The MV Oceania

Posted on April 10, 2025 by murray

Awaiting at the Driftwood Hotel in Alotau to be picked up by our ride for the next ten days we meet up with our fellow divers. They drift in in ones and twos. There doesn’t seem to be a crowd and in fact there is only seven passenger’s total. Less than ½ a boatload, one Australian, one Scotsman living in Australia, one Brit, one Brit living in Canada, one Slovenian, and two Canuks. 

MV Oceania
MV Oceania

We are met on board by Captain Dan who will be our host and driver for the trip.  Dan is also the owner of the boat. There is 10 crew and since there are only 7 guests the ratio is more than 1 to 1.

MV Oceania
Dining and Living Areas

First impression is the boat is very well maintained. The owner is aboard 24/7 so all the little things are noticed and taken care of.  The cabins are a bit small with very little storage but we make it work and don’t have any real issues. The others are one to a room so they have ample space, they did mention that with 2 in the room it would be cramped.

Debbie and I have been travelling on luxury live a boards of late and the Oceania is not quite up to those standards. The divers are responsible for rinsing and storing their own gear after each dive, the food is very good but not gourmet, there are no hot drinks or towels waiting on the dive deck when you surface and small things like the room towels are not replaced each day so they are always wet to damp because we shower after each dive.

MV Oceania
Dive Deck

There is only one tender that tags along with the mother ship so most of the dives are off the back deck of the Oceania. This means that most of the dives are not drift dives. There is plenty of current and since the tender is not regularly used one must swim against the current for at least part of every dive to get back to the boat. I found this hard work and once we did not make it back and had to get picked up in the blue.

MV Oceania
Debbie off for another dive!

One thing we really liked is all the cabins are on the main deck. In case of an emergency the escape route would be a lot quicker with no stairs impeding egress. Captain Dan did the boat briefing shortly after we arrived and the safety section was one of the most comprehensive, we have ever heard, that too has been on our minds since reading about all the boat disasters on the Red Sea and how the safety briefing is all but non existent. It was nice to know there is a detailed plan if an emergency should arrive.

All in all, the boat functions very well and the entire trip went off with very few hitches. If we go back to Papua I would not shy away from joining the Oceania for another voyage.

MV Oceania
Kitchen staff trading for produce from the locals
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Air Niugini Wins Fans

Posted on April 9, 2025 by murray

We arrive in Port Moresby and are prepared for the possibility of itinerary changes with Air Niugini. (I wrote about all the changes to our flights before we left home.) When I check my emails, we have one from the airline confirming and letting us check in online for our flight to Alotau. Looks like this flight is a go. The flight flew on time and as booked!

Papua New Guinea

While on the liveaboard, a day before we are to depart, we ask the captain to confirm our 7:05 am flight from Rabaul to Port Moresby. He lets us know, later in the day, that the flight is confirmed. Okay, this is good.

We are moored in the harbour at KoKoPo, New Britain, near the Rabaul Airport. We need to be at the KoKoPo Resort reception at 5:00am and as we walk into the area we see another traveller waiting for the shuttle. Another good sign.

We check in and the agent tells us he cannot give us our boarding passes until the plane takes off from the previous stop. But other passengers are getting theirs. Is it because we didn’t check in online? I eventually get antsy and walk up to the desk to inquire and the agent hands me the boarding passes that are sitting on his desk. Yeah!

Sitting in the departure lounge, before boarding, the attendant comes and scoops our boarding passes. She doesn’t say a word, just asks for our passes. After everyone else has walked out to the tarmac, we get our passes back with reassigned seats. Aboard the plane we discover we have been upgraded to business class. Air Niugini went up a notch on the scale of domestic airlines. Other than the wider seats and more leg room we don’t get any extra service and receive the same four cookies for a snack that the rest of the plane is given.

Our best guess as to what happened is this. The 7:05am flight was overbooked, so we were arbitrarily bumped. Once they found out we had an international connection, they put us back on the flight, perhaps bumping some else. Due to this, and not checking in online, we were not assigned seats, so were given the only seats available which happened to be in Business Class.

Papua New Guinea

After all we had heard and read about Air Niugini’s poor reputation they worked quite well for us. It was nice to know not all small airlines operate with the same attitude as our least favorite flyers, Lion Air. I would approach the next trip with a little less worry of our itinerary being disrupted due to airline ridiculousness.

