Diving the Holy Grail – Nuigini Blue Black Jack article

Like a scene from a film set, the wreck of the B-17F “Black Jack” lays undisturbed in 50m of water, just off the fringing reef from the remote village of Boga Boga on the northeast coast of Papua New Guinea.

Discovered in 1986 by Australians Rod Pearce, Bruce Johnson and David Pennefather during a dedicated expedition organized by Pennefather after being told by the villagers of Boga Boga that a plane had crashed near the reef during WWII.

They had no idea that the wreck was a huge B17 and believed the wreck was probably an Australian Beaufort A9 that had been reported crash landing in the area of Collingwood Bay.

The discovery of Black Jack is a great story in itself, but the subsequent one about how the original pilot Ralph De Loach was tracked down in Marina del Ray in California and then brought all the way back to Boga Boga village is an even better one!

Nuigini Blue magazine in Papua New Guinea recently published a six page article of mine on the Black Jack, which you can download by clicking on the link.

Alternatively you can check out the dedicated pages and image galleries on this wonderful wreck.

SportDiving Magazine Article on Timor Leste

The tale of the boy and the sleeping crocodile is told often in Timor Leste…

It is used to explain the island’s crocodile-like shape and why the Timorese have a special affinity with the large reptile that is said to inhabit the creeks & pools along much of the south coast of the country.

I did not see any crocodiles on my trip to Timor Leste, but I did see some great dive sites along the north coast of the island.

A quick look at the map will tell you there just has to be some great diving in the new country of Timor Leste, more commonly known as East Timor.

To the north are the remote islands of Alor and Wetar – the most easterly of the chain of islands called the Lesser Sundas, which form the southern boundary of the huge Indonesian archipelago.

Further north are the deep basins of the Banda Sea, and as the rich Indonesian Throughflow surges its way south it passes through the Ombai Strait between Alor, Wetar and Timor Leste.

Swept by these rich currents, the north coast of Timor Leste is fertile and largely undiscovered scuba diving territory.

There are only two dive operators in the country, both based in the capital Dili, and most diving is focused either on the coastal sites within driving distance or around the island of Atauro.

SportDiving magazine in Australia recently published my article on diving the coastal sites of Timor Leste which is now available for download.

The article is just over 4MB… so I have also uploaded a low resolution version of the same article.

Next Page: Dili’s Tasi Tolu Critter Site

Back To: Scuba Diving to Timor Leste (East Timor)

Three for the Bucket List

Mention Kavieng among any group of experienced scuba divers and you will quickly discern three key themes – big currents, schooling pelagics and clear blue water.

A quick look at the map, combined with a very basic awareness of oceanography, will tell you why…

New Ireland is located along the eastern rim of the Bismarck Archipelago and its long thin shape forms a natural barrier between the rich deep waters of the Pacific Ocean to the east, and those of the Bismarck Sea to the west.

It is also very much an integral part of the Coral Triangle, the most biodiverse marine area in the world, characterized by more than 600 species of coral and 3000 species of reef fish.

Because of this location, the island’s coastline is exposed to a complex mix of oceanic, equatorial and regional currents and Kavieng sits on the very nexus of these powerful water flows as they pass back and forth through the channels between New Ireland and nearby New Hanover.

Those currents and the sheer biodiversity of the Coral Triangle combine to make Kavieng one of the must-dive areas in Papua New Guinea with a great combination of wrecks, reefs, coral gardens, big fish and muck diving.

Three “must-do” sites in Kavieng are the wreck of the Der Yang, Albatross Passage and Cathy’s Eels.

All three were high on my personal bucket list and feature in the article I had published recently in Nuigini Blue magazine called (strangely enough…) 3 for the Bucket List.

I have also updated my PNG location pages with a comprehensive guide to diving in the Kavieng area, starting with an overview of New Ireland Province followed by sections on the WWII wrecks and many more things of interest.

Air Nuigini Paradise Magazine

On the Solomon Sea side of the peninsular that forms the north coast of Milne Bay is a small village called Lauadi.

It’s a pretty place, with lush vegetation and a black sand beach, but very little else to distinguish it from many other similar villages in Milne Bay Province.

But what makes Lauadi so special is not what’s on the land…

It’s what is under the water just off the beach in front of the village, and at the nearby headland, that brings divers from far & wide.

For Lauadi is host to two of the best dive sites in Milne Bay – Dinah’s Beach and Deacon’s Reef!

It’s hard to imagine two such different sites so close together – Dinah’s is muck diving and critters while Deacon’s offers superb corals and huge gorgonian fans.

Air Nuigini’s in-flight magazine Paradise has just published a five page article of mine on Lauadi that describes both sites.

You can also go to the Dinah’s Beach and Deacon’s Reef location pages to read more about the sites and see image galleries from them.

Alternatively check out the full Milne Bay location guide.

X-Ray magazine Expect the Unexpected article

Papua New Guinea is truly one of the last frontiers – the country is a wild & adventurous place that offers some tremendous scuba diving, combined with many unique and fascinating things to see above the water.

One of the world’s most heterogeneous countries, Papua New Guinea (PNG) has a population of around 6.5 million people, but over 850 languages and nearly 1000 traditional societies & ethnic indigenous groups.

X-Ray magazine recently published an extensive section on scuba diving in Papua New Guinea featuring articles on Tufi, Milne Bay, New Ireland and New Britain and asked me to write an article providing an overview of the country, its people and its recent history.

The timing was perfect as I had recently completed the location pages for most of the main scuba diving locations and needed to write an overview of the country that put everything in to context for people visiting for the first time.

If you are interested in learning more about Papua New Guinea you can download the Expect The Unexpected article on this LINK

Mahonia Outdoor Classroom – Image Courtesy of Juergen Freund

What would you do if one day you realized that the side-effects of the industry you helped to introduce were starting to degrade the pristine environment of your backyard – turn a blind eye… hug a tree perhaps?

