Dive Review of Golden Dawn in
Papua New Guinea/Madang - Wewak

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Golden Dawn, Aug, 2002, by Jim Jenkins, CA, USA . Report 220.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	(Scale 1-10) Overall: 9. 14 nights out of Madang to the Manus, Hermit and Ninigo Islands south to Wewak. Visibility up to 200’. 79F near Madang to 84F in the North. This was one of my best trips. EAN highly recommended. Sea life – pelagics and large fish: 9. Mobula, eagle, marble rays; white-tip, black-tip, grey reef silvertip sharks; huge napoleon wrasses, schools of bumphead parrots, jacks, barracuda, oceanic triggers, snappers, more. Sea life – reef: 9. Healthy, large variety and quantity of triggers, angels, bat fish, lion fish, flatheads, scorpion fish, octopus, etc.; huge sea fans, gorgonians, whips, etc. Sea life – critters: 5. Good variety of nudi’s and some critters on wreck dives. We really didn’t spend time looking for critters. Dive briefings/guides: 6. Craig (Craig de Wit, owner/operator) accompanied some divers on some dives. No other dive guides were available. Briefings were generally excellent. The boat does 4 or 5 different itineraries around PNG. The sites are pristine. No briefings like “there are two leaf scorpion fish on the wall at 60’.” Food: 10. Best I’ve had on any boat and almost any resort. Divers are treated as responsible adults. A glass of wine with dinner does not mean no night diving. Cabins: 8. Clean, comfortable, and sufficiently roomy for a relatively small boat. Cabins 4 & 5 are on the main deck with en suite heads. The crew cleaned the cabins and made beds daily. Each cabin has separate A/C. Boat layout: 9. The lounge is spacious for 8 – 10 people. Meals are served at a large table above decks with a nice breeze. A wide-screen projection unit with surround sound for watching movies when there is no night dive. Boat layout for diving and photography: 6. About 40% of diving is from the boat via side entries. Return is via a single set of steps up to the side. The steps flap and move wildly in the current and swell. I found this no problem. Others had some difficulty; Craig had them just surface for zodiac pickup. The crew was happy to take gear to the tender and help you put it on at the dive site. Only three photographers and they used up the table and floor space in the lounge. The suiting-up area and gear storage was adequate. Crew and overall service: 10. Excellent! The whole crew did an outstanding job. Fills were perfect. Craig (owner/operator) ran the tour and dove with us: good stories, good dive guide, and very enthusiastic about the diving. Nice touches such as rinsing all the gear daily and doing the final gear clean up for you.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Fiji, Solomons, Sipadan, Cocos, Galapagos, Coral Sea, Hawaii, California, Carribean, other PNG
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, dry	Seas	choppy, currents
Water Temp	81-84°F / 27-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	60-200 Ft/ 18-61 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	common sense; solo diving OK.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 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	E6 available; projector & screen; good charging space; work space limited.

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Dive Review of Golden Dawn in Papua New Guinea/Madang - Wewak

Golden Dawn, Aug, 2002,

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 Golden Dawn in
Papua New Guinea/Madang - Wewak