DIVErsion Dive (B)LOG » Trip Report

You Never Ever Know if You Never Ever Go

diversiondivetravel — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 02:14:45 +0000

Garry and Sue recently stayed at Beqa Lagoon Resort in Fiji and posted this report on Tripadvisor:

Reviewed 5 September 2013

I recently returned from an 8 night diving trip to Beqa Lagoon Resort and had a great time. I found a package through Diversion Dive Travel which was extremely good value and very well organised from start to finish. I agree with all the positive comments on this resort with Trip Advisor but disregard the negative comments as I had no negative experiences during my stay. Firstly, this is a dive resort. I met a couple of non-divers and while one mature aged woman had a great time a younger woman was bored stiff. She did not dive and I think wanted to party. While there is a bar and you can party if you wish, as mostly dedicated divers use this resort, at the end of a days diving and after a good meal and a few drinks most people retire to their room reasonably early to rest up for the next days diving.

This is probably a 3 star property which is reflected in the rates which are very reasonable if you shop around for a diving/accommodation/meals/transfers package. So, if you want 5 star and to party all night with good diving, I suggest you spend a few days in a mainland resort first, then head over the Beqa Island for the diving. Having lived in Melanesian countries previously, I learned not to expect everything to run to plan. Things go wrong in developing countries. But, I was pleasantly surprised. The transfers went on time and pretty much to schedule. I read varying accounts of how long it takes to get there many of which were wrong. It is a 2.5 hour ride in a mini bus on a long and winding road from Nandi airport to Pacific Harbour. If you want to take some beer or drinks ask the bus driver to call into the shop at Pacific Harbour before you get on the boat and a case of Fiji Gold costs about 55FJD. It is then 45 mins to 1 hour boat transfer depending on the seas. But, when you get there it is well worth it. Most of the staff and some villagers turn out to welcome you with a traditional song which is quite humbling. There were only 2 of us arriving but we still got the full treatment. You then get a complimentary foot massage if that’s your thing.

We heard the Beach Front Bures were the go, so considered we might upgrade as we were booked into the pond side Bures. But, we were so satisfied with our room we did not bother. The room was very large with a lounge room, lounge and coffee table, comfortable king bed, bedside tables and lamps for reading, a new bar fridge that kept drinks icy cold, a fairly new air-conditioner which worked well but which we never needed and a large bathroom and shower which was recently renovated. We had hot water the whole time there and forget the bottled water, we drank tap rain water the whole time with no ill effects. There is tea and coffee making facilities in the room and soap and shampoo/conditioner provided. The Bure also has a deck with table, chairs and a deck chair. No need to bring a towel for swimming, snorkelling or diving as the resort provides towels. The meals are good and ample like everyone agrees. So, who cares if the roofs of some of the Bures need a few more palm leaves. The gardens are manicured and well maintained, the staff are friendly and a more peaceful and relaxing place would be difficult to find. The resort is managed by Mark a South African and his wife Poldi an Austrian lady. Both are very friendly, experienced, interesting and well travelled hosts. I have stayed at resorts where the ex-pat managers actually avoid the guests. This is not one of them.Mark and Poldi dine and mingle with the guest at all times, were most helpful in all respects and are excellent ambassadors for the resort, island and it’s people. I can not praise these people highly enough. All the staff were friendly and helpful and it is true they do know your name by day 2. There is a PADI dive shop right next to the resort dining room and office.

