Text by Mary L. Peachin with photos by Chicken Divers Bill Kimball, David Lovitt, and Azad Cameron
September, 2018, Vol. 21, No. 11
Traveling alone, ma’am? Gold miners, returning to their jobs in Papua New Guinea from a few days’ vacation in Cairns, Australia, were curious seeing a solo woman boarding the Air Nuigini flight.
Two hours later, the plane landed in Port Moresby. Walking to the adjacent domestic terminal to catch a Fokker 28 connecting flight to Hoskins, I noticed that the airport was teeming with locals just watching airplanes land and take-off.
In the village of Hoskins, the largest city on the island of New Britain, I hopped into a cab for the hour ride across the island to my destination at Walindi palm oil plantation. The liveaboard scuba diving boat Febrina anchors at Walindi’s Kimbe Bay dock in the Bismarck Sea.
Motoring nine hours to Father’s reef near the island of Lolabau, an active volcano, we observed deep wall drop-offs landscaped with hard and soft coral, a number of white and silver tip and whaler sharks cruised the reef joined by turtles, jacks, and barracuda. In spite of high ocean swells, this was world class diving!
A giant stride off the back deck was easier than the challenge of reentry. The divemaster would grabbed our arm pulling us on the deck with the next incoming wave.
During the six-day trip, we enjoyed some night diving with fifty-pound dogtooth tuna, cuttlefish and octopus. At a site named Reasons, the wall was covered with black, staghorn, table, brain, and leather coral plus velvet sea whips, fans, gorgonians, and sponges.
One dive along the reef passed underwater caves located between two sand shoots resembling dry waterfalls. At dawn there appeared to be a “rush hour” on the reef. Small colorful reef fish were swimming up, down and over the wall. A coral trout lazed while small fish nibbled to clean off parasites.
The dive sites around Papua New Guinea are noted for being some of the first muck dives. In shallow, low viz water, critters like hairy frogfish, yellow rhinopius, decorator crab. red octopus, and pygmy seahorse can be observed.
Walindi plantation had offered the same quality of diving in Kimbe Bay. The rough seas made for an hour of body-slamming travel in a speedboat to reach the glorious reef walls. Kimbe Bay and the Bismarck Sea has 4,000 species of coral and 400 species of fish.
Max Benjamin, an ex-pat Australian, owns Walindi plantation. Arriving in New Britain in the 1960’s, Benjamin started with a palm oil plantation, adding the resort in 1988. There are six burres or bungalows with dining (family style) in a room adjacent to the bar and pool area. Walindi is a relaxing setting where diving is the focal point.
New Britain Island is a paradox. The locals have satellite television, there is a telephone and fax at Walindi, yet the shower water is heated by burning coconut husks. Security guards at Walindi stand watch using a burning branch for light.
The island K-Mart is not a discount store. The all-purpose store’s provisions are sparse and expensive. A box of Kellogg’s cereal sells for $6.00. The vegetable market is the gathering place where locals come to sell their crops, betel nut, yams, coconut squash, and a variety of bitter tasting greens.
Returning to Hoskins for an early morning flight to Port Moresby, a Village along the road appeared to be on fire. It was breakfast time and locals cooking in their huts were using firewood. My taxi driver slowed in the village as some pigs crossed the road, pigs have the right-of-way in Papua New Guinea. The ownership of pigs substantiates one’s wealth, and is a focal point of ceremonial tradition.
Returning to Port Moresby, I would meet my son, Jeffrey, to join a two week Trans Niugini tour led by Greg Stahakis. I had seen some of the best of the underwater world of Papua New Guinea, now I was going to explore the country.