck Sea. The Bismarck Sea is an incredible 86 degrees and feels like bath water. The Coral Sea had the best viz but was the coldest. It will warm up as they are just getting into there summer there. The Solomon Sea had the kewlest stuff and the most beautiful reefs and makes me wish I had also done the Solomon Islands on this trip but hey it gives me an excuse to go back. As for my ear it gave me little problems in Milne Bay. It did act up one day and I just decided to skip doing a night dive that day and took extra Advil that night. Currently my ear is about 80-90% healed. I have no pain and it gave me no problems flying it just feels a little blocked compared to how it normally feels. I've got about 6 more days before I dive again at Wakatobi so it should be close to 100% by then.

[Travelnsj]

I have read other trip reports about the Tawali dive operation and have not heard anything postive. Also I have read the same thing about that boat being broken down 2 months ago. You will appreciate the Wakatobi dive operation probably has gotten better since you were last there...I loved it.....Great report Chuck.

[bversteegh]

very comprehensive trip report. Disappointing to hear that the resort doesn't police the divers any better than that.

The coral sea diving sounds interesting - are there any liveaboards that take longer trips there, and stay in the more remote areas?

[chinacat46]

Originally Posted by bversteegh

very comprehensive trip report. Disappointing to hear that the resort doesn't police the divers any better than that.

The coral sea diving sounds interesting - are there any liveaboards that take longer trips there, and stay in the more remote areas?

There are quite a few liveaboards out of Cairns and they do vary their schedules to some extent. I'd check with the particular liveaboard for when you want to go. Some of the other players are Mike Ball, Nimrod Explorer, Taka II, and a few others. Some boats do the coral sea others just do the GBR. The GBR is fine once you get away from Cairns but it's trashed right around Cairns and I wouldn't do any day trips. There are also a few liveaboards that do Milne Bay at different times of the year.