Dive Review of
Peter Hughes Star Dancer in
Papua New Guinea/New Britain (kimbe to Rabaul)

 California Channel Islands, Bimini and Freeport, Bahamas, Cozumel, Akumal,
Jamaica, Palau  

Dive Conditions

Common sense  

Overall Rating

Pristine, healthy reefs, a backdrop of active and innactive volcanos,
jungle, WWII history, amazing people... a glimpse of PNG.

We planned 11 days in PNG: 7 days aboard on Peter Hughes Star Dancer, 4
days at Walindi Plantation, 1 day rest stops in both directions at the
Cairns Colonial Club in Australia.  This report covers the Star Dancer
portion of our trip.  A seperate report will be submitted for our stay at
Walindi.

....Not only was our dive gear lost once but twice! (dive bags and cameras
short tagged to Guam at LAX.  Laptop missed flight from Cairns to Port
Moresby).  This is the kind of thing that will tell you what kind of travel
agent you have and we are convinced we had the BEST.  We booked directly
through Peter Hughes Dive Easy Travel and after some worrying a sleepless
night and phone calls, Jeff and Terri were able to get our dive bags to us
(via Tokyo!) in time to make the boat.  The laptop took another week, but
Jock, Star Dancer's Captain, and all around great guy offered us the use of
his if needed.   

Star Dancer's accomodations are first class. We had cabin 2. It has a
tub!,queen bed, roomy storage, large picture window, air conditioning,
plenty hot water and perfectly working toilets.  Every morning beverages
are brought to your room and laundry is collected an done.  If you're not
spoiled yet, wait until Andrew... "6 star Chef of the Pacific"
starts to work his magic with local food.  As vegetarians we are always at
the whim of the chef and whatever they can "leave meat out of". 
Andrew made fresh from scratch soups, muffins, main courses, snacks and his
incredible chocolate cake...alone worth the plane ticket to PNG!  An
elegant sit down dinner was served every night.  

Star Dancer carries an extensive collecton of reference books and Between
dives we spent time identifying the creatures we had seen.

Diving was of two types: submerged bommies encrusted with corals, sponges
and surrounded by an ever busy ecosystem of invertebrates and fishes of
every color and description.(depth 60-120 ft)and shallower "Muck
diving" (0-40 ft) where we found the strangest creatures ever! Week
one we encounted very strong currents and clouds, week two brought sunshine
and little current. See our trip photos and additional info at
www.descentline.com.

After reluctantly disembarking, we checked into Walindi.  On August 5
dormant volcano Mount Pago erupted and closed the airport stranding
everyone.  Again, Peter Hughes Diving came through for us: Star Dancer came
back to Walindi to help. We and other guests became stowaways!  Via ship's
phone and email they helped us arrange new flights out of Rabaul.

Must haves in PNG: trip insurance, phone/email addresses of family at home
and most importantly a desire for unexpected adventure. 

Thank you Jock, Jonah, Patrick, Andrew (and girls), Tim, Caroline, Keiko,
Terri and Jeff for making this the trip of a lifetime. 

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