The dive shop is very well run by Joeli who is also a dive instructor, dive master and one of the guys who pioneered the Beqa Lagoon Shark Dives some years back. There are 3 dive boats owned by the resort but when we were there one was running charters from the Coral Coast so 2 dive boats were in use at the resort. This was more than ample as there were only about 6 to 8 divers as we were there on a quiet week. So, as you can imagine the service was excellent. The dive boat had a skipper, a couple of deck hands and 2 dive masters so all levels of diving experience were easily catered for. All the dive boat staff are local islanders, as are all the other employees. So, they take pride in their resort on their island and it shows. A typical day is up at 6.45am for 7.15am breakfast, then to the dive shop to get your wetsuit and then to the beach for 7.45am departure to the dive boat in a big tinny. All the other dive gear, BCD’s, tanks and weights is taken on board by the dive crew and set up for you. Then off to a dive site for 1st dive about 9am. Dives are not deep and the deepest I went was to about 28.5 metres on a wreck. Dive time is restricted only by the amount of air you have in your tank and all dives are guided by 2 dive masters so it is very safe. Some experienced divers stayed down for 45 to 50 mins while the less experienced had about 30 to 35 minute dives. Surface interval is 1 hour during which time the boat moves to a different site. As a mature aged diver I found the diving easy as when exiting the water you can take off your weights and BCD/tank and a boat crew member will haul it on board for you. Second dive is about 11am and then they head back to the resort for a 12.30pm arrival and 1pm lunch. Diving is basically reefs, wrecks and sharks. We dived on a couple of old fishing trawlers which had good soft and hard coral growth and an abundance of fish life. The rest of the day is free to engage in other island activities. There is unlimited shore diving which is only restricted by the tides. The lagoon is tidal so obviously the best time for shore dives is around high tide. After lunch most divers seemed to prefer to find a hammock, rest or have an afternoon nap as the morning diving, sun, sea breezes and unspoiled beauty of the place seemed to instil a sense of peace, tranquillity and quiet relaxation into ones soul.

I did not intend to do the shark dive as I have done one previously and my partner is a relatively new diver with an O/W ticket who like most of us had initially expressed a mortal fear of sharks. Also both shark dives exceed 18 meters. But she met some other lady divers who talked her into it. So, I decided to go as her buddy.

I am so glad I did. The 2 shark dives are spectacular. The first is in 24 meters. All divers descend down the anchor line onto a wreck and are guided to a roped off area where they position themselves holding on to a rope barrier. Then the chum comes down in large wheelie bins and the action starts. Literally millions of fish of all shapes sized and species appear. The first sharks were several large nurse sharks followed by 3 or 4 large silvertips. Bottom time is about 15 minutes and then divers move up to the reef and wreck to complete the dive and safety stops. I had not seen any bull sharks on the first dive and asked the dive master why and he said the first dive attracts them and they will be there on the second dive. He was right. The second dive follows the same procedure but is at 19 metres with a bottom time of 20 mins. When we got bottom and took the rope there were bull sharks everywhere. There must have been 20 to 30 bull sharks swimming very close to divers. Divers with cameras were taken inside the roped off area to vantage points where they could get better photos. But, with so many sharks in the water divers were completely safe. 3 dive operators were on this shark dive in 3 dive boats so there must have been 30 divers in the water. But, there were at least 10 ‘shark wranglers’ who kept watch behind and all around the divers and were right on the ball if any big sharks got too close. It was a truly good dive and my novice partner loved it and is now a seasoned shark diver, who like the rest of us now understands the beauty of these animals and why they so desperately need protection. The shark dive is conducted 3 times a week but we only did it once. But, non-shark divers can go to the same site and dive on the reef and wreck which is only a short distance from where the shark dive is being conducted. We did 2 dives thus and saw plenty of white tip, black tip, grey reef sharks and I thought I saw a mako shark. All of which were attracted to the area by the shark feeding nearby.

This was a great trip, great value for money and a great diving resort. We met some very interesting people from all over the world which gave the place a great international flavour. There were Aussies, Americans, Brits, Russians, French, Korean and Columbian and everyone got on very well. While there were some nice young couples, most of the divers were of the more mature aged variety, keen divers and the undisciplined backpacker element was not present. It is very sad to leave this wonderful place and when we did, again Mark, Poldi and the island people turned out to sing us off with a sad traditional song. Like some others, I felt quite emotional when leaving and looked around to see other people also had a tear in their eye. I can not speak highly enough about this place. My advice is if you are considering a dive trip to an exotic location, far from the maddening crowd, which is not going to cost the earth, stop thinking and just go to Beqa Lagoon Resort. You won’t regret it.
Like they say, Life’s a Beach and then you Dive.
Garry and Sue
Australia

Trip Report: Atlantis dive cruise combo in the Philippines

diversiondivetravel — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 06:00:07 +0000

Arrive as a guest, leave as a friend

Just a short 30 minute drive from Dumaguete airport (a 1 hour flight from Manila), on the island of Negros Oriental, lies the beautiful Atlantis Dumaguete Dive Resort. The resort is surrounded by lush tropical gardens and is just a short boat ride away from some of the most renowned dive sites in Asia – famous Apo Island, Siquijor Island and of course the local Dauin Marine Sanctuaries.

