PNG Trip Report (a little of Singapore too)

GETTING THERE:

American Airlines from Miami to JFK: Went smoothly, we were pleasantly surprised with the leg room on the flight. One of the best of the trip!! No baggage fee for international travelers.

Singapore Air from JFK to Singapore: After all the hype and touting from everyone I know that took this airline, what a let down. Sure the food is good, the crew dresses nice, but believe it or not, there is more leg room in their bathrooms then in your seat. I thought about sitting there, kidding because of the obvious.

Also, no more towels, now they hand you large “wet ones”. Going there it was a tight fit, coming home they absorbed more then 50 people from an Air India plane in Germany and we were squeezed in with shoe horns, you could not fit dental floss between us. Terrible flight. They did not count on the Indian folks being vegetarians I guess, no food for them. One time they gave them rolls, next time, 3 chocolate cookies!

Air Nuginea S’Pore to Port Moresby: The winner of the airline contest for this trip. The crew was great, the food good, and the leg room outstanding. Going there we had rows of seats to stretch out, coming back no, but still a great ride.

DASH 8 from Port Moresby to Alotau: A 20 something seater, no problem with this airline either. No food served. 45 min. flight.

PNG Air Lines: The really small plane from Port Moresby to Tufi. No problem there. No food served. 45 min flight.

SINGPORE: Stayed at Traders Hotel, nice hotel, all services fine. Did a few tours around the city, it is a hot, steamy city, but almost everything is AC’d. Tried to eat around at different places to get the feel of this self proclaimed “food”city, difficult to do up right as we did not know what all the different foods were and way too many choices. But we had fun trying. We did a “Hop On” tour of the city by bus and boat, learned and saw a lot. One day our plan was to go to little India on the hop on/hop off bus, when we got there, it was there it was their day “off” and there was wall to wall people in the streets. Yikes, we decided against that, rode the bus around some more. Singapore is a modern, metropolitan city, clean and quiet. So clean in fact that when we accidentally dropped a napkin on the sidewalk, in a mini second someone was there to pick it up before we could. There are signs everywhere held by… a Hello Kitty frame, that says: Please speak in a low voice…OR Accept others are they are OR Keep our city clean…Stuff like that, US cities need more of that stuff. We never in our time there heard a Police siren or ambulance siren.
We did the Singapore Flyer. http://www.singaporeflyer.com.sg/ Loved it, what a view when you are at the top.
3 days there was just not long enough.
BTW…learned that Quay is pronounced KEY….

PNG: TAWALI: Tawali sells itself as a first class resort. It has had some hard times recently. (We did not know of this) Seems a few weeks before we arrived, they were robbed and then a bus of Japanese divers headed there were held up and robbed en route to the resort. We learned the management team was there only 6 weeks when we arrived AND it showed. We also learned that Bob Hollis (Oceanic) had left and took some of the staff as well. There are new “investors” there now.

Our arrival from Alotau was by bus on a bouncy road at night. That was ok, UNTIL we came to the bridge that was almost gone; a truck had broken the bridge. We had to get out of the van and cross with the only light that of our van’s headlight and helped by workers of the resort we walked across this bridge, now only a few long boards. It was really scary and I thought an amazing liability for them. Then into another bus on that side of the “bridge” to a waiting boat, boat rides to resorts are nothing new for us, but this was a “wet boat” and by the time we made it to the dock, I was soaked. Not a way for a new customer to arrive it seemed to me.

Best get your big hill walking legs for Tawali, it was a big uphill stairs walk from the boat to your cabin.

Next day first dive day, we figured out on our own where to get the boat, they have 2 docks, we made the mistake of going to the wrong one, had to climb back up the hill and then down to the second dock. Boat arrives; it has no cover from the sun. We had to ask the “guide” and boat driver: Is there water, oh no, we will get some. Are there weight belts, oh no we will get them. The boat was not set up for diving, tanks sat on the floor, people on gunnels. They also did not bring a ladder, after the first dive they tried to haul us aboard by pulling on our arms, causing my left elbow to be hyper extended, still hurts today .So we went out, did the first dive came back for lunch and decided it was already time to talk to the mgr. Second dive had us with the same guide, nice enough guy and a different boat. This one also not set up for diving, but at lest had a cover and they remembered water. We did not have O2 at anytime on the boat. We did dive Nitrox, usually 32%, cost $75.00 for the week. A deal.

