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Dive Review of Walindi Plantation Resort in
Papua New Guinea

Walindi Plantation Resort: "Just what we were hoping for, healthy reefs, loads of fish & critters", Nov, 2015,

by Lydia S Segal MD, VA, US (Reviewer Reviewer 5 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 8668 has 1 Helpful vote.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 4 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments Our family of four adult divers were part of twelve Canadians and Americans on a nine night liveaboard on the Febrina. The owner, Alan Rabhe was not on the boat. His two main dive guides and engineer, have been with him for more than a decade and it ran flawlessly. Keep in mind this is not a large, nor a fancy boat. But it is well maintained. And before I forget, the kitchen manages to put out incredible food, vast amounts and will adapt to some limited request. Note the diet is quite dairy based. Really good coffee at 5 am made me happy.

Diving routine .. in general four to five a day, with the sort of standard liveaboard schedule of light breakfast then one dive before real breakfast, then one or two dives, a huge lunch, one or two dives, dinner. There were a number of dusk and night dives for those interested. The schedule is adjusted to traveling to dive sites and weather. We did not motor at night.

Dives were 60 minutes. The limit was to keep us having adequate surface intervals and time to travel to the next site, though there was some repeating of sites. There were complete dive briefings with white board drawings. Most diving was 60 to 80 feet or so. Vis was 50 to 75. Water temp about 82 consistently. Dive staging area was a little tight but not bad. Every diver had a cubby for their stuff. Diving is done from the mother ship, with a giant stride, a good ladder for re-entry. Two divers with back problems donned and removed their gear in the water with assistance.

Current was rare. A dive master was in the water ahead to check. There was the ability to dive on your own or with one of the guides. They are excellent spotters of critters and creatures.
We all dove nitrox, whiich usually was 30 % mix, there is an extra charge. The fills were often over 3000 psi/200bar.

The ocean: the reefs showed rare coral bleaching and algae . Mostly the reefs are in bommie formations, rather than walls.

Cameras and electronics .. Plenty of charging stations, adequate rinse tanks. Good space for cameras. Bring a laptop or other form of back up or editing device if that is important to you, there is not one on the boat.

Conservation...There was a fair amount of touching coral, and two shark feeds. There was no mention to not use a flash on Pygmy sea horses.

Most fun stuff we saw... Schools of travely and separately barracuda making tornado formations, more than once, more than one dive site. Sharks of the white tip and reef variety occasionally swimming by with one shark feed with six very hungry sharks. There were octopus, ornate pipe fish, anemones, turtles and lots of nudibs. There seemed to be more fish of a variety of sizes, and this was good. Others have commented in depth about the fish and critters on their reviews.

Would we return? Yes, but there are still other places we have not dove, so those come first. If you go, remember the weight restrictions on baggage and the in country transportation flights, we had no problems but others have reported issues.
Websites Walindi Plantation Resort   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Indonesia, Maldives, Philippines, PNG, Australia, Bonaire, Roatan, Belize
Closest Airport Hoskins Getting There Flew up from AU on Air Nuguini with no problem, had to remind them we were divers for the extra weight, did not have to pay

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm
Water Temp 81-83°F / 27-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 5
Water Visibility 50-75 Ft/ 15-23 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions None other than 60 min limit, dive with a budy, no deco
Liveaboard? yes Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas None
Dolphins Schools Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 4 stars
Large Pelagics 4 stars

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

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities 5 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 5 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Rinse tanks right where you get off. Lots of places to recharge batteries, and big tables near your gear bin
Was this report helpful to you?
Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

Subscriber's Comments

By David Vickery in NJ, US at Apr 01, 2016 14:29 EST  
Hello- what month were you there?
By report author: Lydia S Segal MD in VA, US at Apr 01, 2016 15:42 EST  
Oct mid to end... 2015, other questions
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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