Atlantis Resort Dumaguete features forty guest rooms and suites, all designed with the guests maximum comfort, privacy and relaxation in mind. Besides scuba diving, guests can enjoy a number of services and experiences to make their holiday complete: spa treatments, swimming pool, beach with sun lounges, restaurant and bar, boutique for souvenirs, dedicated camera room for underwater photographers and plenty of land based tour options.

What makes this place so special is the staff. I had only been in the resort for minutes when I was already greeted by staff members calling out my name. The high level of customer service and friendliness of the staff continued throughout our stay and is definitely second to none.

Toko’s Restaurant offers relaxed dining with superb menu choices. Each lunch and dinner, you can enjoy a stunning 3 course menu freshly prepared by dedicated local and international chefs.

We started our diving activities with a couple of sloping reefs, only a few minutes by boat from the resort. Two blue-ringed octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, cleaning mantis shrimp, lionfish, frogfish and wasp fish, all seen on our first dive, were only a small number of the extraordinary critter and marine life we were to experience over the coming days.

The dive schedule of the resort and also at its sister property, Atlantis Puerto Galera

, offers up to 5 dives per day. Two morning dives are available, followed by either two afternoons and a night dive or one afternoon and a mandarin fish dusk dive. This many dives per day are usually only offered on liveaboards, but rarely at land-based dive resorts. Therefore, this makes the Atlantis Resorts a great option for the hardcore diver as well as diver/non-diver couples.

One of my diving highlights was Apo Island, only a 45 minute boat ride from the resort. It is a small island surrounded by stunning reef walls, drop offs and beautiful coral gardens. We spent two days diving here at different dive sites and only experienced a little bit of current on two dives. Although I very much enjoy wall diving, my favourite time was spent just cruising around 10m and above, spotting critters amongst the coral. Devil scorpion fish, stone fish, sweet lips, frog fish, gobies, trigger fish, parrot fish, surgeon fish, lion fish and plenty of different nudibranchs were all to be found on our dives. I am also pleased to report that the local sea turtle population in the Philippines is very healthy.

After completing our diving activities at Atlantis Dumaguete, we joined the resort’s own fabulous liveaboard, Atlantis Azores, for another three fantastic days of diving. We sampled part of the Bohol itinerary of Atlantis Azores, including the whale sharks at Oslob, at the southern tip of Cebu Island, followed by Sumilon, Cabilao and Balicasag Islands.

Watch a Video

Taking part in Azores’ Bohol itinerary means diving around tranquil islands surrounded by crystal clear waters and pristine white sandy beaches. Dive sites include superb hard and soft corals, stunning reef walls, drop offs, critters such as pygmy and thorny seahorses, frog fish, ghost pipe fish, many different species of nudibranchs, clown fish, parrot fish, pegasus sea moths, blue ribbon eels, schools of jacks and trevally, hawksbill and green turtles and sea snakes. Very occasionally you might also come across reef sharks, sting rays and manta rays, however, we haven’t experienced any on our numerous dives.
Atlantis Azores is a luxury liveaboard offering a high quality of service and standard. It features 8 cabins for a max. of 16 divers, a huge dive deck with camera table, comfortable lounge with flatscreen TV, sun lounges and a jacuzzi on the sun deck.

Azores offers four different itineraries in the Philippines, so there is plenty of diving to be done. Up to 5 dives are offered on each full dive day. The food on board the vessel, freshly prepared by a local chef, is just delicious. There was a continuous flow of food platters coming out of the galley, pleasing all our different taste buds. A brief cup of coffee with cereal or muffin was available before each first dive early in the morning. Following our first dive, a sumptuous hot breakfast was served. Lunch and dinner were delicious 3 course meals with the choice of either meat or fish as main meal.

After 8 days in the Dumaguete region it was time to say goodbye. The Atlantis motto “Arrive as a guest, leave as a friend” pretty much says it all. I am certainly keen to get back to see how everyone is doing!

