PAPUA NEW GUINEA

I am not usually at a loss for words, however, when it comes to describing Papua New Guinea I am finding it hard not to use cliches. Papua New Guinea is an absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful country. Amazingly, it is comprised of over 600 islands, which lie in the South Pacific. There are many active volcanoes and the geography of the mainland and the larger islands is very mountainous. Pidgin English is the most common language, even though English is the official language. In actuality, there are over 700 languages spoken in Papua New Guinea.

We landed in Port Moresby, in the southern part of Papua New Guinea. Port Moresby is the capital of the country. We spent three days at Loloata Resort, which is on a small island. The diving in the south is mainly muck diving, but we did dive some wonderful sea mounts. Muck diving is basically creeping along on the bottom and can turn up some interesting critters. I saw flying gurnards, leaf oysters, imperator shrimp, sea squirts and an Australian Giant cuttlefish. The sea mounts, or bommies, as they are called were terrific dives. Hundreds of fish hang in the upwell currents. Huge Napoleon wrasses followed us as we cruised along in the current. There were unicornfish, many varieties of butterflyfish, pipefish, pygmy seahorses, lionfish,, and a gigantic potato grouper, and the list could go on.

After Loloata, we flew to the northern shore of Papua New Guinea, and landed in Rabaul. We boarded our liveaboard there. We chose Peter Hughes Star Dancer. The ship was terrific, with the usual Peter Hughes amenities. The dive sites were wonderful. Lots of bommies and drop-offs. Again, the marine life was abundant. What makes PNG so special is the unbelievable pristine condition of the corals. I lost count of the varieties of both hard and soft corals. The colors were spectacular. There were so many species of fish and critters, that my head spun.

One night we landed at Walindi Plantation and had dinner there. The local tribe performed a Sing-Sing for us. A Sing-Sing is a combination of chanting and dancing, performed by the men of the tribe. They were attired in their ceremonial dress, which consisted of lap-laps(a type of sarong) or grass skirts. Their faces and bodies were painted in their tribal color(which was yellow), and they wore headdresses or masks. It was fascinating to watch them in the twilight. I had a wonderful time.

Many evenings we moored by an island, and the locals would paddle out in their outrigger canoes. They came just to look at the boat and us. One night, I went back out on deck late in the evening to get my film, and they were still there, sitting in their canoes and watching the boat.

I wish I could have spent more time visiting the islands and the people. It was a wonderful trip, and I would go again in a heartbeat.

MY PAPUA NEW GUINEA PHOTOS
BUTTERFLYFISH	NUDIBRANCHS	SHARKS!
ANENOMEFISH	STRANGE CRITTERS	CORAL AND STARFISH
A SAMPLING OF BEAUTIFUL FISH