In the Coral Triangle’s warm pristine waters you can dive into rainbow-coloured coral gardens, experience deeper water adrenalin-laced encounters with sharks, seek the weirdest creatures imaginable on a muck dive, or photograph barnacle-covered wartime wrecks sunk around the Papua New Guinean coast.
It’s no surprise PNG is consistently hailed as one of the world’s finest dive locations. With 45,000 sq km of coral reefs the selling point for adventurous divers is a global marine biodiversity hotspot boasting twice as many species as the Red Sea. And with a wide dispersion of dive-sites it’s almost certain divers will enjoy these encounters in glorious isolation.
This marine diversity has been fashioned by PNG’s location within the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire where submarine volcanic activity has created fertile undersea conditions as well as spectacular hidden topography fostering superb wall-dives and drop-offs alive with corals. Across the three major islands of New Guinea, New Britain, and New Ireland, diving can be enjoyed year round with sea temperatures averaging from 26ºC in the Coral Sea to 31ºC in the Bismarck Sea. Although broadly speaking the best visibility is likely to be outside of the rainy season from April to November.