Dive Review of
Peter Hughes Stardancer in
Papua New Guinea

[Unspecified]Playa Blanca,Cancun,Cozumel,Sea of
Cortez,SonoraBay,Mexico:BoraBora,Moorea,Raiatea,
Rangiroa, Tahiti: Turks and Caicos,Red Sea,Grand Cayman, Jamaica,Maldives,
Maui, Costa Rica, Great Barrier Reef, Galapagos, Revillagegedos
Islands,Papua New Guinea, Palau, Fiji, Indonesia, Belize,
Bahamas,California Islands.

Dive Conditions

[Unspecified]NOne, but most dives were in groups.  

[None]  

Overall Rating

The Good: Though I'm not a macro diver, I was impressed with both the
variety and number of small critters we saw.  On the first dive..Sea
Snakes, Cleaner Shrimp,Filefish,baby Lion Fish,Cushion Starfish, Squat
Lobster,Frogfish,Nudibranchs,Banded Pipefish,Anglerfish,Stony Toadfish, and
Pufferfish. More Seahorses on the next dive than I had seen cumutively in
all my other dives. The dive guides (all native) were uncanny in their
ability to find these critters many of which I would have passed by without
seeing,such as Mantis Shrimp which had to patiently be coaxed out of their
holes to put on a show for us.

Another dive: Frogfish,Snake Banner Eel,Juvenile Squat Lobster,Angel
Fish,Octopus,Banded Shrimp, Crocodile Scorpion Fish,Decorated
Shrimp,Electric Clam, Flying Gunard. And Mandarin Fish on one night dive.

And so it went. Visibility was good but not outstanding.  Water was almost
too warm. Skies were mostly cloudy with showers from time to time but
weather never caused any dive interruption. Rooms are typical Peter Hughes
with lots of room and ensuite toilet and shower.

Diving was on the East side of PNG because West side was enjoying the
monsoon season.

Crew was friendly and helpful with typical Peter Hughes service.  
 

Not so good.

We had a few mishaps which disturbed many of the other divers. First, the
Skiff went down for motor ills the second day and never came back. 
This meant that we either had to come back to the main boat, or when there
was current, we had to be picked up by the Stardancer.  Alan, the skipper
did a fine job of this but is was somewhat of an ordeal.  No skiff also
meant no fresh fish. 

On several occasions we tied up to either the shore or to a dive site and
the tie line broke while we were underwater causing another pickup 
by the Stardancer.

Lastly, this was the last dive trip before the boat was to go to drydock
for refurbishing which meant it wasn't in "shiny penny" condition
and wasn't as well stocked with varieties of food as might be expected. 
Without a skiff, fishing was not productive so that added to the lack of
variety in the diet which also disturbed some of the passengers who, for
the most part, were all veteran divers with many liveaboard trips to their
credit.

We did get lots of dives.  I had to forego 1/12 days of diving due to the
flight schedule provided by my travel agent that I didn't read carefully
enough before travelling, but still got 35 dives in 9 days and 29 hours of
bottom time.

I sure did miss the Pelagics however. 

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