Trip Report: Matava Resort Fiji Diving the Astrolabe Reef

diversiondivetravel — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 07:14:23 +0000

Here is a very nice review of Matava Island resort by Barbara Winters, a client of us who recently spend a week there:

I wanted to surprise my partner for his 40^th holiday and decided onFiji. We met when we learnt scuba diving inHonduras 11 years ago, and he became an instructor and I a rescue diver since. Since just over a year we both work at Adreno Scuba Diving centre in Brisbane, but we hardly ever go diving ourselves. So it was about time we got back in the water!

Through the website of Diversion Dive Travel I found a very good package deal: eight days in Eco-Resort Matava, including daily dives with a PADI Green Star Awarded dive centre, all meals included and the second person would go for half price. The fact that we would go to an Eco-Resort, without mass tourism and no families with small kids, made this holiday perfect for us because we love travelling to places where it is still largely unspoiled and peaceful.

After a short flight to Fiji and another one to the small island of Kadavu, we were collected at the airport and brought to the other side of the island. The crew of Mad Dive Centre awaited us and entertained us during the 45 min trip to the resort. We were welcomed by more friendly people and shown our beautiful wooden ‘bure’ (hut). It was surrounded by rainforest and had the best view I’ve seen in my 20+ years of overseas travels! This was paradise!

Critter juntion

Matava is right on the doorstep of the Great Astrolabe Reef. This is the fourth largest barrier reef in the world. It offers colourful soft corals, warm and clear waters and many different dive sites, such as walls, passages to the outer reef, big drop-offs and drift dives in mild currents. There is only a handful of dive operators that go to the reef and you and when we did a shore dive on our first day at Critter Junction, just in front of the resort, we were the only two there. We saw many very colourful and cute looking baby fish and spent a good hour filming and photographing it all. These shore dives are included in the package by the way, which was great.

Outer reef
We had also booked 10 boat dives and most days we went to the outer reef, The Astrolabe Reef has many channels leading from extremely deep water into shallow lagoons and we visited these channels and on more windy days the lagoons. A beautiful dive is Naiqoro Passage, which was a drift dive along a massive coral wall.

We were lucky enough to see some of the finest the Astrolabe reef has to offer: reef sharks, moray eels, colourful angelfish, many different types of clownfish in waving anemones, a banded eel that behaves a lot like a sea snake, tiny nudibranch of only fingernail size, and even a comb jellyfish, flashing its tiny hairs in the sun as it moved past us during one safety stop. But best of all was the Manta encounter at Manta Reef. We saw them feeding, doing barrel rolls in order to get the plankton-filled water to flow through their gills. What an amazing sight and how lucky we were to witness this from up close. I was cheering underwater.

Perfect holiday

As regular backpackers, this was our most luxurious trip ever, but it was worth it: in all respects a holiday we can’t fault. Mainly the friendliness of the Fijians and the staff at Matava made it exceptional and we loved the traditional Kava ceremony they invited us to, and special Lovo feast they served. All other days we had a mix of Mexican, Indian, English and Italian-style food, and it just kept coming, which is amazing considering the remote location and the lack of electricity most of the day. They even made my partner and another guest a birthday cake!

We were also very pleased to see that Matava runs its own organic garden and has many fruit trees in between the bures. The fact that you can leave the resort and explore the island a bit, canoe around the nearby island or walk to the village and swim under a waterfall, makes this holiday all the more adventurous.

Bula!

Beach walk with the sharks

diversiondivetravel — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 02:13:34 +0000

We just checked into our room. It’s 4 pm (2nd April ’11) and we rush back out again to the beach. Finally we have arrived. We dip our feet in the balmy turquoise waters surrounding Heron Island. Before we can get our bearings, 5 tiny little creatures hobble through the sand towards me. Their little flippers plough the ground like freestyle swimmers. Seagulls, turns and shearwaters watch the race with interest. Only minutes ago these green turtle hatchlings picked through the soft shell of their egg casings, dug through layers of sand to the surface, and now follow an ancient instinct to reach the sea. Looking at their tiny shapes one must wonder where they get the energy from for such a strenuous task. As soon as the turtles reach the water for the first time in their life they dive beneath the light surf and swim into the great ocean.

