Dive Review of
Walindi in
Papua New Guinea/Kimbe Bay

North Carolina, California, Washington, Bonaire, Cozumel, Fiji, Indonesia,
Jamaica

Dive Conditions

[Unspecified]  

We used the kitchen area in our bungalow to set up camera and charge
batteries.   

Overall Rating

Walindi Resort is on a Palm Plantation in the West New Britain Province on
Kimbe Bay about an hour ride from Hoskins Airport.  This is the second time
we have been to the resort. We were there during the windy winter time so
there were few guests diving. That meant we had the dive sites to
ourselves.

Immediately after our arrival and a brief lunch, we went out for a boat
dive. Our first dive was at the aptly named “Hanging Garden.”  As soon as
we went down, my husband spotted a fair sized octopus.  It retreated into
its crevice but after a few minutes came back out allowing us to look at it
until we tired of it and moved on.  Hanging garden has tiers of overhanging
coral covered with sponges, soft coral, and sea fans. 

 We dived the Zero Japanese WWII plane wreck which was discovered by
fisherman in 2000.  It is near the shore at about 50 ft.  The water was
amazingly clear and the plane is intact and covered with a beautiful  layer
of encrusting sponge.  There is an anemone on the hind part of the cockpit
and the cockpit was filled with fish, including a lionfish. There were two
pipefish on the wing and an assortment of gobies.  The plane was surrounded
by gobie/shrimp pairs.  During our safety stop, there were three little
squid directly under the boat.  As I ascended, they squirted their ink and
jetted away.  It was most amazing and almost comical.  The ink hung in
three little blobs, not concealing the squid at all.  Then the squid (I
imagined they were overcome by curiosity) came back under the boat and
hovered nearby for the remainder of the safety stop.  

Another great dive was Kirsty Jane.  There were amazing sea fans, whips,
and bright orange anemones.  We saw a small black tip reef shark.  There
was a huge baitball of silvery fish moving along the surface of the reef:
they looked like magically flowing silver.  We searched the gorgonian fans
for pygmy seahorses and were rewarded with a few. There were swarms of fish
all around. 

After picnicking on Rensdorf Island, we went for a leisurely shallow dive.
There was a yellow colored coral covered with dozens of shrimp and a little
orange cling fish.  We also spotted a twinspot (signal) goby, a yellow goby
paired with 2 shrimps,  and a lone barramundi cod.  

We went on a land tour to the hot springs nearby.  It is a half hour trip
from the resort and a dip in the “therapeutic” spring seems to have cured
all my ills (although the cure didn’t seem to last long since I did have to
go back to work when I got home).  

The diving was as wonderful as I remembered it from years ago when we were
at Walindi.  But some aspects of the  resort itself seemed to be on the
decline.  At the same time that they were renovating the central resort,
including the office and gift shop, the accomodations in the bungalow
seemed to have declined.  The sheets in our bungalow were threadbare and
torn, the shower in the bathroom rusty, the bathroom and the towels were
musty, the hot water pot in the kitchenette didn’t work, and the upholstery
on the furniture was a bit worse for the wear.  On the first full day of
diving, there was a problem with the boat and it was grinding away at
half-speed so we ended up not going to our first choice of dives (a further
site), but to two closer sites that we could reach in the impaired boat. 
The consequently long trip on the choppy water took its toll on my son, who
became seasick as a result.  I would readily return to Walindi again,
especially paired with a trip on the Star Dancer, because the diving is so
great there.  It just didn’t seem to be the bright penny that I remembered
from years past.  

Questions?
Send an email to the author of this report

What others have to say about Undercurrent
And get immediate access to ALL 106 dive reviews of Papua New Guinea
and all other dive destinations immediately!