Papua New Guinea Part 1 Where dreams come true

Papua New Guinea above and under waterThe Papua New Guinea is definitely one of the most interesting goal for divers and not just for them, perhaps because we have always seen it in all those beautiful photos of professional photographers or perhaps because for each one of us Europeans being so far away makes itself even more interesting and wished.
The Papua New Guinea is one of the few destinations where luckily nature still reigns in all its forms and is still intact and not devastated from commercial fisheries.
I’ve been very lucky to win in a competition a big prize like ten days on Lissenung island in the sea of bismarck.
The island is surrounded of wrecks from the Second World War, any dive sites are very rich of life and colors and all of them is 30 / 40 min far by boat.
The best ones I still remember very well becuase their explosion of life and colorful corals are for sure albatross pass, peter’s patch, matrix and lighthouse bommie.
Every dive you can go throught schools of jacks or barracuda, other predators such as sharks and tuna hunt frantically sardines and other small fishes.
Lionfish wait patiently glass fishes passing close by their mouth, colored anemones give home to different types of clownfishes and sometime if you take a look into the deep blue, you can see some eagle rays or some mobula “flying”. Turtles will accompany you in almost every dive.

Diving in Papua New Guinea
The Lissenung island’s crew is doing a great job of conservation and protection of this endangered species, every morning they check out the island’shores and also the nearby islands looking for footprints that turtles leave when in the night they come to lay eggs on the beach.
The eggs are then collected and stored to prevent predators until they hatch and then release into the sea.
Ten days in papua of course is not enough, so i heard about the chance to join the M/Y Febrina around the Kimbe Bay fully chartered by italian group Diving Tour by Sergio Riccardo.
We had the entirely boat for us with two great dive guides who’s shown us any dive spots there.
One of the best dive site i will never forget for sure is “father’s reef” where we had a spectacular encounter with a pregnant female of whale shark, we thing she is around 8/10 meters long and it’s so amazing to see this wondefull fish swimming to me, i have never seen such a beautiful show, I was so excited that I almost forgot to press the shutter button of my camera.
Restrof island is another place which impressed me a lot, not only for the richness of its waters: corals, sponges and macro critters, but also because the colors of this beautiful island at the sunrise.
The PNG has been the farther trip I have never had, one of the most difficult journeys: shower, wash teeth and drink just by rain water, no internet, no hot water and no others comfort, it was really a long trip with long stops over but it gave me also strong emotions both above and under water, it made me feel really on a movie like jurassic park or lost and in touch with nature always, but at the same time smiling and kind people made me feel at home.
I want to thanks Ken Thogpila and all UWMP group for the great prize i won, Dietmar Amon for the warm welcome on lissenung island and Nozaki Fumiyo for guide me underwater.
Thanks to Sergio Riccardo and Diving tour for great days on Febrina spent together with the great underwater guiding by Joyce and Digger.
Hope you like and enjoy my pictures in the same way they gave me emotions and feeling to and the will to save and protect this delicate ecosystem.

WORDS and PICTURES by Matteo Visconti

Sunset in Papua New Guinea

Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.