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The Conflict Islands is one of PNG's newest and most remote scuba destination with unexplored reefs and coral.
| Name Dive Site: | Conflict Islands |
| Inserted/Added by: | steverattray |
| Rated: | Rated 3.5, 8 votes |
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Best dive-season / How to get there: At certain times of the year there will be regular 90minutes Saturday flights at 2pm from Port Moresby. At other times the airline will do unscheduled flights with several weeks notice so plan ahead.The Conflict Islands, in Milne Bay off the south east corner of Papua New Guinea are a unique group of absolutely beautiful, unspoiled and basically uninhabited islands, still in their natural state with an abundance of marine and bird life. These World Heritage Marine Sanctuary listed Islands, which are the tops of an extinct underwater volcano, have many beautiful reefs and drops providing superb snorkeling and scuba diving, wonderful fishing & kayaking and many beautiful beach walks in an uninhabited tropical wilderness.
The Islands are privately owned and the owner intends for them to be used as both a dive & recreation site and a marine research centre and he has now built a small, luxurious dive resort and research facility on the main island of Panasesa. The island has its own airstrip, abundant fresh water, six huts & main house, generator power and more dives than anyone knows! There are 2 dive boats and 2 fishing boats and all the required diving, snorkeling, kayaking, windsurfing and fishing gear is on the island.
Panasesa has two beautiful lagoons. The southern lagoon which is mainly a sand bottom with a small coral reef section is very calm and safe for swimming anytime of the day or night. The northern lagoon, about 300 meters across the island has about a 1.5km long shelf where you can enter at the top end and the current takes you along the shelf for about 1-2 hours. This truly unique, very healthy shelf of between 2-10 meters depth contains every hard and soft coral and fish species imaginable and is a truly world class snorkel, below which the wall falls vertical for over 50 meters creating a brilliant scuba dive. The walks around the main island and some of the other islands such as Ilai Island are beautiful and take in numerous beaches, mangroves of a thousand colors and diverse bird life, and at times turtles in large numbers. All 20 islands (Gabugabutau Island, Muniara Island, Auriroa Island, Panamaiia Island, Tarapaniian Island) are easily reached by boat across mainly protected waters and all are different and uninhabited. These islands are the most beautiful place and they are in the passage for many migratory animals such as hump back whales and leatherback turtles.
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