Dive Review of Loloata Island Resort in
Papua New Guinea

Other dive reports on Loloata Island Resort

Other Papua New Guinea reports
Subscriber Content Preview
Active subscribers go here

Loloata Island Resort, Jun, 2003, by Lori Brown, MD, USA ( Sr. Contributor 22 reports). Report 558.
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	Lori Brown, Chris Green, and Justin Brown Green Loloata Island Resort, Papua New Guinea We stopped at Loloata on the first leg of a trip around Papua New Guinea in June, 2003. Loloata Island is conveniently located near Port Moresby so is a good place to adjust to the 14 hour time difference (between PNG and East Coast U.S.). The rooms are small but comfortable and clean and we arranged for an air conditioned room. The weather was hot during the day but it rained nearly every afternoon and cooled down a bit at night. There were a few mosquitos but not enough to drive one mad, we were all on malaria prophylaxis and using insect repellant as well. There were plenty of interesting guests. Evidently, the close location to Port Moresby draws not just divers but conferences to the island. During the 6 days we were there, we met a PNG historian from Queensland University, a physicist who claimed to be the father of the PNG equivalent of the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, a large group of German NGO workers, and a group of missionaries all wearing Isuzu baseball caps. In addition to the numerous interesting guests, there was a host of interesting locals including a horde of tiny wallabies, crested pigeons, large spiders, and captive tree kangaroos. Meals are served buffet style at long tables. Food was good and plentiful and included lobster with light sauce, pasta with shrimp and ginger, ham, and plenty of vegetables (some of them unidentifiable). One night dinner was followed by entertainment by a group of local kids doing traditional dances. It was, well... really cute! The dive shop was run by Adam Powell assisted by dive masters Nienke and Yosi. Our son, age 12, was recently certified junior open water so could not dive below 40 feet. We were concerned that he might not be able to dive if they were too deep or conditions difficult. But Nienke stayed with him at an appropriate depth on every dive so that his being there did not interfere with other divers. Meanwhile, we were able to enjoy deeper diving while our son had a wonderful (and safe) time. Adam was safety conscious and each time there was a new diver on the boat, he did an orientation of the safety features on board. We didn’t see many large fish (sharks) but small fish were plentiful and the reef stunning. There were huge stands of blue tipped acropora filled with pairs of butterfly fish, long-nose file fish, and the usual assortment of damsels. There were beautiful sea fans and even the occasional pygmy seahorse. I may have to resort to a bifocal mask next time to see them better! There was a huge anemone that covered about 5 ft by 5 ft and was hopping with a half-dozen different species of anemone fish. One of my favorite sites, that we returned to repeatedly, was a mucky dive at Lion Island. Here we spotted a tube anemone with a shrimp dancing around it, a tiny crab on the underside of an upside down jelly fish, a pavo razor fish flitting about looking like a little leaf, and a horned sea star with a crab on it. The dive staff kept telling us about the legendary lacy scorpion fish (Rhinopias aphanes), a fish that only lives near Loloata Island. Each day, they would tell us that we might see one today. By our last dive, we were rolling our eyes and laughing when they went through the lacy scorpion fish story with the new divers for the day. Low and behold, on the last 5 minutes of the last dive, Nienka spotted a lacy scorpion fish in the coral rubble at Quayle’s Reef. A fitting end for a relaxed week of diving. Just a brief word about the diving conditions. Visibility was usually limited and there were a few dives on which currents became very strong. We ended one dive with just 300 psi after swimming against a very strong current. The current changed within the first 15 minutes of the dive and the rest of the dive was spent trying to get back to the boat. We were diving with Yosi at the time, looking for pygmy seahorses at about 90 ft. She handled the situation very professionally. We managed a safety stop by hanging onto dead coral. All in all, the dive staff was friendly and helpful, the diving was good, and a good time was had by all.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Sulawesi, Irian Jaya, Cozumel, Bonaire, Fiji, Jamaica
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	choppy, currents
Water Temp	80-85°F / 27-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	40-70 Ft/ 12-21 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	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
UW Photo Comments	Provided a counter in the dive shop with electrical outlet No accomodation on boat for cameras to soak.

Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here

Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 157 dive reviews of Papua New Guinea and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

Other dive reports on Loloata Island Resort

All Papua New Guinea Dive Reviews and Reports
Diving Guide to Papua New Guinea
Diving Reviews for All Dive Destinations

Featured Links from Our Sponsors
Interested in becoming a sponsor?

Reef & Rainforest, Let our experience be your guide -- Reef and Rainforest

Reef & Rainforest is an agency for travelers that scuba dive. Want biodiversity, critters, tribal villages, birds of paradise? We specialize in Papua New Guinea.

Want to assemble your own collection of Papua New Guinea reports in one place?
Use the Mini Chapbook Facility to create your personalized collection.

Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

Undercurrent Home

Page computed and displayed in 0.13 seconds

Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email. And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent
Get a free monthly email and a sample issue!

Dive Review of Loloata Island Resort in Papua New Guinea

Loloata Island Resort, Jun, 2003,

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 Loloata Island Resort in
Papua New Guinea