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Diving New Britain | Papua New Guinea
barracuda

Kimbe Bay, on the north coast of New Britain, is best known in diving circles as the location of Walindi Resort. From this world-renown spot you can dive inside Kimbe Bay then join a liveaboard to head east to the Fathers Islands or north-west to the Witus. The entire region has bountiful marine life, warm water and superb visibility.

Kimbe Bay | Reef surfaces are encrusted with pristine corals and sponges, minute boxer crabs live in the rubble and moray eels free swim around your fins. There are plenty of grey whaler and whitetip reef sharks.

The Fathers | Open water reefs thick with damselfish, angels and fairy basslets; huge schools of barracuda, Spanish mackerel and schooling jacks; octopus mate as you watch and you can snorkel with spinner dolphins.

The Witus | Tiny, primeval bays surrounded by coconut palms, ficus and liana vines. Underwater, black sand is dotted with detritus and a mass of weird critters. Tiny green crabs take on the appearance of coralline algae, hairy pink sangian crabs on a sponge and spider crabs pretend to be seagrass.

New Britain image gallery Scuba diving features
Marine Life boxer crabs
muck diving
reef sharks
dolphins
Top dive site Lama Shoals
Seasons All year round
Visibility 10 – 30+ metres
Water temperature 25 – 30º C
Deco chambers Port Moresby
Flights via Australia or from Singapore.
Dive operators and accommodation Walindi Dive Resort and MV Febrina

INFORMATION
PROS & CONS

Flying to PNG is expensive. There is little mass tourism so only a few flights in and out of the country and that keeps the prices high. However, this is also the countries greatest advantage – there will never be hoards of other dive boats moored up over your site.

LINDHAVEN - a new destination for MV Febrina
In February and March, when the weather is at it's best, Febrina will travel to the south Coast of New Britain to explore a wonderland of rare and unusual critters. The Lindenhaven area sits on the Solomon Trench, the third deepest part of the world’s oceans. There are many extraordinary critters in this area, some of which haven't been found in any resource books. Critters that are regularly seen include mimic octopus, frogfish, and over 47 different varieties of ghost pipefish.
SCUBA DIVING
Papua New Guinea scuba diving is spectacular. Lying across the bottom edge of the Coral Triangle, there are 40,000 square kilometres of coral reefs and species diversity is extremely high. Conditions vary by region but tend to be easy. Visibility on the outer reefs is fabulous but can be quite low inside small bays – although that doesn't spoil the muck diving in any way.
OPINION
After years of hearing about the glories of scuba diving in northern New Britain, the second largest island in Papua New Guinea, we finally managed a week on the 'infamous' Febrina. Her reputation, and that of Captain Alan Raabe, is almost mythical. Although this isn't a cheap trip, it is a fantastic one. Diving on Febrina is truly unlimited. We averaged 4-5 dives a day and that was without night dives, so it was exceptionally good value.
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More diving in Papua New Guinea:

NEW BRITAIN | LOLOATA | TUFI

Complete reports on this area are in
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