What an amazing event to start our visit. We continue our stroll along the beach watching the sky change between black storm clouds and blue sky as the sun slowly sets in the east. Our shadows grow longer. Only two, three meters from the shore in shallow waters another migration is happening. Cowtail stingrays, blue spotted stingrays and giant shovel-nose rays travel in large groups and sift the sands for shells and mollusks. Observing the water closer we now see a magnificent triangle cutting the surface. A resident lemon shark is patrolling the beach. Together with blacktip sharks and leopard sharks they come close to the beach this time of year to get their share of he turtle hatching season. Dinner time for them! We are only 60 minutes on the island, haven’t even unpacked our masks and snorkel and already have seen more rare marine creatures then on some dives.

Heron Bommie, just outside the harbour is one of the islands signature dives. The consistent currents around the 5-10 m coral heads attract thousands of fish from small to very big. Diving here is never boring. We saw schools of jacks, circling rainbow runners, a large green turtle and countless colourful reef fish. There is hardly a dive without turtles on Heron Island. At Coral Grotto we were greeted by a Manta Ray gently “flying” past. The coral life is varied and healthy. Some dive sites still recover from storm damage sustained 5 years ago when cyclone Larry left its mark. Still, the marine life is thriving! The channel between Heron Island and Wistari reef compresses the tides into constant currents which provide plenty of nutrients to all marine life around. The deeper parts of the channel are hunting grounds for the big stuff: sharks, rays, barracudas can be watched here.
The dive boats easily cater for up to 20-24 divers each. All dives are guided, experienced divers and snorkelers are well catered for. Together with the Coral Sea and the Ribbon Reefs, Heron Island is a must see experience for any diver visiting Australia.

On the island thousands of seabirds can’t be overheard. Their distinct calls tell of their daily life on the island. Protecting chicks, nesting places, relationships… all is accompanied by their decisive songs and screeches. The turns, rails, mutton birds and seagulls create a soothing background score of Heron Island. The birds for sure use certain aspects of the resort to their advantage.

Heron Island Eco Resort is located right in midst this display of nature. It features various grades of comfortable accommodation, an excellent restaurant, the Aqusoul spa, an activity center and a big marine center. In the restaurant 90% of only seafood served is sustainably caught according to the sustainable seafood guide by AMCS (Australian Marine Conservation Society).
Families, honeymooners as well as nature lovers and hardcore divers all find their favourite niche on Heron Island. Center stage is the unparalleled nature experience.

Guided bird walks or reef walks on the outgoing tides are a must for all visitors. Scuba divers can choose from three scheduled boat dives daily. Up to 30 dive sites are within 10 minutes reach of the jetty. Or just grab a mask and snorkel and discover the beautiful inhabitants of the tropical coral reefs. Snorkeling off Heron Island is so easy and really outstanding, it is one of the unique places where snorkeling is as good as diving.

One definite highlight for all visitors is to just watch the sharks and rays patrolling the shallow waters of the sea from your room, the pool or the jetty.

Would we go back? In an instant! Not only for the diving, but also for the great resort, the friendly staff and the topside nature experience which make Heron Island a unique gem on the Great Barrier Reef.

Heron Island Dive Festival 5-11 September
Heron Island is celebrating its status as one of Australia’s top dive destinations with the launch of the Dive Festival. A perfect time to visit and explore the fantastic diving available:

+ photo shoot out as part of the ODEX underwater festival
+ prizes to a total value of $ 100.000 to be won.
+ Presentation by diving legends
+ great food, service and diving.

3 night package from AUD 908/person (triple share)
5 night package from AUD 1464/person (triple share)
7 night package from AUD 1979/person (triple share)

Includes: Turtle Room triple share, 2 Dives Daily (per diver booked), 3 meals daily, return launch transfers from Gladstone, tanks and weights.
Check our Heron website for details

Mermaid I – Bali – Komodo 2009

Diversion Dive Travel — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:19:29 +0000

Mermaid I, one of two vessels of the Thailand based “Mermaid Liveaboards”, spends June to October in Indonesia, offering 9 night liveaboard excursions to Komodo National Park.
Mermaid I is one of the most comfortable vessels out there. Cabins, lounge, sun and dive decks are all very spacious accommodating a total of 15 guests only. All excursions start and end at Bali’s Benoa Harbour.

