Into The Unknown

The ocean is often called the world's last real frontier. But that phrase often refers to the black, frigid depths where man rarely penetrates. The realm of the coral reef is now thought to be well tamed. In some of the world's over-trafficked, tourist-filled locales, that may be true. But in Papua New Guinea, with its famous sites and well-organized diving industry, there are literally hundreds of thousands of square miles of ocean to engage, explore and document.

Diving in Papua New Guinea will see you engulfed by schools of fish. Right: PNG is famous for it’s volcanic and dramatic terrain.

Our exploratory journey was intended to do all of that. The two-week trip would start in Madang and then encompass the newly discovered sites around majestic Long Island, a night's journey northeast of Madang in central Papuan waters. The live aboard Golden Dawn, with ever-adventurous Captain Craig De Witt at the helm, was the platform for this journey. The ship would then continue east, visiting the sparsely populated Tolokiwa, move on to a taste of the Maldives at the scenic Siassi group, head out to open sea to view the submerged Star Reef chain, and then move closer to Tufi for a look at PNG's major claim to fame, strange creatures in the muck.

It should be noted that many live aboard ships follow a set route. DeWitt does have some months of a set dive menu, but annually he likes to take his ship off the beaten ocean path and explore. It was for this reason we joined him on his foray into the lesser-known regions of the country.

The trip started on a positive note with checkout dives at the Planet Rock. This fish oasis off Madang's shore is sometimes home to schooling hammerhead sharks. We saw scalloped hammerheads, individuals and in pairs. The oddest member of the shark family is not all that easy to observe, so this sighting was a real plus for the divers.

Then it was off to Long Island, a rugged immense island with a seven-mile long volcanic lake in the center, and in that lake, another cone with water that is reportedly rather warm and heated from deep below.

Few people live on the island and most are coastal dwellers, living on vegetables and fruits and occasionally fishing from small outriggers. In the morning, the huge volcanic cone is circled in puffs of cirrus clouds and the offshore reefs shine light blue against the deep pockets of open sea.

One of the finest reefs in PNG was found a few years ago and named after De Witt's eldest son, who was on the ship at the time (although still in diapers). Julien's Reef is home to soft corals and lots of fish life. Sheer drop-offs mark one side. A series of big coral bommies in a deep pass with schools of brilliant yellow snappers surrounding the landscaped coral heads, accents another side of the reef. We did a number of dives on this exciting spot and observed gray reef sharks in mating mode.

The real series of uncharted dives started at Umboi Island. Again, this exceptionally large island is inhabited mostly by farmers and subsistence fishermen and no tourist facilities or infrastructure exists here. No one knows the offshore reefs. It is large, green and volcanic in origin. Our first dip into the sea here brought us tons of fish including black snapper, dogtooth tuna, oceanic triggers and other schooling masses. Big soft coral trees in the deep water and brilliant Dutch orange soft corals along the shallower walls were highlights. Clingfish nestle in the many crinoids. At one point we dipped down 150 feet to a point with more soft coral and superb visibility.

Moving east, Higgin's Point was a great dive for looking at unusual fish and invertebrate life. This government outpost is situated high on a bank near an estuary and the reefs nearby are fed with many nutrients. This was the first actual settlement we had seen in days that wasn't just a grouping of thatched huts.

An all night journey by the Golden Dawn brought us to the Siassi Group and Nup Island. Many divers likened the look of these green gardens with their white sand beaches to those of the Maldive Islands.

In Siassi the islanders have developed uniquely designed carved bowls, canoe fronts and paddles of coconut wood, rosewood and kwila. The Tami people engrave fish and geometric designs into the works that are like no other PNG designs. An artistic people, they also chant lilting songs and fashion shell necklaces and fish hooks. After leaving the Tami at sunset we headed for the open sea and on to the Star Reef System. This is a series of submerged reefs, most of them uncharted. Using radar and good old-fashioned eyeballs, we looked for signs of a prospective reef. One such spot was called 5-Star.

Here we found a deep sloping reef with large, curly wire corals and amazing visibility. At a point the big fish action came in amazing and overwhelming abundance with silvertip sharks, big, eagle rays, big bull jacks, and a parade of dozens of dogtooth tuna in size grande. The upper reef was covered in hard corals and reef tropicals and a resting hawksbill sea turtle.

This brought us to our last day. After a shipwreck dive on the historic S Jacob, a WWII victim full of barracuda, batfish and soft corals, we headed to a speck of a pinnacle on the seafloor. Dubbed Fish Chowder, it was truly good for pelagic action. A barracuda school at the start greeted us for a long time. A dozen sharks followed the first divers and a large nurse shark shuttled from the ledges. The blue held no current and schooling jacks barracuda schools, Spanish mackerel and dogtooth tuna came by in processions.

Day's end brought us to Tufi; a tiny outpost set up for divers that can only be reached by ship or by bush plane a couple of times weekly. Tufi sits in a unique area called the fiorlands. The Tufi Wharf is famous for it's odd creatures. Here divers find a list of the unusual: ghost pipefish, banded pipefish, juvenile. batfish, mantis shrimp, mandarinfish, weedy pipefish, junk and fishing lines and a treasure trove of old bottles.

It was here at this treasure trove that we ended our trip of exploration. While so many exciting and unusual discoveries were made on this trip both on land and under the sea, it only made us see the incredible realm of exploration and possibilities that are still held in PNG waters.