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Scuba Diving in Papua New Guinea

Posted on April 7, 2025 by debbie

If I have to describe, with one word, the diving here in Papua New Guinea, I would pick currents. We deal with currents on almost all the dives. It’s a double edged sword as currents are hard on air consumption but all the fish are in the current (as that is where the food is). The hard part is there are not too many drift dives. Most of the diving is off the back of the mother ship so you have to return to the back of the boat each dive. That means no matter how strong the current, we spend a good amount of time swimming into very fast moving water. The guides manage it as best they can but it still means some hard kicking and draining the tank quite quickly.

Papua New Guinea
Flatworm

Most of the dives have an abundance of coral as the main backdrop, a couple of the dives have fissures running vertical through the coral gardens which makes for interesting terrain. There are a few dives on the south shore of New Britain that are starting to get covered in algae. Too bad, but there is always hope the reef will recover and the algae will retreat. Some dive sites sport huge, old sea fans, some elephant ears, most dives have soft and hard corals in abundance and some have many varieties of sponges, including gigantic barrels. 

Papua New Guinea

The diving is deep. We routinely descend down to 80, 90 or 100 feet, not our usual protocol but that’s where the big fish are. As the dive progresses we move higher up the reef towards our safety stop and as we ascend the smaller more colourful fish appear. We see massive schools of snappers, fusiliers, bannerfish and many others. Silvertip and grey reef sharks are in abundance. Nudibranchs on every dive give photo opportunities.

Papua New Guinea
Nudibranch

There are four dive guides and they rotate between the three dive groups. The groups are small, two groups of two and one of three divers. Each guide has his own style and we have to get used to all of them. They need to get used to us too! I decide very quickly which one is my fav. Our group has the three divers, Murray, B and me. B has 6000 dives and flits around by himself, Murray and I stick quite close together. Our group dives well together and do not get in each other’s way. Murray and I have close to 1000 dives and we are by far the newbies of this very experienced group. So even when all three groups start at the same time we all stay clear of one another.

The boat’s dive rules are a little more relaxed than other live a boards we have been on. Solo diving is accepted as long as you let the crew know. If you and your buddy want to go off alone with no guide that is OK as well, just make sure you can return to the boat. Deco dives are perfectly fine as long as you clear before getting back on the boat. Dive any depth as long as it is with the range of the Nitrox mix in your tank. It is asked that you do 5 minute safety stops no matter what your dive profile. Not a hard rule to adhere to. The idea is we are all certified divers and should be knowledgeable and careful enough to dive safely.

Papua New Guinea
Mini Cuttlefish

The dusk dive brings out a few creatures that do their wandering in the dark. One dive we come across a wonderpuss. A somewhat unusual eight armed creature in the octopus family. Other octopi are out for a walk as well. One of the dive guides finds a couple of mini cuttlefish. The muck diving, although not spectacular or a prolific as other place we have been, still has its share of unusual animals. One of Mur’s favourites is a tiny anemone crab. It is maybe 1/2″ wide and carrying two small anemones. One dive produces two snake eels buried in the sand, very ugly and scary looking beasts. Another highlight is on the very last dive when we found a very small juvi bat (spade) fish swimming in one of the I beam supports for a jetty.

Papua New Guinea
Anemone Crab

Not many people go to PNG to dive so the reefs are in very good shape. There is an abundance of fish and many large schools. The reefs are not as spectacular as other places we have been but it was still worth the trip.

Papua New Guinea
Juvenile Batfish
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ADVENTURE to the Blue Hole

Posted on April 6, 2025 by debbie

Today is adventure day. The dive group and some of the crew are going to motor with the tender down a river and then dive in the Blue Hole. Dan, the captain/cruise director hasn’t been there in 15 years, so no one is really sure what we are going to find. By 8:30 am we are leaving the Mother ship, boarding the tender and heading up river into the Heart of Darkness. The river was, in semi recent times, populated with head hunting local tribes. This practice ceased in the 1960’s but as you will read we were met by several groups on the way up the river, no bows and poison arrows though.

New Britain, Papua New Guinea

We get approval from the locals to do this trip and part of the negotiation, along with some cash, to take two fellows with us to guide us up the river and help carry the dive gear. The slow motor upstream is filled with views of large trees, the occasional homestead and many folks standing on the shore watching us go by. I wave at everyone to say Hello. In every group is a myriad of children as school is on a break.

