Dive Review of FeBrina/Walindi Resort in
Papua New Guinea/New Britain

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FeBrina/Walindi Resort, Jun, 2009, by Mary Wicksten, TX, USA ( Contributor 17 reports with 8 Helpful votes). Report 4904.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Got a discount fare on Qantas with connections through Brisbane from Los Angeles. All flights on time but lots of trouble with weight limits, changeable at each airline and each airline's desk! Customs and check-in disorganized in Port Moresby. Be sure your connections have plenty of time. Australian customs a hassle coming back. Walindi Resort lovely. Bungalows set in a lovely garden, birds and large butterflies all over. Good food, fresh produce, local ice cream is great. Good service. Local tours to see birds, hot springs, WWII airplane wrecks available. Bring your own binoculars. Nearest town (Kimbe) doesn't have much in the way of tourist traps but you can get necessities. Resort has small day trip dive boats that stay in Kimbe Bay. Nice, but you'd have more diving excitement by going out on the liveaboard. No diving from shore--it's all a very shallow sand flat and sea grass bed. Diving lessons for beginners in the boat basin. Was on a special charter of the FeBrina to areas off the beaten path to the northwest end of the island. Went into areas where there is no fishing, probably never dived before. Calm, warm water; dived seamounts and also some "muck dives" in bays or old volcanic craters. Ran into near-surface currents here and there but nothing that a reasonably fit diver could not swim against. Reefs drop WAY down--watch your depth gauge! Almost no coral bleaching or algal mats, no trash or signs of fishing. Fish, fish, fish! Met up with a school of bumphead parrotfish, each weighing several hundred pounds and close to 4 feet long apiece! Sharks (whitetip and reef) shy except at Inglis Shoals where they are fed. Saw some green and hawksbill turtles, wrong time of year for mantas but lots of bluespotted rays. What other kinds of fish would you like? Over 800 species have been reported in the area. We saw flame, blacktail and decorated dartfish, mandarinfish, three kinds of bannerfish, close to 20 species of butterflyfish, signal and clown gobies, four types of anemonefishes, two species of lionfish, huge schools of unicornfish, fusiliers and chromis, etc. Big fish included dogtooth tuna, giant moray, chevron barracuda schools and a few "whopper" grouper; also a huge stonefish on a night dive (watch out!). All sorts of invertebrates--commensal shrimp that live amidst corals or on sea urchins, burrowing snapping shrimp with their gobies, some really weird looking anemones, hard and soft corals, black corals, whip corals, sea cucumbers, cushion and other starfishes, weird worms (but no fireworms) and nudibranchs galore. Saw only one cuttlefish; one banded sea snake. Dive boat very comfortable. Laundry is done daily, so you have soft towels and clean clothes all the time. Good food, wine with meals, baked goods AM and snacks (including fresh tuna sashimi) PM. Gear stowed in your own cubbyhole. Dive crew fills tanks, sets up gear for every dive, hands it down to you. You usually dive off the stern platform, very easy steps up and down. For a few dives,we took a smaller boat, did a back roll and handed our gear back up afterwards, then climbed a small ladder. Dive guides attentive. If you wanted to find something in particular, they helped you find it. Boat has oxygen on board but nobody had any trouble. They keep track of "wayward" divers, including one guy who always ended up coming up alone, last and away from everyone else. Note that this might not be the best boat for beginners. They do not hold your hand or keep everyone on a "short leash". Getting to New Britain from the U.S.A. is likely to take at least 20 hours including lay-overs or more.You'll have to decide what is the minimum you can take to meet those weight limits. Save up your money, endure the long flights and hassles and go if you can. This area is one of those places you hear about--never been dived, gorgeous and largely unspoiled.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Palau, Yap, Australia, Fiji, Hawaii, Galapagos, W. Mexico, California, Gulf of Mexico, Florida, Bonaire, Cayman Is., Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Cozumel
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	82-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	30-70 Ft/ 9-21 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Time limits recommended
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Dedicated rinse buckets, staff handed down cameras from dive platform. Very good camera table but careless divers often put soft drinks, coffee, cigarettes next to my camera--yuck! (Worst offender screamed if you got near his stuff). Must bring your own computer if you shoot digital, no nearby processing if you shoot film. No extra film or batteries readily available, either.

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Dive Review of FeBrina/Walindi Resort in Papua New Guinea/New Britain

FeBrina/Walindi Resort, Jun, 2009,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of FeBrina/Walindi Resort in
Papua New Guinea/New Britain