All the diving was done on the drop offs surrounding the island. Vis was never very good (30-50’), looked like a snow storm u/w, we were told plankton bloom, coral breeding season. We did do one dive in shallow waters (20’) off an island called “Buie Buie Wa” that we loved; we spent over 90 minutes looking at all the little stuff. It was clear white sand and coral heads. My fav dive of the whole trip!! We also did a muck dive in a dark sandy bottom place that had its share of garbage. Lots of critters to see as well. Was a good dive.

Some sales person must have come from Cozumel to the South Pacific and sold them the same beds. I could not believe how hard the beds were. I asked for the foam that was suggested to me on the message board and the mgr said: Foam? HUH? So, that never happened. I did not sleep well the whole time there. The room was large and clean. Maids are told to leave doors open while cleaning rooms; and mosquitoes find their way in … first nite killed 5!

FOOD: UGH, is a good word. It was the same every day. (How many ways can you serve cooked tuna?). All food buffet style. Breakfast was the usual cereal, toast, different hot dishes. Lunch was different cold or hot dishes, nothing inspirational to even remember. Dinner: Always chicken chopped into legs, thighs, breast, and tuna. Cold salad and cole slaw and a variety of dishes, spaghetti, roast pork slices (gamey) etc. Soup was good as well as desserts. Fresh fruit was served always until suddenly it was fruit cocktail from a can. Yuck…

The dining room was not AC’d but the air temps were ok and there were overhead fans. The dining room chairs were a thick weave rattan that after you sat on them, you walked away with the imprint that lasted hours. I swapped a chair from outside to use.

At the resort the same time as us was a large group on Russians, 18 of them. As what usually happens when there is a large group, the resort caters to them. Planned for their visit was a cultural visit from one of the local clans. This was fun to see, but we learned that we were going to have to pay even though it was in the dining room. Hmmm…. (We did not pay)

This is from their website and not true at all. There is no boat like that and they piled all 18 of the Russian divers on their large boat, probably a 50foot boat.
“. Diving is done from the comfort of a 37-foot Catamaran with a maximum of 12 divers.”

Then it started to rain! I mean RAIN….I love rain so I was ok, the already bad vis was worse, but we were close to leaving, so it was not a problem.
The day before we were to leave, they decided to emergency evacuate us due to the rains washing out the fords (a waterline crossing) we had to cross on the road. They made arrangements for us to stay in an eco lodge in Alatou. I was glad we were leaving, could not wait to get away. Taking the boat, this time we piled into the dry area with the luggage. As it was dark when we arrived, we did not see the dry area. I wish someone had suggested it to us. Once reaching the van, we set off down the bouncy road. We were all very worried about crossing the broken bridge in the rain. Sure that it would make the boards slippery. Surprise! In the week that we were away, someone had built a detour. The fords we had to cross, we wondered if the van would get swept away in heavy water.

We went by van to the Eco Lodge. Tawali did not pay for out stay there or the fee to get us to the airport the next day. They did give us a letter to give to our insurance companies. (Hopefully we will collect from AIG) The lodge was kinda fun, kind of an outpost in the jungle. On the grounds, there were green pythons, couscous http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couscous_(marsupial) , cockatoos.
We had a nice dinner, talked with some Australian Ex Pats at the bar and then off to more of those same hard beds and sleeping in the no AC cabins. Oh did I mention a short power failure? 10 min to 24hrs when we asked, lasted only 30min. Then it rained again.

