Bootless Bay, just outside the PNG capital of Port Moresby, is one of my favorite locations and home to a great selection of dive sites and Loloata Resort.

This article details some of the many critters, such as the pygmy seahorse & Rhinopias that are so highly sought after by underwater photographers, that can be found in Bootless Bay.

Dive sites covered are Lion Island, Suzie's Bommie, End Bommie and the Pai II wreck.

There are certain dives that stay with you and my first dive on the wreck of the Pacific Gas in Bootless Bay, just outside the PNG capital of Port Moresby, is one such dive.

The site of this large gas tanker sitting bolt upright, on a slope near Horseshoe Reef, was just incredible and my subsequent explorations on my many trips to Loloata Resort convinced me that I must document it all it an article.

I finally managed to do just that with the gracious support of Dik Knight, the owner of Loloata Resort

The more I traveled in eastern Indonesia, and the more I learned about the history of the area, the more I became fascinated by the small group of islands called the Bandas.

Remote and very special, these islands rise up out of the incredibly deep Banda Sea and their unique location, volcanic heritage and climate spawned the spices that were so incredibly valued in Europe just a couple of hundred years ago.

It took me two trips to actually get there, but the wait was worthwhile and I will journey there again!

Dive site covered in this article include Gunning Api (Snake Island), Hatta Island, Hatta Reef, Ai Island, Batu Kapal Island, Banda Besar Island and Banda Naira Jetty.

In a country as scenic as PNG is, to be universally know as beautiful Tufi means that this small village on the tip of Cape Nelson in Oro Province on the north-east coast of the mainland of PNG must be something special.

Tufi is very special indeed, not only is it set in the most spectacular location but there is a great feel about the place as the scuba diving resort does it's very best to integrate with and improve the lot of the local villages.

Add to that some terrific diving in the fjords which abound with great macro subjects and some pristine offshore reefs and you can understand why I was so taken with the place.

Dive sites covered in this article are Tufi Wharf, Cyclone Reef, Mulloway Reef, Veale's Reef and Gabriella's Fish Bowl.

The east coast is the area of Bali most divers seem to drive through to get to get to Tulamben up on the north coast, but after reading David Pickell & Wally Siagian's excellent book Diving Bali, I decided to spend two weeks there diving the sites off from Padangbai & Candi Dasa and Nusa Penida.

The dive sites covered in this article are the Blue Lagoon in Amuk Bay. Gili Mimpang, Gili Tepekong & Gili Biaha on the edge of the Lombok Strait and Sental, Ped, SD & Toyapakeh off Nusa Penida.

The Rabaul area in the PNG province of New Britain is reputed to have one of the largest concentrations of Japanese WWII wrecks in the world, with 64 identified in just Simpson Harbor.

The wrecks, the reefs at the nearby Duke Of York islands and some great macro sites make Rabaul a first class destination now that the damage caused by the twin eruptions of the Tavurvur & Vulcan volcanoes in 1994 has receded.

Dive sites covered in this article are The Atun, Japanese Zero at Kokopo, George's Wreck, the Duke of York islands and Johnnie's Jetty.

Ambon and the Lease Islands have been largely closed to divers since "the troubles" that erupted there in 2000 and until 2005, when Maluku Divers opened up shop, the only way to dive in the area was on the liveaboards that pass through on their way to Irian Jaya or the Banda Islands.

There is some really great diving in the area and the dive sites covered in this article are the Twilight Zone (aka Laha 1), the mysterious shipwreck in Ambon harbour and the pristine reefs at Ameth & Akoon on the east coast of the island of Nusa Laut.

The Twilight Zone is a special place and quite unlike anything else I have ever dived.

Since writing this article I discovered that the site was actually first found quite by accident in 1994, when a German diver called Monique Walker decided to look at what was under the pier near the village of Laha. I also learned that it was the American divers Burt Jones & Maurine Shimlock who christened the site the Twilight Zone when they first dived it in 1995 - quite an inspiration!

The Twilight Zone is particularly special for me as it got me my first (and so far only...) front cover with SportDiving - finally realizing a personal ambition I have had since they published my first mainstream diving article in 2003!

The east coast is the area of Bali most divers seem to drive through to get to get to Tulamben up on the north coast, but after reading David Pickell & Wally Siagian's excellent book Diving Bali, I decided to spend two weeks there diving the sites off from Padangbai & Candi Dasa and Nusa Penida.

The dive sites covered in this article are the Blue Lagoon in Amuk Bay. Gili Mimpang, Gili Tepekong & Gili Biaha on the edge of the Lombok Strait and Sental, Ped, SD & Toyapakeh off Nusa Penida.

This is the original version of the article that was subsequently revised and published again in Underwater Photography (UWP)

Located in Bootless Bay, just 15 kilometers from Port Moresby the capital of PNG, is what I consider to be one of the best dive sites in the country - Suzie's Bommie.

Located on the exposed side of the local barrier reef, Suzie's is only accessible when the conditions are good, but I have been lucky enough to dive it numerous times on my many visits to Loloata Resort.

There is something for everybody on this site - pygmy seahorses, rhinopias, schooling pelagics and cruising sharks!

Located in Bootless Bay just outside the capital of Port Moresby, and about 40 minutes from the international airport, Loloata Resort is a great place to break your journey to PNG.

Theoretically it's possible to arrive in Port Moresby and then catch your onward domestic flight on the same day, but over 25% of the times I have tried this - something went wrong and I ended up having to overnight at the airport hotel.

Now I always plan to spend a couple of days at Loloata and make the most of the great diving in Bootless Bay before venturing onwards within PNG.

On the remote south coast of the island on the PNG province of New Britain is Waterfall Bay and the Esis River.

A journey up the river takes you back in time as you pass through small local villages and dense jungle until, after about three hours, you eventually reach it's source - the Blue Hole.

A truly eerie dive in crystal clear waters that go down to 48m and the spring that creates the Esis River.

Irian Jaya is a long way from everywhere and a lot of traveling is involved just to get there. Is it all worth it - you bet!

There is some absolutely phenomenal diving in this area, possibly some of the best in the world!

This was my first trip to the eastern end of Indonesia and the "other" side of the island of New Guinea - PNG is the eastern part and Irian Jaya is the western part - and it really got me hooked on adventurous dive travel in this remote but fascinating area!

The Great White Shark is without doubt, the apex predator. It is superbly adapted to it's surroundings and is almost invisible in the cold grey waters of South Australia when viewed from above or below.

To see it in it's natural environment is to understand what Charles Darwin meant when he wrote the Origin of the Species.

To look it in the eyeball is a hypnotic experience - totally black it looks at you and draws you in. To see the Great White Shark in full attack mode from the safety of the shark cage is to watch nature at it's most raw & compelling!

Just off the beach at Guna Bara Bara island, near the former Milne Bay provincial capital of Samarai Island, is one of the best places in PNG to experience the magnificent mantas.

I had been in the water with mantas before, but usually snorkeling and never close enough to get a really good shot, so being so close to so many of these wonderful creatures was an experience to treasure!

I was luck enough to spend two days diving this terrific site and this is the original article that I was able to get published on the location.