Dive Review of Tawali in
Papua New Guinea/Milne Bay

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Tawali, Mar, 2007, by Richard Whiting, MD, United States ( 1 report). Report 3584.
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	By far the best diving I’ve ever done. By the second dive I had crossed off most of what I had on my wish list. Tawali offers an incredible combination of pristine Indo-Pacific diving with lots of variety – walls, bommies, muck, drift, a great house reef. Sightings ran the gamut from barracudas, hammerheads and Napoleon Wrasse, squadrons of devil fish to incredible small critters – Ghost Pipefish, pygmy seahorses, myriad nudibranchs, tiny crabs and shrimps – sometimes one on top of another. I booked 6 nights at Tawali as an add-on to a trip visiting relatives in Melbourne. Bettina at DiversionOz could not have been more helpful. I usually book independently, but the connections, and dealing with Air Nuigini get complicated, so I used an agent and was very glad I did – every connection went off without a hitch, and I felt much more confident with the prep I received from DiversionOz. The dive routine was either 3 tanks with lunch on board, or 2 tanks, back to the resort for lunch, and 2 more tanks. The dive crews were very flexible – a daily recommendation was made by Bob where to go, but really whatever we asked for we could do – as many tanks daily as our computers would allow. Night dives were available as often as desired, and the house reef offered interesting and almost unlimited bottom time, if not as scenic and colorful as the other reefs. Most of the trips were from 5 – 30 minutes from the resort, with the exception of a magical 3 tank trip across the channel to dive near Normanby Island that took about 90 minutes to reach. The resort itself is beautiful and nicely situated on a bluff overlooking Milne bay. Lots of native woods, carvings and crafts everywhere. Rooms are very spacious, with private balconies overlooking the lagoon. There is friendly, helpful staff everywhere. The daily meal routine is breakfast at 7:00 (coffee and tea available at 6 and in-room), lunch at Noon, dinner at 7:00. The food was much better than most resorts I’ve been to, and the day boat lunches were by far the best I’ve ever had. The chef started with a different soup every night – all delicious. Dinner and breakfast are served buffet style, with lots of variety – dinner offered chicken, pork, veggies, breads, potatoes, fantastic fresh fruit (surprisingly little fish) and dessert. Vegetarian dishes were also available – not just an offer to eat more bread and potatoes. Breakfast had fresh bread for toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, cereals, fruit, and often French toast or pancakes. Negatives to report were that my rental regulator occasionally went into free flow when testing the purge valve (fixed quickly), and the small dive boats were not especially comfortable – a small seat with room for 2 in front of the wheel house – other divers sit on the edge of the boat to and from the sites. If there were more divers, we would have spent more time on the larger boats (we were on one for the trip to Normanby) which are huge by comparison. Spacious decks, lots of seating, on-board head, big camera/gear table etc. Tawali exceeded my already very high expectations. I especially liked diving as much as on a liveaboard, but able to tumble into your room for a quick hot shower or nap whenever you felt the urge. The diving was incredible, varied, and unconstrained (except by your computer), the resort beautiful, clean and comfortable and all the people exceptionally friendly, knowledgeable and supportive. Tawali is not inexpensive either to get to, or to stay at, but in my opinion offers an outstanding value.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	GBR, Cozumel, Caymans, Turks and Caicos, St. John, St. Kitt
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, currents
Water Temp	80-85°F / 27-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	0
Water Visibility	50-80 Ft/ 15-24 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	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	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Tawali in Papua New Guinea/Milne Bay

Tawali, Mar, 2007,

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 Tawali in
Papua New Guinea/Milne Bay