Papua New Guinea

Info:

Climate: Warm to hot and humid throughout the year. Dry Season: May thru December
Water Temp: Temperatures can range between 74-87 deg
Visibility: Up to 150ft
Currency: Papua New Guinea's unit of currency is the Kina.
Electricity: 240 volts
Language: English

So many times we read and hear that certain place is "The Best Dive Destination in the World". While it’s hard to judge the ultimate best, Papua New Guinea’s dive sites are easily among the best in the world and divers come from far and wide to experience it’s spectacular natural wonders. Located in the Indo-Pacific Area, PNG lays claim to having twice as many marine species as the popular diving waters of the Red Sea and up to five times as many as the Caribbean. It’s no wonder PNG is dubbed as the ‘underwater photographer’s paradise’ and many international award -winning photos are captured here.

Dancer Fleet’s Star Dancer relocates to Milne Bay, Papua New GuineaStar Dancer has a new itinerary cruising the waters of Milne Bay. Explore pristine coral reefs, underwater volcanic vents and caves, along with wrecks from the WWII Battle of Milne Bay.

Comfortable hotels are available for guests for pre and/or post charter stays.  Milne Bay Province is blessed with a landscape of mountains, jungles, waterfalls, caves, hot springs, mud pools and extinct volcanoes so visitors can enjoy a wide range of attractions in addition to some of the best diving available in Papua New Guinea. Diving conditions will range from quiet, serene dives to drift dives along spectacular walls.  There is also diving on sea mounts (or "boomies") - many with resident schools of barracuda, tuna and jacks.  Pelagic such as manta rays and whales are also part of the scenery.  You'll see blue ribbon eels, seahorses, flamboyant cuttlefish, ghost pipe fish, leaf scorpion fish and mantis shrimp - a photographer's paradise.   PNG is a destination that offers year round diving with a warm climate - a light wetsuit of 3mm is all you really ever need!   With 10 night trips starting at only $2995 now is the perfect opportunity to explore the Milne Bay area of PNG.  Every dive in Papua New Guinea is an exciting new experience, highlighted by encounters with dog tooth tuna, sharks, vast schools of pelagics such as barracuda trevally and others. Most diving is from Star Dancer's spacious dive deck, with easy access via the water level dive platform. Some of the reefs are current washed; without current the spectacular marine life would not be there, however, the wide range of dive sites means that it is not necessary to dive at a site if currents are unmanageable at the time.

Each cruise of the Star Dancer will be slightly different and unique.  Using his knowledge of the area along with current environmental conditions and weather forecast your Captain will plan a route that will provide you with the best available diving for the duration of your cruise.   Below are some of the best known sites in our area of operations and an illustrative example of one potential route our Captain could create. 

At the Samurai Island pier we will typically spend the full day exploring the area due the sheer diversity of the marine life found at this location.  Samurai Pier is located in only 25 feet of water, there are several species of batfish and catfish, and schools of baitfish that part and coalesce around the cathedral like pilings.  Also near here is the 8 knot drift dive "The Washing Machine". 

In the same area is the famous “Giants At Home” dive.  This wonderful manta cleaning station is in only 25ft of water.  On a relatively plain sandy bottom rises a magnificent coral bommie, covered in soft corals. A large number of cleaner wrasse make their home on the bommie, which in turn attracts the mantas for cleaning visits so that they can get rid of the parasites that itch and scratch all day long! There can be as many as 15 mantas at one time at the cleaning station, swooping in like stealth bombers, one after the other. And you can get very close - in fact they seem to enjoy the sensation of divers' bubbles on their underside and often swim over the top of you so this can happen.  This is one of the world's great manta dives!

Heading east, the passage between Baslilaki and Sideia Island makes for a stunning cruise and is home to the wreck of a P38 Lightning aircraft near Baslilaki Island.

As the voyage turns north, there are a number of great dive sites around Nuakata Island including Black and Silver, Trish's Bommie, Bob's Bommie, Tunnel Reef, Jason's Reef, Peer's Reef and Boirama Reef.  Nuakata is known as a jewel of Milne Bay diving because it is a beautiful island surrounded by multiple dive sites.  The area features lots of pristine reefs and abundant fish life.  Here you’re you may see schools of fish in shallow waters interspersed with pelagic sightings such as grey sharks, tuna, and Spanish mackerel.  Boirama Reef, in the passage between Nuakata Island and Boirama Island also attracts large fish.

Along the northern edge of Milne Bay sites such as Sullivan's Patches, Banana Bommie and Cobb's Cliff and the wonderful black sand dives at Observation Point can be found.  There is also the wreck of Blackjack, the B17 bomber.   

To exemplify the diversity of the area, two dive sites very close to each other offer a huge contrast.  Dinah’s Beach is very much a black sand dive, where Blue Ribbon Eels, Seahorses, flamboyant Cuttlefish, Ghost Pipe Fish, Leaf Scorpion Fish, mantis Shrimp and Mimic Octopus are just some of the exotic marine life that can been seen.  Whereas nearby Deacon’s offers superb coral gardens with a series of coral towers where Hammerhead Sharks and Whale Sharks are sometimes encountered is simply amazing. The fact that these two completely different sites are located so close reinforces the amazing diversity of Milne Bay Province.

Your Star Dancer cruise will conclude on your final day with a stop at the Tawali resort for some off gassing time.  Here you can explore the area or join a land tour that will explore ancient skull caves or visit a wonderful waterfall.  Dinner will be served at the resort that last night.  Star Dancer will then depart mid evening for the return voyage to the Driftwood Resort in Alotau