Dive Review of Peter Hughes Diving/Star Dancer in
Papua New Guinea/Kimbe, New Britain

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Peter Hughes Diving/Star Dancer, Jun, 2008, by Sherwood & Judith Smith, WA, USA ( Sr. Reviewer 11 reports). Report 4374.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	After the 2008 SPUMS meeting, we were among a group of 9 passengers who embarked on a 9-day cruise on the Star Dancer, on which we had spent several days day tripping during the meeting. The boat has a capacity of 16 divers, and had a crew of approx. 10. We had booked this boat, in preference to another, based on our previous experience with, and the reputation of, Peter Hughes Diving. What we found was a tired, aging boat, sincerely in need of a refit, both mechanical and decorative. As experienced sailors, and having enjoyed numerous liveaboard experiences, we were extremely concerned with the alarming condition of the boat, and the problems which were encountered over the week. Although the following is an incomplete list of problems, the major health and safety issues included: · Lack of a functioning depth sounder on the ship, in this reef-strewn environment. · Malfunctioning of the ship’s radar. · One of two generator sets out of service. · One of two water-makers out of service. · Malfunctioning of the Nitrox membrane such that the pO2 of the Nitrox varied from 25 – 33 over the trip, and the O2 analyzer itself was intermittent. · Explosion of a high pressure air line near the deck manifold, with several people on deck nearby. · Failure of the wire rope which elevated the dive stairs, narrowly avoiding injury to two crew members · A leak/blockage in the sewage system producing “unpleasant” aromas on the passenger cabin level, until finally managed by the crew over a two-day period. · Pump failures, and a broken pipe in the water supply which caused failure of the toilets to function, and ultimately loss of the ship’s entire water supply, necessitating our return to Walindi for repairs, water, spare parts, and an engineer, in order to complete the voyage. Fortunately, the captain and crew proved resourceful in dealing with these issues, so that we missed a three or four dives only, over the course of the trip. Food was quite good, and varied, including light breakfast before the first dive, then a full cooked breakfast of your choice, a mid-morning dive, a full cooked lunch, an afternoon dive, and then a late afternoon, or dusk/night dive, followed by dinner. Soft drinks, beer, and wine were all included for the price of the cruise. Snacks, and freshly baked goods were readily available. Dining service, and cabin service was beyond reproach, as was whatever assistance was required on the dive deck, by crew who were enthusiastic, capable, friendly, and eager to accommodate the preferences of each diver. This was a crew equal to any we have experienced. Diving began on the outer reaches of Kimbe Bay, with a shark dive at Inglis Shoal (see my report of our land-based week). After several dives in this region, we sailed for the Witu Islands, and ultimately to the reefs in the Fathers group, off the west coast of New Britain, about half way between Hoskins and Rabaul. Most dives were on seamounts, though in the Witus, we did several drift dives along the coral-encrusted rock walls of islands. We had the opportunity to visit two villages, always a rewarding experience. Quite a number of the seamounts were covered with venomous corallimorphs, which encouraged us to be meticulous with our “no-touch” diving technique. The dive sites in the Witu group were quite lush with soft corals, fans, and attendant macro critters including, ghostfish, hawkfish, pipefish, pygmy seahorses, and dozens of species of shrimp and nudibranchs. At Crater we anchored in an old caldera, and did a muck dive to rival the best of Mabul, with crab eye gobies, jawfish, octopus, and several types of mantis shrimp. The Fathers group was disappointing, in that the lushness seen in Kimbe Bay was absent. The seamounts are more isolated, with bare, current-swept tops, save for the ubiquitous corallimorphs. We did, however, see bigger schools of jacks and barracuda in this area, and one morning, three of us tore across the bay in the dinghy, toward a collection of fins, and were rewarded with the opportunity of snorkeling with a pod of dolphins. My personal highlight was the chance of swimming with three silvertip sharks on a night dive, and to pass some time sitting on the hang tank while being buzzed by these giants, who passed close enough to touch! Overall, my suggestion to prospective divers would be to do Kimbe Bay as a land-based trip via Dive Walindi, as the overall richness of the dive sites is just as rewarding, at a significant cost saving. As an aside, on our return we reported our boat experience in detail to Peter Hughes Diving. Peter and his staff initially responded with skepticism, telling us that Howard Hall had been on the boat just a few weeks before, and that everything had been perfect. One of his staff members followed with an email strongly implying that we were making this all up, and containing not-so-veiled threats, were we to publicize our findings. All we can do is to report our experiences. However, Peter Hughes himself subsequently visited the boat in August 2008, and has recently emailed back to us, as he had promised to do, assuring us that almost all repairs have been completed, and that the boat will be in dry-dock for a further refit in the near future. It would appear, then, that our observations and criticisms have been validated. Nonetheless, I would recommend that inquiries be made directly to Peter Hughes, as to the state of repair of the boat, before booking this charter.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Much of the Indo-Pacific, a lot of the Caribbean, Mozambique, Alaska, British Columbia, Puget Sound
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	82-86°F / 28-30°C	Wetsuit Thickness	1
Water Visibility	30-80 Ft/ 9-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	controlled only by our computers
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Large camera table on the dive deck. Good facilities for recharging both in cabins, salon, and on dive deck. Dive guides well aware of what photographers want to see, and showed us many "special" things, mostly macro critters, that we would otherwise have missed.

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Dive Review of Peter Hughes Diving/Star Dancer in Papua New Guinea/Kimbe, New Britain

Peter Hughes Diving/Star Dancer, Jun, 2008,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Peter Hughes Diving/Star Dancer in
Papua New Guinea/Kimbe, New Britain