After an overnight steam, passing the north east of Lombok, we woke up at Moyo Island; doing our first two dives for the trip at Angel Reef and Satonda Reef. Clear, blue water, and plenty of fish around. Leaf sorpionfish, orangutang craps, mantis shrimps, lots of nudibranchs and massive elephant ear sponges were among these dives sightings.

Sangeang Volcano

The following day we spent at Sangeang Volcano. Lighthouse Reef and Hot Rocks were our dive sites for the day. Diving for rare nudibranchs, pygmy seahorses, leaf scorpionfish, blue and black ribbon eels were on top of our list. Hot Rocks is black sand diving and a truly magical place, with bubbles rising from the bottom.

Day 3 started off with a dive at Crystal Rock. A dive site offering strong currents, we could expect grey reef sharks, turtles, giant Maori wrasse, and of course we were not disappointed. We continued the day diving at Takat Toko and Takat Makassar, off the north-east corner of Komodo. A bit of a current running, so lots of pelagic action: whitetip and grey reef sharks, unicorn fish, jackfish, snappers, and plenty more.

Komodo Dragon

Our next day started with a visit to Komodo National Park to see and walk with the famous Komodo Dragons. We did a two-hour walk in the park, a World Heritage Site, spotting Timor Deer, cockatoos, wild boar and of course dragons. Our dives for the day were done at Pink Beach – a paradise for critters – the Three Sisters and Padar Island.

Next was Cannibal Rock, a true top-ten-in-the-world dive site. We spent all day at this amazing place spotting enormous frogfish, rare lacy scorpionfish, an abundance of corals, sponges, sea apples, turtles, cuttlefish, crabs, loads of nudibranchs and the other usual suspects.

Manta Rays

Today we headed to Manta Alley to watch in awe these magnificent creatures play, feed and get cleaned at the many cleaning stations. … and we were not disappointed … especially as I had never seen a manta before! Feeding at the surface, getting cleaned at a cleaning station or just playing around us for hours. We returned to the vessel with huge smiles on our faces!

Starting to head back towards Bali, we spend some more dives at Crystal Rock, Takat Toko, Sumbawa Surprise and Angel Reef. We even encountered a rare blue-ringed octopus, numerous more nudibranchs, pygmy seahorses, longnose hawkfish, ghost pipefish, more orangutan crabs and of course more mantas.

This was our first time in Indonesia and we were amazed by the health and wealth of the reefs and soft corals throughout this entire trip. We will definitely be back some time soon!

Time flies when you are having fun, and before we knew it, we were heading back to Bali for the last time.

by Bettina Schmidberger

Site Inspection: Lissenung Island Resort

Diversion Dive Travel — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:59:01 +0000

by Nina Joost, March 09

Ange and Dietmar, the owners of Lissenung Island, have come a long way since they first set up their little Robinson island in the mid 1990s. The rough edges have been ‘filed away’, and without changing the lovely and unpretentious setting of this quiet and remote island, they have made considerable improvements to the accommodations and facilities.

Almost all of the
7 rooms in 4 bungalows now feature spotlessly clean, modern ensuite bathrooms, spacious covered verandahs (some with daybeds), gleaming wooden floors and the intricate woodwork the Kavieng region is famous for. Sandy pathways, fringed by fragrant floral plants and tropical shrubs, meander between all bungalows and beach facilities. At night tiki lights lead the way to the main house, which was designed to let nature in, with a sandy floor, handcrafted furniture and comfortable lounges and beautifully decorated with masks and other local artwork. This is where everyone comes together a few times a day for lovingly prepared meals, games and stories or a quiet afternoon with a good book.

Next door and adjacent to the dive shed is the newly-built, spacious and airconditioned office with separate desks for guests who would like to send emails or digitalise their photographs. Lissenung Island has a soft pink sand beach, which is extremely rare in PNG; the perfect place for happy hour drinks as the sun goes down. Just a few fin kicks away is the very entertaining house reef, bustling with activity and with a surprising number of inhabitants – we counted 6 different species of clown fish, colourful staghorn, plate and brain coral, multi-coloured nudibranchs and schools of trevally and snappers gathering at dusk to start hunting soon.