New Britain, Papua New Guinea
New Britain, Papua New Guinea

We get to a spot and moor close to the shore. We have to walk a short distance from here. The dive guides have the unfortunate chore of carrying our dive tanks and gear. The locals take us the “quick” route of up and over a steep hill on very rough terrain. When we get to the top, we see the colour of the water in the blue hole and am amazed and just want to jump in.

New Britain, Papua New Guinea
View of the Blue Hole from the top of the hill.

Up is just fine (I’m a better up mountain goat) but the down is extremely steep, almost like rock climbing. One dive guide is quite concerned about me and has a tight grip on my arm as I scale down the rocks placing my hands and feet carefully. 

New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Resting Spot above the Blue Hole

Once down, I sit on a thick tree branch just above the water. Slowly all the divers get their gear on and disappear into the blue. Murray and I do the same and get a shock when we plop into the crystal clear water. The water temperature is 25 C or 73 F. I peer down into the depths and the sun’s rays filter down and it is gorgeous.

Blue Hole
The depths of the Blue Hole

We descend to 40 feet and swim a tour around the lake, me taking photos and Murray taking videos. Our dive lasts only about 30 minutes due to the cold. 

Blue Hole
Looking up through the water to the trees overhead.

Instead of climbing up and over the hill again, it is suggested we float down the stream/river to where the tender is moored. Little did we know what lay in wait for us. 

Dan goes first and once he disappears around the corner, R, D, Murray and I start out, followed by B, B, J and W (a dive guide). Apparently Dan had shouted “wait till I check it out before you go”. No one heard him. We float with our BCDs and tanks in front of us holding on to the straps. Dan wasn’t quick enough to warn us and one by one the first group goes over a waterfall! It was not too high, a foot or two, but a waterfall none the less, with jagged rocks at its base submerged in the roiling water.

Murray tells us he was having trouble getting his arm out of the strap of his BCD and went over the waterfall on his back. D tells us he called out to Murray to WATCH OUT! and then Murray disappeared. OH SHIT! and then AAAAHHH! as he realized he is next and then goes over.

R and I go over almost the same time. Just before I tumble over I see Murray downstream and he is  lower than me. Here I go!

D comes out with a scraped hand. Murray hits his hip on the rocks, tears his wetsuit and now has a nasty contusion on his hip, a sore calf and a bruise on his shoulder. R takes the worst tumble and hits his forehead. When I see him, his face is covered in blood. This spill causes him to let go of his BCD and it hasn’t been seen since. I crash over, my tank jams on the rocks, I flip over my tank and hit my mask so it becomes askew on my face. Fortunately, I have my regulator in my mouth and did not let go of my BCD so manage to get it dislodged. I end up with a small bruise on my knee and one on my arm.

Murray’s torn wetsuit

B goes over the waterfall, scrapes his knee and films the whole trip on his GoPro. Dan manages to stop B, J and W from the experience and they get out and walk through the trees to where we are beached. We are fortunate that no one was hurt more seriously, but it cost a wetsuit, a BCD, a set of regulators and a tank.

Time is spent trying to locate the BCD and tank. The best guess is that it is lodged in the rocks right below the waterfall where is it impossible to search. R’s BCD was only partly inflated, whereas mine was fully inflated, so that might have added to it getting stuck on the rocks. It is decided the gear is gone and we pile back into the tender and motor back to the mother ship.

New Britain, Papua New Guinea

Today, with the stressful trip over the hill to the Blue Hole, missing and broken gear and the injuries, the adventure turned into an ADVENTURE!

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Alotau, PNG

Posted on March 25, 2025 by debbie

We walk into the Domestic Terminal at the Port Moresby Airport and the first thing we notice is that we are the only white people anywhere. We can’t figure out where we to check in so Murray asks an employee with a vest on and he directs us to a line and tells us check in opens at 7:30. It is about 7:15 and we are second in the line. A lady with two children pulls in beside us and asks if we are going to Alotau and I say “Yes, are you?” And she says “Yes” with a big smile. She is from there. She seems tickled that she is going to where we are going as once inside the boarding gate area, she comes to sit with us. Her little girl watches us with huge eyes.

One employee was controlling the lines for two check in counters and did a pretty good job of it. Friendly guy. The lines are held behind the queue ribbons and only two people are let through at a time for each counter. It prevents mass pandemonium at each counter, I think.

Once we are checked in, we proceed through security. They are doing the procedures but it is pretty lax. Murray walked through the metal detector and the light turned red, but nothing was done about it. Maybe they figure a white guy is not a threat. All the carry on bags went through the X-ray but I did not see one get pulled aside to be checked.

