Tufi - Getting There

Located at the tip of Cape Nelson in Oro Province, on the northeast coast of the main island of New Guinea, Tufi is the second largest of the unique tropical fiords found in that area.

Separated from the southeast coast, and the PNG capital of Port Moresby, by the formidable Owen Stanley mountain range access to Tufi is by air, or you can go the long way round by sea.

Driving is simply not an option as there are no roads….

Airlines PNG (www.apng.com) fly into Tufi on Monday, Wednesday & Friday using Twin Otters and land on the grass airstrip built by the Australian Defense Force (ADF) when Tufi was a settlement for the Australian Administration, prior to PNG independence.

Plans are under way by the resort owners to extend & regrade the runway so that Dash 8’s can be brought in, which will require all the heavy equipment & road-base materials to be shipped in, just as the ADF had to do when the original grass airstrip was built.

The 50-minute flight passes over the Owen Stanley’s and at their highest point the Twin Otter gets close enough to the mountains and their dense rainforest cover to give a true appreciation of the difficulties faced by the Australian & Japanese armies who fought for control of Port Moresby in these mountains during WWII.

Beautiful Tufi & it's Fiords

It’s no coincidence that the adjective "beautiful” is often used in front of the noun Tufi…

Imagine if you will the fiords of Norway, or the south island of New Zealand, set in a tropical location with a dense covering of rainforest that descends to the water’s edge.

The area’s unique topography is apparently the result of an ancient eruption of three volcanoes on Cape Nelson.

The lava flow from which created the long & narrow coastal inlets as it poured into the Solomon Sea.

Geologists refer to such coastal inlets as “rias”, because a true fiord is created by glaciers – large but slow moving rivers of ice that carve out U shaped canyons over thousands of years, with the fiord being what remains after the climatic conditions change and the ice melts.

But everybody seems to use the word fiord to describe the inlets and I have to say that saying you have been diving in a tropical fiord sounds much cooler than diving in a tropical rias…

Tufi Dive Resort

The dive resort itself is built on the site of the original pub & hotel that served the small expatriate community when Tufi was a settlement for the Australian Administration prior to independence.

The location is on the headland that overlooks the Tufi fiord, so the views from the observation deck and some of the rooms are spectacular, particularly at sunset as the sun goes down over the mountain range.

The dive shop is down at the wharf, so you can either take the strenuous option and walk down the hill or catch the “Tufi limo” which runs up & down with guests and their cameras.

Scuba Diving at Tufi

There are three main dive boats, the Crystal which is used for larger parties and the Yawata & the Talio. Diving the offshore reefs requires keeping a close eye on the weather, as there is very little shelter out there as most of the reefs are submerged.

The faster Yawata & Talio boats are great for getting out & back quickly and are perfect when the weather is good. The Crystal offers a lot more shelter from the elements with it’s closed in cabin, but it’s much slower than the other two.

The boats usually leave the jetty at around 08.30 and normal practice is to do two offshore reef dives in the morning and then head back to the dive shop for lunch, which has been prepared at the resort and brought down in time for the returning divers.

The afternoon dive is usually in the fiords, either at the jetty & house reef or at one of the other locations in Tufi jetty or McLaren Harbor – two fiords up (north) from Tufi.

Night dives are usually conducted at the jetty & house reef.

Underwater Photography at Tufi

Tufi offers a great combination of wide-angle, macro & critter subject matter for the underwater photographer and I have been able to use all my underwater lenses on my trips there, plus there are some really great landscape & cultural photo-opportinities above water.

The offshore reefs offer some great wide-angle opportunities, plus you will need wide-angle to capture some of the special opportunities in the fiords, around Tufi Wharf and down at the PT Boats.

Check out my Tufi image galleries on the following links:

Tufi Image Gallery & Tufi Wharf Image Gallery

Next Page: Tufi Dive Seaons & When to Dive Tufi

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