Dive Review of Spirit of New Guinea in
Papua New Guinea/Milne Bay

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Spirit of New Guinea, Apr, 2009, by Ann McGrath, va, usa ( Sr. Contributor 26 reports with 19 Helpful votes). Report 4754.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Good: Some of the crew, Angie, Junior, Bali, the cook and housekeeping staff were outstanding. Angie was on loan, however, so he is not usually on the boat. The cook did an excellent job of accommodating my request for fruit and vegetables only. Our cabin was straightened up every day. The bathrooms are good sized, especially in the upper cabins. The downside of that is that the cabin size is tiny upstairs. They took roll after each dive, and kept our depths and times. Night dives - good stuff! Surprising amount of stuff, actually, including star gazers, harlequin pipefish and robust pipefish, other pipefish, beautiful snake eels and mandarin fish! Bad: The new boat managers arrived the same day we did, and they had never run an operation like this before, nor had they ever been to that part of the world. They are young and inexperienced, and it shows. One day the compressor failed, so they needed equipment to be delivered. This meant that there was no a/c in the boat, and a limited number of tanks for the second dive. The problem was fixed promptly, however. The inside of the boat was either freezing cold or burning hot, literally. The lower level, where our cabin was, always smelled of diesel fumes, mold and mildew. The engine is on the same level, right next to two cabins, so when the engine is running, it is LOUD down there. Take sleep aids! Maybe because of the new manager, but they didn't seem to have a system for getting divers into the water. I'm not sure how many of the crew were new, but Angie, Junior and Bali knew the dive sites, and found TONS of stuff for us to look at, especially on dusk and night dives. The interior of the cabins needs a retrofit. The boat is old and shows her age. With different managers and a retrofit, this would be a good trip. But there is more to see in Komodo, the Solomons and Fiji. For the amount of travel time to get to this destination, I wouldn't do it again.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	most of the Caribbean, Belize, Cozumel, Thailand, Komodo, Fiji, Solomons, Truk, Yap, Galapagos
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, currents, no currents
Water Temp	85-88°F / 29-31°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	20-100 Ft/ 6-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Occasionally time limits. Nitrox depth limits.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	They had large rinse tanks on the boat for camera equipment. Although the crew never figured out which camera belonged to who, even with labels, they handed our equipment to us in the water and put it in the rinse tank. They also collected the camera equipment before each dive.

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Dive Review of Spirit of New Guinea in Papua New Guinea/Milne Bay

Spirit of New Guinea, Apr, 2009,

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 Spirit of New Guinea in
Papua New Guinea/Milne Bay