Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Staff Report: Diving in Papua New Guinea by Katrina Dixon

With too much going on before our trip we had little time to do much research into exactly what Papua New Guinea had too offer. What we did know was that there was rumoured to be some spectacular diving. We love the liveaboard option and we had a number to choose from in Papua New Guinea. We settled on the Star Dancer that leaves from the Walindi Plantation Resort, near Rabaul on the island of New Britain.

The flights to Papua New Guinea from UK are not daily, so we arrived early and had the opportunity to stay in and dive from Walindi Resort before boarding our liveaboard. The diving from Walindi takes place in Kimbe Bay. This large bay had a large number of dive sites of differing topologies, from sea mounts to shallow reefs. The inhabitants ranged from pygmy seahorses to orcas, and nothing was more than about an hours boat ride away. It was the variety of marine life that made the diving so good. There were excellent corals, lots of fish life and even a plane wreck. The resort is very attractive and well thought out, and also has fabulous chocolate ice-cream!

Click here for the full report: Diving in Papua New Guinea


Client Testimonials: Saba, Caribbean - November 2007

Juliana's in Saba is a lovely hotel and we were lucky enough to be upgraded us to a self catering cottage in the heart of the village whilst still being able to have breakfast at the hotel each morning. The staff are lovely, good hosts and very friendly.

The diving was superb. We had booked ten dives but we ended up doing fifteen. The reefs are unspoiled and we saw lots of marine life - much too much to list here - with a good mix of both the large stuff (sharks, rays, turtles etc) and small stuff (seahorses, angle fish etc). Good corals and fantastic sponges. All of the dive sites have their own charm and none of them are far from the shore, certainly not more than 15 minutes in the boat. Sea Saba are very good and the boat that we used was well equipped. They really look after you and their dive guides are excellent - very knowledgeable about the local reefs and very watchful of the group when underwater etc. The shop staff provide lots of nice little extra touches such as offering to book taxis and restaurants if you need them to. There was no hard sell like you get in some places and everything is very relaxed whilst being controlled.

The hiking trails are well marked but quite tough. We did a couple of the trails and walked everywhere. Just walking around the island is fantastic exercise as it is all uphill - great coming back down though. If we decide to go back I would like to climb to the top of Mount Scenery. If you like hiking and walking, this is a must go destination.

S Hill (West Sussex)

Click here for Diving Holiday at Juliana's Hotel, Saba, Caribbean