The house reef is about 10 metres deep, and it will take quite a few days to explore in its entirety. Lissenung Island is surrounded by many other low tropical islands, which channel the waterways between Pacific ocean and Bismarck Sea. Medium to strong currents are common and often unpredictable, which is good news for any diver interested in drift diving and pelagics, but there are always calm spots to be found as well. This dive region has everything: year-round warm water in all shades from turquoise to purple (at least 29C/90F or more) , massive coral walls for drift diving or leisurely exploration when the currents don’t run, shallow and sandy spots near the islands for critter-spotting and muck diving, and quite a few WWII wreck dives, mostly small planes.

With more than 50 world-class dive sites, you would need at least 3 visits to Lissenung Island to experience them all. Three fast and well-equipped dive boats are waiting for divers and snorkellers each morning, keeping the groups small at all times, and multi-lingual PADI dive instructors take care of beginner divers and students.

Nearby Kavieng, the main town of New Ireland province, is a remote area even by PNG standards. Supply ships arrive irregularly, and produce we all take for granted at our local supermarkets may be scarce for months at a time. Under these difficult circumstances the inventive menus prepared in the Lissenung kitchen deserve high praise indeed, as does their little herb and vegetable patch. Fish, lobster, crayfish and chicken feature quite often, and vegetarian versions may also be ordered at any time, though meat and milk products are always difficult to find in this part of the world.

Two generators supply Lissenung Island with 24 hour electricity, but it must be mentioned that there are no water heaters on the island; fresh water is heated by the sun in large tanks, which means showers are lukewarm only. However, due to the hot climate and the warm ocean temperatures, this fact is usually forgotten very quickly or goes completely unnoticed. Life on Lissenung Island is deceptively simple but never dull, and each guest is well looked after at all times.

This is the perfect place to unwind from stressful city life and stay close to nature, listening to the birds in the trees and the waves lapping on the beach, where carefree hours of leisure between dives tick by just a little more slowly than everywhere else. Excursions to neighbouring islands and village visit are easily arranged. With a maximum of only 14 divers and snorkellers Lissenung is often booked out by families or friends travelling together and thus enjoying their own private island, and even fully booked this island will never feel crowded.

Dwarfe Minke Whale (by Rod Klein)

Diversion Dive Travel — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 02:06:56 +0000

Take a look at this months Diving Adventure Magazine. Among other great articles and images, is a very interesting article on the Dwarf Minke Whales found on Australia’s Barrier reef May-July each year.http://www.rhkuw.com/pdf/daminke.pdf

Mermaid I – Bali – Komodo

Diversion Dive Travel — Tue, 08 May 2007 05:14:56 +0000

Mermaid I is one of the very well known Thai boats, which spends June to October in Indonesia, offering 7 night live-aboard trips to the Komodo National Park. Mermaid I is probably one of the most comfortable boats I have been on. The cabins are spacious, with ensuite facilities, a small fridge, and TV/DVD. A nice mix of Thai, and western cuisine tantalises your taste buds, and there is always plenty of fresh fruit to finish off a meal.
Saturday departures and arrivals are at Bali’s Benoa Harbour, which is easily reached from Kuta/Legian, Sanur, Nusa Dua or directly from Denpasar airport. Mermaid arranges these transfers, and the cost is included in the total price.

After an overnight steam, passing the north coast of Lombok, we woke up to a light breakfast and our first dive at Moyo Island, from where we continued our trip in an easterly direction. I was amazed by the wealth of soft corals throughout this trip. A dive site called “golden wall” was exactly that – a wall covered in soft coral in every shade of yellow, orange and gold, just incredibly beautiful. Although there were some sharks, they didn’t seem to be terribly abundant, which I think is a legacy of shark fishing/finning world wide. We saw mantas, eagle rays, and after our last dive at “angels window”, two mola-mola appeared out of the blue and stayed close to the boat for quite some time. Some hearty souls jumped back into the water with mask and snorkel, but the strong current and the alertness of the fish made a close encounter impossible. Diving at Sangean Island was one of my favourites as the dive site is a volcanoe crater with black sand. It reminded me a little of Lembeh (without the rubbish/trash in the water)! As added bonus I saw some nudibranch which I had not seen before. Most diving was done off the two tenders which, I am happy to say, had ladders to climb back onto after the dive. We also had the opportunity to actually visit Komodo Island and came face to face with a three metre Komodo dragon!http://diversionOZ.com/en/sea/mermaid.htm

