Dive Review of
Golden Dawn in
Papua New Guinea/Madang - Wewak

Fiji, Solomons, Sipadan, Cocos, Galapagos, Coral Sea, Hawaii, California,
Carribean, other PNG

Dive Conditions

common sense; solo diving OK.  

E6 available; projector & screen; good charging space; work space
limited.  

Overall Rating

(Scale 1-10) Overall:  9.   14 nights out of Madang to the Manus, Hermit
and Ninigo Islands south to Wewak.  Visibility up to 200’.  79F near Madang
to 84F in the North.  This was one of my best trips.  EAN highly
recommended.

Sea life – pelagics and large fish:  9.  Mobula, eagle, marble rays;
white-tip, black-tip, grey reef silvertip sharks; huge napoleon wrasses,
schools of bumphead parrots, jacks, barracuda, oceanic triggers, snappers,
more.

Sea life – reef:   9.  Healthy, large variety and quantity of triggers,
angels, bat fish, lion fish, flatheads, scorpion fish, octopus, etc.; huge
sea fans, gorgonians, whips, etc.

Sea life – critters:  5.  Good variety of nudi’s and some critters on wreck
dives.  We really didn’t spend time looking for critters.
  
Dive briefings/guides:  6.   Craig (Craig de Wit, owner/operator)
accompanied some divers on some dives.  No other dive guides were
available.  Briefings were generally excellent.  The boat does 4 or 5
different itineraries around PNG.  The sites are pristine.  No briefings
like “there are two leaf scorpion fish on the wall at 60’.”

Food:  10.  Best I’ve had on any boat and almost any resort.   Divers are
treated as responsible adults.  A glass of wine with dinner does not mean
no night diving.

Cabins:  8.  Clean, comfortable, and sufficiently roomy for a relatively
small boat.  Cabins 4 & 5 are on the main deck with en suite heads. 
The crew cleaned the cabins and made beds daily.  Each cabin has separate
A/C.

Boat layout:  9.  The lounge is spacious for 8 – 10 people.  Meals are
served at a large table above decks with a nice breeze.  A wide-screen
projection unit with surround sound for watching movies when there is no
night dive.  

Boat layout for diving and photography:  6.   About 40% of diving is from
the boat via side entries.  Return is via a single set of steps up to the
side.  The steps flap and move wildly in the current and swell.  I found
this no problem.  Others had some difficulty; Craig had them just surface
for zodiac pickup.  The crew was happy to take gear to the tender and help
you put it on at the dive site.  Only three photographers and they used up
the table and floor space in the lounge.  The suiting-up area and gear
storage was adequate.

Crew and overall service:  10.  Excellent!  The whole crew did an
outstanding job.  Fills were perfect.  Craig (owner/operator) ran the tour
and dove with us:  good stories, good dive guide, and very enthusiastic
about the diving.  Nice touches such as rinsing all the gear daily and
doing the final gear clean up for you.
 

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