Dive Review of
Star Dancer in
Papua New Guinea

Palau, Fiji, Galapagos, Hawaii, Bonaire, BVI, Cozumel, La Paz, San Carlos,
Jamaica.

Dive Conditions

Dive masters on every dive, but were allowed to dive own profile within
Nitrox depth limits as long as with a buddy.  Dove as a group.  Dive
briefings, surface intervals.  

There was a large table on the back deck of the boat for cameras and a 
compressed air gun for drying cameras.  E6 processing available on board,
but we had to mount our own.  Two divers reported that their last two roles
were ruined by negligent processing.  Instructor Annie Crawley, an
extremely accomplist underwater photographer and videographer was
incredibly helpful, making suggestions above and below the water, reviewing
our slides, and even allowing us to use her expensive equipment.  I learned
more from her in a week than from all other trips combined.  

Overall Rating

The diving was the best I've ever done.  The corals were the healthiest
I've ever seen, and the variety was outstanding, perhaps 200 different
types of soft and hard corals.  The fish life and variety was incredible. 
Everything from the tiny, like pygmy seahorses, miniature mandarin fish,
harlequin shrimp, and plentiful nudibranchs to schools of huge batfish,
barracuda, whitetip, silvertip and gray reef sharks, and everything in
between.  I saw many first time sighting for me:  cuddlefish, octopi
mating, crocodile fish, banded pipefish, and a few macro creatures I'd
never seen anywhere else.  Other divers saw things that I didn't,
demonstating the diversity of the dives.

The crew was extremely helpful.  Elsie, the divemaster, was the best at
finding critters of any I have ever dove with.  She was especially helpful
at finding small critters, tiny crabs on sea fans, pygmy seahorses,
miniature mandarin fishes.  Towards the end of the week I gave up trying to
find stuff myself and just hung out with Elsie, especially on the night
dives, where she found amazing critters.  Jack, the captain, tried to make
the best of the weather, although it was overcast most of the week and the
seas were rough.  He was a great old salt, though, and very accessible.  He
also accompanied us on many dives.  Annie, the dive instructor, was helpful
especially to the photographers, as mentioned above, but was also
noteworthy for her fun disposition and great sense of humor.  Andrew, the
cook, put out plenty of good food, including having to prepare special
meals for one diver who couldn't eat anything with sugar, including many
fruits, and strict vegetarian fare for another diver.  There was always a
wide selection of meat, fish and poultry, as well as vegetables and salads.
 On the rainy days, the soup at every lunch and dinner were especially
welcome.

There were four dives every day plus a fifth night dive every night.  The
crew worked very hard to make every guest feel special and to meet any
special needs.  Overall a fabulous trip.  The only drawback is the time and
effort needed to get to PNG.  Air Niugini makes it difficult to get there
and also charged us excess baggage on the flight from Port Morseby to
Hoskins, where we got the boat.  Although we didn't get charged the excess
baggage on the way back, the flight was three hours late leaving making our
connection to Sydney tight.  We had to stay over in Australia one night
each way, although our flight in arrived in Sydney at 7 a.m.  Why one
cannot get to PNG the same day one arrives at 7 a.m. in Sydney is a
mystery.  But it was worth the hassle. 

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