TUFI: I LOVED LOVED Tufi. I would go back there in a NY minute. We got there via a small small plane, no stewardess, no food, no drink, no cock pit door; the pilot sticks his head out and asks that you read the paper about safety on the plane. The ride was 45 minutes to an hour. Landing on a grass strip that was approached from the water with the strip going up hill, all very Indiana Jones/Jurassic Park like. We walked from the plane to the lodge. Tufi is beautiful. All big timbers, all shiny beautiful woods everywhere. Our host for the week a character named Simon. Born in PNG, schooled in Australia. He and his lovely wife Sharon (a Maori from NZ) run this place to the letter. The employees call him “boss man”, I think a title well earned; they really seem to like him and respect him at the same time, (people have been there for years) and it shows. The meals are brought to the table. Breakfast is cereal and hot foods to order, juice and coffee/tea. Lunch, so amazing that most times we thought if this is lunch, what can dinner be! Lobster one time, swordfish another. Dinner: always wonderful. Nori rolls for a starter one night, lobster two more times, once as a BBQ, steak kabobs, desserts magical.
There were 3 special hosts at Tufi: there was Mudgie, Coco, and Stewie. Mudgie: a beautiful little white fluffy dog, Coco: a tame male (seemed to be) Horn Bill http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papuan_Hornbill and a Wallaby that Simon came across that some natives were going to feed travelers (stew); he called Sharon and asked if he could bring him home. Only condition Sharon said is that he had to get along with Mudgie. Well, all 3 of these guys are the best of friends, wrestling together, sleeping together, we loved all 3. Mudgie was there every day, petted by all, Coco was there to be seen and seen he was and Stewie, well we caught sight of him when he wanted. But he knew his name!

Diving at Tufi: Unlike Tawali, we did not go around the bay to dive. We went out to the bommies and did Fjord diving. Bommie diving was hit and miss during out stay due to winds that created unusual large swells. Vis was great out at the bommies, there were currents and tons of fish. I liked the fjord diving a lot. Water color not blue, but great for critter hunts.. Between dives there was snacks and tea/coffee etc on the boat. We did learn that when you dive anything but a bommie, local tribes own the land AND the waters surrounding it and charge for all diving ALL the time, So, you do a fjord today it is X$ PP, tomorrow same deal! You have to wonder what they do with the $$. The local peoples own the land in PNG, so are there taxes? We did village visits two times while at Tufi. I came away very impressed with their villages, all very clean, neat and orderly and their houses, while basic are not stick shacks. The local people are so very nice and kind. Always a smile and a hello in English (well spoken).

Our last dive will always stand out in my mind. At the end in shallow water I looked up and thought, what is that? Darting into the water before our eyes; it was 5 local boys swimming and playing in the water (naked). They were waving at us, swimming down to us, smiling and laughing.

After both resorts, we came back junior nudibranch spotters, it was tons of fun and we did good. Well ok, anyway. We also spotted pipe fish and other little things on our own.

Unlike Tawali, Simon brought a Land Rover down to the dock to take us back up the hill. (A WW2 track road to PT base) You could walk if you wanted, it was a butt buster hill and you are, after all on holiday. Downside was no Nitrox. We did air for the first time in years and took pains to be careful. Seems to have worked, we’re still here!

Our time at Tufi was too short. Soon it was back on the planes in reverse order.

Even though I give Tufi a great score, next time I would do a 10 day liveaboard and then visit Tufi too.

OVERNIGHTS AND “DAY” STAYS: We had to do a day stay in Port Moresby at the start: we stayed for 8 hours at the Gateway. In 1991 this was a nice hotel, they are doing major reno work now and in doing so, things have slided. Gateway did have a great pizza place.
One of our party saw a roach in the bathroom, so it was decided to stay at Airways for the overnight after the trip.

AIRWAYS HOTEL: Room was nice, noisy from the walkway and from the room upstairs. To get to the restaurants, one had to take 3 flights of outdoor stairs!! Hope they fix that. It was raining when we were there; you had to be really careful about slipping. The room was double $$ that of Gateway. Food was pricey as well. There was a great view; the restaurant was open air, overhead fans only.

So now we are home, pinning to be there and not here….

We did not get sick coming or going……(so far). (swine flu or otherwise)

Great report.

Good information. Thank you.

This might bring a smile to your face - some familiar faces for you

I was at Tufi in April

Thank you for the write up - I haven't been to Tawali & was curious - so your report was a real eye opener.

ps - Coco & the dog had a couple of fantastic dusts up when I was there, & one afternoon I was sitting on the verandah reading, & heard a noise - the hornbill had jumped up to the tea & coffee table & had used his beak to take the cover off the cake dish & was scoffing it!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=121074&id=1555694351&l=3cc9114a1b

Doh! Forgot the link. Enjoy.