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MV FeBrina Liveaboard Diving,
South Coast from Rabaul on the Island of New Britain, PNG
March 20-30 2013 Trip Report

After many years of fantastic diving with my pal Alan Raabe, Captain/owner of MV. FeBrina; we (my longtime client friends and I) decided after our last trip to the Bismark sea with Al to try this new dive itinerary starting from Rabaul travelling south and west, to dive the south coast of New Britain!

Boarding at 4:00pm we steamed overnight to our first dive site at Mocklin 3. The usual dive itinerary on Febrina for the last 20 some years, is wake up at 6:00am and first dive at 6:30 am, the very best way to wake up in my book!!! Ahhhhh! Al offers up to 5 dives a day as long as we do not need to steam overnight. Three morning dives and one afternoon dive at 3:30pm, then the night dive.

I always feel like I am 'home' on Febrina. The crews are top notch, mostly local from Papua Niugini and have been with Al for a very long time! Josie and Digger the best eyes in PNG they are such a hard working dive guide team!! They find everything! Digger can see the tiniest of creatures, which most of us can only see with a magnifier!

They found my favorite creatures which are not so easy to see around the world; ghost pipe fishes, those amazingly camouflaged gorgeous pipe fish that blend so well in their natural environment. I had not seen a Halamedia ghost pipe fish in yonks! In this same area was a rare type of leaf fish that looked more like a shovel nose rhinopias! What a day, I jumped in first and saw a gray reef shark and lovely eagle ray.

This area of the Southern Coast of New Britain is more known for its macro species, muck dives, sand and some reef. It is a more adventurous itinerary which Al has visited for many years and only recently in the last many years decided to offer it as a unique dive itinerary. Since all of us except 1 couple have dived on Febrina many times before, we knew what to expect from the boat, the crew and the captain!

Even though this time of year on the south coast is meant to be the drier time, it is the wettest place in PNG the rest of the year! Amazing really, we had a mix of a little rain and sun, mostly sun, all good!

Sadly I somehow flooded my camera and housing on the 3 rd dive on the first day, ho hum. Many of the reefs offer the usual plethora of reef fish, fusiliers, unicorn & surgeon fish, dog tooth tuna, varieties of snappers, tons of nudibranchs etc.

I found this unusual translucent large nudibranch with wild dark purple liquid coming out of it! What the heck? I sat there observing this wild behavior for a long time, until finally it reared up and out of its mouth was a wild looking nudibranch! This is a carnivorous nudi, whoaaaaa, it was eating another nudibranch! OMG, now I noticed there were a few of them around, very wild to see this type of behavior!

We went to a large area called Sharon's Island, they have different dive sites here all dependent on the direction of the current. Blue ribbon eels, always a favorite and Harlequin ghost pipe fish in crinoids!

A lovely spot called West Linden Channel, offered a very fishy site, my fav! As soon as I jumped in I heard the clicking sonar of dolphins!

Schools of Jacks zooming by as if running to catch a train, barracuda , snapper, sweet lips and that unusual sponge that looks like drippy whip coral all over the place. This was a very Zen early morning dive, ahhhh so fishy!!

Nearby we dove a fully intact Japanese sea plane called the Mitsubishi, this is a wonderful WWII plane wreck, full of life, lots of fishies , black coral, pygmy seahorses nearby and 2 live torpedo's in the wings, yikes! A wonderful dive!

Nearby a wonderful dive site with dolphins and large schools of fish to include surgeon, fusiliers, jacks, unicorn, barracuda, many varieties of colorful reef fish, anthias, damsels, clownfish of all varieties, to include the beautiful white saddleback clown sharing an anemone with a skunk clown, go figure!

Elsie's reef offers a plethora of the very wild looking elephant ear fans in all colors and shades of green & blue all shapes and sizes. Josie our wonderful dive guide/guru found 3 leaf fish surrounded by these lovely fans!

Another area of Sharon Island - West Linden channel depending on if the current is going in the 'right' direction makes for a totally different dive! We saw gray reef sharks, white tips, lots of fish enjoying the current and at the end a gorgeous silver tip shark, my very favorite of all sharks!

I actually found something by myself, a baby humpback scorpion fish, looks like a stone.