Well, if you are anything like Max and Cecilie Benjamin, you fight long and hard to protect it and establish a framework that will empower the local population to take ownership of the process.

Easier said than done, particularly in that complex equation that is Papua New Guinea…

But Mahonia Na Dari, next door to Walindi Plantation Dive Resort, is living proof that it can be done and a testament to Max and Cecilie’s sheer determination and commitment to Kimbe Bay.

I spent two weeks diving Kimbe Bay late last year and documented the experience in an article call the Coral Crucible, that was published recently in Our Way – the in-flight magazine of APNG.

I have just had the follow-up article published in the same magazine that documents the efforts made to conserve the pristine environment of Kimbe Bay and you can download it on this LINK.

I have also updated my site with several new pages as part of the location guide to Kimbe Bay including new pages on the conservation of the bay and the work of Mahonia Na Dari.

Ambon scuba diving – X-Ray article

Indonesia is without doubt a country that can constantly surprise and delight you – usually when you are least expecting it!

The huge archipelago of more than 17,000 island offers some of the best diving in the world, ranging from the incredible reefs of Misool in Raja Ampat to the amazing critters of the Lembeh Strait.

The island of Ambon, in the Spice Island province of Maluku, is best known for the muck and critter diving along both sides of it’s massive natural harbor.

It is also the home of the Twilight Zone – possibly the most prolific and certainly the weirdest muck site in the country.

But the island also offers some excellent wide-angle diving along the south coast if you get a little tired of all that macro stuff…

In December 2011 I spent 10 days diving the many sites in Ambon with Maluku Divers, at their new resort at Laha near the Twilight Zone – my third trip to the island in 5 years.

My experiences and images are documented in a comprehensive article recently published in issue 51 of X-Ray magazine which can be downloaded on this LINK (5MB download…)

Tasi Tolu Article from Issue #50 of X-Ray Magazine

Tasi Tolu on the outskirt’s of Timor Leste’s capital Dili is probably the best, and certainly the most famous, critter site in the country.

So famous in fact, it was saved from being smothered in run-off by the direct intervention of the country’s former President, Dr. Ramos Horta.

Tasi Tolu gets its name from the three fresh water lakes inland from the beach just below the nearby foothills and, during the rainy season, the lakes fill to capacity and then overflow – flooding the nearby road & villages.

To prevent this from happening the government commissioned a project to provide a drainage channel for the overflow to run off into the sea and the design for which took the most logical path which would have dumped the outflow right on to the Tasi Tolu site!

A great deal of lobbying by the local dive operators eventually got the attention of Dr. Horta, who was eventually able to get the drainage channel re-routed.

If you are thinking about trying the diving in Timor Leste, make sure you try Tasi Tolu – but get a guide for your first couple of dives at least, as it is very easy to miss…

You can download the article on Tasi Tolu I have just had published in the latest issue of X-Ray magazine on this LINK, and check out the Tasi Tolu pages and image gallery from the link on the menu bar above.

Next Page: Dili’s Other Dive Sites

Back To: Tasi Tolu Overview

SMY Ondina

It’s not very often that you get an offer that you simply cannot refuse…

An email asking if you are interested in assisting with two 2-week back to back trips, on a liveaboard boat you know and in an area that offers some of the best diving in Indonesia, is not one that arrives in my inbox every day!

So to say that I was a little bit excited last week would be an understatement.

But the planets have aligned and next month I am off to Sorong to assist Deb Fugitt of City Seahorse with her annual pilgrimage to Raja Ampat as the on-board photo pro.

It seems a real cushy assignment and all I have to do is work from 05.00 to 22.00, seven days a week, doing whatever I am told to do by Deb and assisting anybody who needs help with their underwater photography!

In exchange I get to dive the some of the best sites in the Raja Ampat area.

Starting with ones in the Dampier Strait like Chicken and Sardine Reefs which are simply stunningly vibrant, then up to Waigeo for some of the great sites there and then down to the remote island of Misool. Then I get to do them all over again on the second trip – how good is that?

Deb runs very well organized trips, which are strictly limited to 12 divers only, and has been diving the Raja Ampat area since 1999. She introduced me to Raja Ampat back in 2005 when I did the first of several trips with her and the SMY Ondina, so to be going back for these trips as the photo pro and general assistant is a real privilege.

If you are interested in these trips, Deb has a couple of last-minute spots open on the first one (Oct 19 – Nov 2) which are available with a special $1500 discount.

Deb can be contacted directly on cityseahorsetours@gmail.com or tours@cityseahorse.com

Vibrant fan on the Japanese shipwreck near Amed

The Liberty wreck at Tulamben in Bali draws divers from all over the world, but just a few miles round the coast on the Seraya peninsular near Amed is the small village of Banyuning and the “other” shipwreck on the northeast of the island.

Universally referred to as the  Japanese wreck it is an excellent dive and well worth checking out if you are staying in the  Tulamben or Amed area.

The Japanese wreck is located in shallow water, just off the beach in Lipah Bay near the small village of Banyuning, which places it close to  Gili Selang where the forces of the Indonesian Throughflow are at their most powerful.

Very little is known about the wreck and how it ended up sank at Banyuning – or even if it really was a Japanese ship.

In fact the only indication I could find about its heritage is that the nearly intact Asian style toilet found on the wreck made somebody in the past think that the ship must have been from Japan…

I have just updated my site with a revised location page for the Japanese Wreck, which a description of the wreck itself and the nearby reef and there are image galleries of both, plus how to get there and when to dive the wreck.

There are also links to other dive locations in the Amed area such as Ghost Bay, Jemeluk Bay and the power-site Gili Selang