There are four gates, but only two seem to be used, and mostly just one. After watching several plane loads board, we think the system is very efficient. No ID is being checked, just boarding passes. The ceiling is acoustic tile and the PA system is pretty good, so all the announcements are understandable. They have their systems down pretty efficiently.

We are early for our flight, so sit and people watch. We are counting white folks. For the number of folks who board flights, the proportion of light coloured skin is extremely tiny.

I enjoy seeing what the women are wearing. Many of them have dresses in bright and wild fabrics. Many ladies, and men too, are carrying a big bag in bright colours and knit or crocheted. I remark to Murray that the green one would make a great throw pillow on our living room chairs. mmmmmm…..

Our flight is called and we take off early. Looking out the window of the plane shows me the countryside is quite hilly and untraveled. No logging, no roads, virgin forest, many streams winding to the ocean. Settlements are located on the rivers or near the ocean. Fisher people.

We are in Alotau and it is 36C, hot. We are taking it easy today and tomorrow will get a ride to the centre of town. We will walk around in the morning for a short while and get a ride back to the hotel. That is the plan….we will see what the morning brings.

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Port Moresby

Posted on March 24, 2025 by debbie

We are flying Qantas to Port Moresby today. As we are trying to put our bags through the electronic bag drop, the system goes down and the conveyor belts and computers grind to a halt. The line behind us builds. It is twenty deep at 8 bag drop locations. After about 15 minutes with several Qantas staff running around, the belts start moving again and the staff reboot the computers. Since we were in mid transaction we have to wait until one of the fellows cancels our transaction before we re do it. Works really well once it gets going! We are glad we were in the front of that mess.

The flight to Port Moresby is filled with mostly men, travelling alone. Business folk, engineers, consultants, maybe trades folk, mostly Australians. This is a working person’s flight. We may be the only tourists on board, plus a few Papua New Guineans.

We deplane and start chatting with a couple of folks in the line at immigration. We learn quite a few important things about PNG. When Murray asked one of the fellows in line if Port Moresby was safe his answer was, “It’s fine, just stay in your own lane.” Mur thought that was odd so he questioned further, the answer “You do not walk around Port Moresby.” If you want to go somewhere, hire a driver to take you there. A woman that travels to PNG as a consultant works 2 weeks in, 2 weeks out, rents a one bedroom unit within a hotel complex. It is not safe to be alone in a usual apartment building, so she stays within a hotel complex where it is more secure. The hotel we are staying in got the thumbs up from the woman. She impressed upon us that folks are really friendly, but there are those that will try to steal your backpack. She reiterated “be careful” a number of times. 

We are staying at the Airways Hotel. Which, by the way, was started and owned by a Greek. It is very well appointed and tastefully decorated.  It has a section for hotel guests but also a section of what appears to be longer term stays and staff accommodation. In one part, there is a pool table/games room, big screen TV room, library, swimming pool and casino. 

The people we have met have been super friendly. They do work in the hospitality industry, but everyone has still been helpful, smiley and chatty. I am not sure very many tourists come to PNG so maybe we are different than the usual folks staying at the hotel for work. 

Tomorrow we take our last flight, Port Moresby to Alotau, a small town on the southern tip of the island. We have an extra day to decompress before we board the scuba dive liveaboard. Our plan is to walk around the town, but now we may rethink that, be careful our friend said. I could use a day by the pool!

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A Day in Brisbane

Posted on March 24, 2025 by debbie

We arrive in Brisbane at 7:00 am. Our flight to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, is the next morning so we have decided to spend the day in downtown Brisbane. The Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) and the Gallery of Modern Art are first on our list. The QAG is a maze, so we go left and go left again, and left some more until we wander through the myriad of exhibit halls. Lots of Australian and Aboriginal artists. A handful of masters, like Degas, Pissarro and Picasso. There are a number of huge floor to ceiling, entire wall installations that are wondrous.

Across the courtyard from the QAG is the Gallery of Modern Art. There is an exhibit on now called the Asia Pacific Triennial. Art from over 30 countries in the area is on display and gives one an insight of art from New Zealand, China, Timor-Leste and many island nations.

By now it is lunchtime so we walk to Queen Street Mall. We have lunch at Jimmy’s, an outdoor bar/coffeehouse/restaurant in the middle of the mall. Murray and I share Pad Thai, which is just enough lunch, and people watch.

