Papua New Guinea

I am considering a PNG trip in August. Does anyone have experience with Walindi, Loloata, or Tufi? Also, is Cairnes the best (cheapest) gateway city to Port Moresby? Qantas has good deals to Australia this summer but getting there to Port Moresby doesnt seem cheap.

Thanks!

I've been to Walindi. It is expensive but well run. It is the base of operations of the dive boats that I spend time on every year. Let me know what you want to know. I am leaving on June 17th for a month there (on the FeBrina, this year).

I usually go from LA to Aukland to Brisbane to Port Moresby. The cost/timing works best for me.

Unfortunately, nothing about PNG is cheap.

I don't know if you are restricted to land-based dive operations or not, but I'll try to offer some help in either case.

I've been to PNG 4 times, once diving Milne Bay aboard Chertan, and 3 times aboard Febrina, which is based at the Walindi resort. On three of the four trips, I stayed and dove at Loloata at the beginning of the trip, before flying on to the ultimate dive destination.

Loloata is a real gem, largely undiscovered except by experienced dive travelers. It is hard to believe that there could be world class diving within a half hour of Port Moresby, but Loloata really has it - wrecks, pygmy seahorses, sea snakes, colorful reefs - tons of photo opportunities. I HIGHLY recommend that you spend at least 3-4 days there, regardless of wherever else you're headed. Each time I've been there, I've thought that if I hadn't travelled halfway around the world to get somewhere else, I could spend an entire dive vacation at Loloata. Dive there at the beginning of your trip, just in case you need to wait for delayed baggage to arrive. The only negative I can think of is that Loloata often has a nearly unbearable combination of heat/humidity. Be SURE to get a room with air conditioning; you'll thank me I promise, and will consider the small extra cost well worthwhile.

I can't discuss Tufi, but I know a bit about Walindi. It is located on Kimbe Bay, and dives some of the best dive sites in PNG (and indeed the world). If you can, I suggest that you try to spend part or all of your time there aboard Febrina, which is able to get a bit farther afield than Walindi's day boats. But if not, you'll find the diving in Kimbe Bay delightful. It hasn't been voted the best land-based dive resort in the world in the past for nothing. I'll attach a photo of a Rhinopeas scorpionfish, and another from one of Febrina's favorite dive sites, Krackafat Reef, which has huge schools of jacks and barracuda.

In short, I don't think you'll be unhappy with Loloata and/or Walindi.

As for routing, from the U.S. you'll likely be flying via Aukland/Brisbane or Sydney/Cairns. I'm not aware of any cheaper/simpler routing.

HTH,

There is a new direct flight from LA to Brisbane, leaving Aukland out. It is brand new and cuts a lot of travel time out. I will be taking it the 17th of June. I won't miss those extra hours.

Have to agree with Bmyates. Lolata is great. The food was very good, the people very nice & helpful, the diving was great, and its a great way to ease into diving after the long trip. Also, ditto on the humidity-- get AC, you will be grateful. I went on from there to the Highlands & Milne Bay with Mike Ball. Both of which were terrific experiences.

Andy

I've just come back form PNG. I've been diving all over the world and I can tell yopu that PNG is nr 1. Walindi and Loloata are very nice resotrs. You may also consider taking Star Dancer trip.

If you are close to Memphis and can take advantage of a "Northwurst" flight to Tokyo, Air Nuigini runs weekly flights non-stop from Tokyo to Port Moresby. We did it on a group trip from Detroit a couple of years ago and although the NWA flight was awful, the Air Nuigini flight was wonderful, on time, good food.....

We surprised the heck out of the land tour operator who met us at the airport; he said he'd never seen Americans getting off that flight before (but we did it really EARLY in their new routing!) It sure made it easy for us, non-stop Detroit to Tokyo and then non-stop to POM...cut about 12-15 hours off our trip each way.

The only problem is you have to do Saturday/Saturday by one or two or three weeks to take advantage of their flights but you might want to consider that option. Two or three weeks in PNG is NOT bad at all!

Thanks everyone for the info. We bit the bullet and bought the longer Qantas route through Australia (I would have gone via Tokyo via Northwest had I read this earlier). Since I really want to photograph some terrestrial stuff, we are going to stay at Tufi which is considerably cheaper than Walindi. Does anyone have any experience with Tufi. I like their combination of muck, open water, and cultural stuff (at least I like what I have read on their web page and in the few reviews out there).

Thanks for everyones input.