Dive Review of Tawali in
Papua New Guinea/Milne Bay

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Tawali, Jun, 2011, by Michael J. Millet, CA, US ( Top Contributor 96 reports with 61 Helpful votes). Report 6114 has 1 Helpful vote.
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	The Tawali resort is located at the far Eastern end of the North Milne Bay peninsula. It is reached by flying from Port Moresby to Alotau then taking a Tawali shuttle bus for almost 2 hours over a very bumpy road filled with bus-swallowing holes. We had to cross several very swollen streams. Then there is a 20 minute boat ride to reach the resort. The staff at the resort was very friendly and helpful. Upon arrival, I was given an orientation of the resort and the dive operation. The guest rooms are very spacious with 2 queen beds, a large patio, A/C, small frig, satellite TV. Very Comfortable. The food at the resort was plentiful and very, very tasty. Benson, the Chef, did an excellent job. The seared yellow-fin tuna was fantastic. The desserts were scrumptious. The bar has the local beer, some Australian wines and a limited selection of spirits. The resort has internet access that is not reliable and is pricey. Although PNG is considered a malaria country (I took Malarone), I did not notice a significant number of insects particularly mosquitoes. For the my first 5 days, I was the sole diver at the resort. So I had my personal dive guide. The weather was cloudy and rainy with choppy water so the dive conditions were marginal with green water and low viz. I understand that the best dive conditions are from November thru January in the Milne Bay Area. The AM dive trip is for 2 tanks with a single PM tank. I dove the local reefs - Wahoo Point, Sponge Heaven, Michelle's, Deacon's, Lawandi. The reefs appear to be in pretty good shape with marine life in abundance and diversity. The dive sites included walls coral gardens and black sand (muck). Because of the low viz, macro-photography was primarily utilized with lots of nudibranchs, pipefish, shrimp and crabs. I did have a couple of great encounters with a large school of moon jellies. Very cool. Later during my stay after more divers arrived, we took the larger dive boat to dive sites farther East some 1 hour cruising time away. These were 3 tanks trips with lunch on the boat. The viz was a bit better at these sites farther away from the shoreline. The dive guides at Tawali really know the dive sites and how to find the critters. They also take complete care of the dive gear including rinsing, storage and set-up on the dive boat. At the end of the stay, they cleaned the gear and delivered it to my room. In summary, Tawali is a very comfortable resort with a good staff, great food, a good dive operation and great diving. It is a trek to get to. If I were to return, it would be in the Nov-Jan time frame.
Websites	Tawali
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	0-25 dives
Where else diving	All over the Caribbean, Galapagos, Hawaii, Kosrae, Truk Lagoon, Yap, Palau, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, GBR, Indonesia, Revillagigedos, PNG
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	windy, rainy	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	81-83°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	100' and 1 hour however I had several dives exceeding 70 minutes
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	1 or 2
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
UW Photo Comments	The various dive boats had differing accommodations for cameras. The smaller boats had an area set aside for cameras but no rinse tank. The larger boat had a very spacious camera table and rinse tanks. The dive crew handled the camera gear efficiently and carefully. Topside, there is a rinse tank for cameras but it often had no water in it. There is a camera room at Tawali that is normally locked - a bit inconvenient. It has several 110 volt charging stations. I took care of my camera gear in my room.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Tawali in Papua New Guinea/Milne Bay

Tawali, Jun, 2011,

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 Tawali in
Papua New Guinea/Milne Bay