After our rest, we decide to see if we can get on the City Cat, the water bus that plies the Brisbane River that runs through the city. For 50 cents we ride the water bus, first upstream and then downstream. It went a lot farther than we thought so we were on the boat for about 2 hours! We really like seeing cities from the water as it gives a whole different prespective. As the high rise office buildings and condos gave way to residential areas, we are amazed that there are still many single family residences right on the river. Some of the older houses look to be original “plantation” estates. 

It’s time to head back to the airport hotel and a half hour train ride has us back there. Supper, check in for our flight to Port Moresby the next day and then we try to stay awake. I pass out at 8:00pm, Murray by 8:30.

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Air Niugini

Posted on March 19, 2025 by debbie

We are off to Papua New Guinea in a few days to go scuba diving. We have booked flights within PNG on Air Niugini, the national domestic and international air carrier of PNG. We have had experiences with other domestic airlines in Indonesia and The Philippines, some good and some ridiculous. Air Niugini is heading toward the ridiculous, but there is hope. Here is the story.

Once we arrive in Port Moresby, the capital of PNG, we have to fly to Alotau to meet the liveaboard dive boat. We have had one time change to that flight. So far, that flight is still good and is not causing us issues.

The liveaboard cruise ends in Rabaul, on the island of New Britain, east of the main island of PNG. We have to fly from Rabaul back to Port Moresby and then pick up our return flight to Brisbane. Our Qantas flight to Brisbane departs on April 6 at 1:15 pm, so we booked the Rabaul to Port Moresby flight for 7:00 am. Lots of time! Just a little insurance in case things go wrong. Well, here we go………

First email notification arrives telling us the flight number is changed and now leaves at 7:05 am. Okay.

Second email arrives telling us the flight is now leaving at 8:20 am. No issues, we can still make our connection.

Third email arrives telling us the flight is now leaving at 1:10 pm. WHAT!?? Now we are missing our connection. Breathe deep…..”work the problem”.

Knowing domestic airlines of southeastern Asian countries, we decide to just make sure we get to Port Moresby on April 6, and rebook our Qantas flight for April 7. But before we do that I decide to try to contact Air Niugini. Using Skype to call doesn’t seem to work with their phone system, so I send an email to their Customer Care Department.

My first reply is two emails saying the issue has been resolved. Resolved? What? I email back saying, “It is not resolved and we either want a flight that will connect with our Qantas flight or a hotel room for the night of April 6 in Port Moresby.”

I get a reply from Joyce, pretty quickly, saying it has to go to the International Department and I should hear back soon.

While writing this post, I decide to check Air Niugini’s website to see what it says for flights for April 6 (not sure what made me do it). My jaw fell open as there are now two flights listed – one at 1:10 pm and one at 7:05 am! I email Joyce to ask her about the 7:05 flight and if it is a guaranteed go. We wait and wait and wait and then an email……..

“Flight rebooked as requested. Revised copies sent through.”

We are now booked on the 7:05 am flight from Rabaul to Port Moresby, didn’t have to change our Brisbane flight, and have our fingers crossed.

Will keep you posted.

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Indonesia Photos

Posted on December 31, 2024 by debbie

The photos from our recent trip to Indonesia are now posted to the blog.

To view photos, hover over “Photos” until the drop down menu appears. The photos are under the “Asia” subheading. Hover over “Asia” and another drop down menu appears with “Indonesia 2024″ listed. Click on that. Wait until the photos load. Click on the first photo and a “slide show” view will appear. Scroll through the photos using the arrow on the right hand side or the arrow key. Click on the “x” in the upper right hand corner to exit out of the slide show. Enjoy!

The photos do not have captions, so here is a list of the photo sections:

Pelagian Liveaboard plus diving

Wakatobi Resort plus diving

Tulamben Resort plus diving

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Philippines Photos

Posted on December 31, 2024 by debbie

Photos are now loaded into the blog from our trip to the Philippines in the spring.

To view photos, hover over “Photos” until the drop down menu appears. The photos are under the “Asia” subheading. Hover over “Asia” and another drop down menu appears with “Philippines 2024″ listed. Click on that. Wait until the photos load. Click on the first photo and a “slide show” view will appear. Scroll through the photos using the arrow on the right hand side or the arrow key. Click on the “x” in the upper right hand corner to exit out of the slide show. Enjoy!

The photos do not have descriptions on them so here is a list of their order:

Puerto Princesa

Solitude Liveaboard plus diving

Cebu

Malapascua Island plus diving

Dauin plus diving

Manila

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