Bali and beyond

Diversion Dive Travel — Tue, 08 May 2007 05:12:38 +0000

For the last two years I had spent my holidays in Sulawesi, diving at Bunaken and Lembeh Strait. To break the growing addiction to muck diving, I decided to check out the dive scene in Bali, and to join Mermaid I on a seven night live-aboard to Komodo.

Bali
To get away from the Kuta/Legian crowds, and to avoid having to spend 3+ hours each day traveling to and from dive sites, I decided to base myself in Padang Bai, half way up the East Coast of Bali. Padang Bai is a small fishing village, and until recently, most visitors only came here to catch the ferry to Lombok.

Over the last few years a healthy diving industry has developed in Padang Bai, and for good reasons. Easy access to some 20 dive sites, with the furthest being Nusa Penida, is only a 30 minutes boat ride away. Tulamben, the location of the famous Liberty wreck, is reached by road in about 90 minutes. From turtles, to eagle rays, reef sharks, nudibranch, leaf scorpion fish, ribbon eels, the amazing molo-mola, and the most elegant inhabitants of the underwater world, manta rays, it’s all there for you to admire.

Accommodation ranges from good quality hotels with air conditioning, television, private facilities to smaller inns, all at a very reasonable price. Talking about price, there are not many places in the world where you can get 6 nights accommodation in a good quality hotel with breakfast, 10 boat dives, airport transfers, incl. of all taxes for US$470 twin/double or US$545 single.
http://diversionOZ.com/en/sea/balidiving.htm

Minke Whales are back on the Barrier Reef June/July

Diversion Dive Travel — Tue, 08 May 2007 05:09:28 +0000

To explain this amazing event, have a read of what happened last year:

12 very excited divers and snorkellers boarded Undersea Explorer on our 6 night minke whale expedition to the Great Barrier Reef on 24-30 June 2006. For Dirk and myself it had been two years since we last came face to face with these fascinating creatures and we couldn’t wait for the boat to leave. Apparently, we are not the only minke enthusiasts. Though the season is quite short -from June to early August- we were still surprised to see familiar faces among our fellow passengers. On this trip we encountered Mark again, a diver whom we had first met on our very first Minke Whale safari on Undersea Explorer.

We left Port Douglas after dinner and steamed out to the Ribbon Reefs overnight. The minke whales were expecting us already; and the first sighting was announced at the crack of dawn before we even had time to sit down for breakfast. Everybody ran to the back deck, grabbed wetsuits and snorkel gear and jumped into the water. Undersea Explorer pioneered the least intrusive way of interacting with Minke whales by attaching long ropes to the boat for snorkellers to hold on to. While the boat idles in the waves trailing the passengers behind, the whales are free to approach as close as they dare and take a good look at us funny creatures in rubber suits lining up in 2 neat rows on the water surface.

Frequently, minke whales approach snorkellers within a few metres, however, they don’t seem to like divers’ bubbles, and usually they keep their distance from everybody on scuba. Dwarf minke whales grow to 4-8 metres/12-24ft and are more or less easily distinguishable through individual markings on their body. Some of them approach the boat numerous times during one season and return again the following years.

On some encounters, there were so many minkes swimming simultaneously below us, next to us and way off in the distance that we sometimes wished we had 3 pairs of eyes to take it all in. We felt like greeting old friends, and to see their intelligent and inquiring eyes acknowledging our presence at such close range was time and time again a truly thrilling experience. I had to ask myself who was studying whom on many occasions.

Here the bare statistics of our whale trip:

6 days at sea with daily minke whale sightings
64 individual minke whales counted
9 in-water interactions between snorkellers and minkes
12 exciting scuba dives on the best dive sites along the Ribbon Reefs
20 joyful passengers who all vowed to be back!

Want to be there this year? There are only limited spaces left, so send us a quick email