An area called Palmalmal is very productive for muck diving, you name it we saw it! Al took us to this very beautiful Waterfall, with a pool! There is a very strong current in the pool that moves all over due to the heavy falling water that falls out of a cave. Some of us, climbed up the path through the slippery foliage, Digger took us up to the cave to this stunning view with lava rock, with vines and the rainforest hiding us in the dense foliage, our ship mates could hear us (me) but not see us views of the waterfall, the pool, the beach and Febrina moored! Gorgeous!

We went swimming in the pool, very fresh and cool, the power of the water should not be taken lightly, I entered a whirlpool which grabbed my feet and sucked me down. I came out of it, with some effort but my mates around me just treading water, pretty wild!

This area is lovely, we had amazing early morning dives with clear water finally, loads of fish at Gonodale III, this was one of my favorite places to dive, friendly juvenile batfish waiting for photogs to take his picture!

A great jetty dive at Matong, with loads of critters; harlequin ghost pipe fish, the cutest small lime green frog fish, some found a yellow one, flat heads and nudi's. Bountiful lovely coral gardens among the sand and silt, since we were so shallow we had over 100 minute dives! This is my favorite kind of diving, you can get lost enjoying all the amazing critters forever in shallow water! No time limits just play and enjoy!

Mocklin III dive site offers gorgeous hard and soft coral and whip coral. A very fishy colorful place with bright blue anthias darting in and out of the sunlight; thousands of tiny fish fry recently hatched; baby yellow tail, blue fusiliers surrounded by gorgeous cabbage coral.

Jonies Bommy off Rabaul warf at 630am for our last dive, incredible marine life here! A large variety of clown fish and anemone; white bonnet clown in the same anemone with a skunk clown how cute! Percula clown fish, some are Melanesian species with the beautiful thick dark black surrounding the white thick stripes, my fav. Clarkies, 4 huge stone fish (the real stone fish) very pretty pink and blue, wow! Glassy sweepers, the very large and dark green nudies with the glowing orange dots! Squat lobsters, large bright orange commensal shrimp in carpet anemone! Fantastic dive!!

Alan Raabe had been in this area of The South Coast of New Britain for years fishing with his mates up a river each January/February. Some of the locals took him up through the steep jungle path along the river he used to fish on to show him a sacred BLUE HOLE! This has become his entire motivation for creating these trips. He saves this jungle adventure for the end of the trip.
The Blue Hole------

A very mystical, magical, surreal dive in the Blue Hole today; beyond anything I have ever experienced; the ultimate movie set. Imagining I was in a Lord of the Rings movie set. Sitting on the lava rock edge of the pool, I was the first to slip into the cool crystal clear cerulean blue. Deeper and deeper I drifted down to the tall ancient fallen trees looking like sentries keeping guard in their watery crypt. Looking up through a kaleidoscope imagery of streaming sunlight; incredible patterns of light bouncing off the foliage high above, mixed with clouds and shards of color, truly mind blowing. The steep sides of the wall of this blue hole are covered in a fine silt lining of lime, with levels of tree roots and branches. Deeper I went feeling the effects of Rapture of the Deep. The epitome of ZEN, maybe one of the most awe inspiring experiences of my diving life.

The crew left early in the morning with all our diving gear in the tinny. It is a long difficult journey for them to haul our gear up the long stunning river over rapids and thick foliage, struggling up and up to where the pool lies. They are amazing!

Our beautiful boat ride up the river observing the local people who still have grass and thatch huts here, was a breath of fresh air! Colorful blue and green iridescent large dragon flies, lush jungle growth, pandanas trees, jungle vines, fish in the river and colorful azure kingfishers, rounded out this prelude to approaching the Blue Hole!

The boys busy cutting a path with machetes; up up up making steps out of trees for us to climb through the thick jungle, steep and slippery. They attached ropes and guided us up to the amazing vista as we get to the top before our eyes lay this luminous azure blue pool in the MIDDLE of the jungle was beyond words. I am privileged to have been here and experienced this amazing place in the middle of unvisited Papua New Guinea with me pal Al Raabe and my fun long time friends & guests!

What a trip!!!

Thanks again Al, Febrina crew and my very fun diving buddies!

Cindi LaRaia