For those of you who worship rust, Niugini Diving has an exclusive Wreck Diving Programme, which specializes in the deeper wrecks of Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea has some of the Pacific's most spectacular wrecks,
mainly from WW II. As the Japanese advanced and then retreated through
PNG during the war, numerous vessels from both sides of the conflict
were sunk. Of the twenty-five divable wrecks in the country, four
stand out most:
We include these four wrecks in most Wreck Diving Programmes. Of course there are many other wrecks in PNG. There are three vessels at Wewak along with numerous aircraft, Rabaul even after the volcanic eruption of 1994 still has many wrecks and Kavieng has quite a number especially at Three Islands Harbour where the American Air Force bombed Japanese vessels at anchor. There is even a midget submarine lying just off the stern of one of these Japanese wrecks.
The Wreck Diving Special Programme aboard Barbarian II typically departs from Lae, travelling south towards Alotau. We dive on 5 - 6 wrecks starting with the Tenyo Maru, a 5600 tonne mine layer. Then we travel to Salamaua and the largest divable wartime wreck in PNG - Yokohama Maru, a 6143 tonne passenger cargo vessel lying in 70 metres of water. It is an absolutely magnificent dive. Not 500 meters away lies the Kotoku Maru, approximately 4000 tonnes. Although mostly broken up, it is ideal for beginners and the wreck photographer. We then travel southward through the Royal Channel taking in the Fly Islands, some reef diving and some deep-sea fishing. The next stop on the expedition is the Lucany Islands and the Russel A. Chitterton, a huge liberty ship that ran aground on one of the numerous reefs in the area. This wreck lies 80 miles from the mainland on some excellent reefs - a perfect time to do some reef diving after exploring the wreck. After this, we dive the S’Jacob - a Dutch merchant vessel and perhaps PNG's most famous wreck. This vessel provides the ideal dive. It is in first class condition with soft corals and unbelievable marine life on and around its spectacular site. From here we travel to the site of the Masaya - a former WW I destroyer which has only recently been discovered. Lying on her starboard side, she now rests in 50 metres of water. Finally we travel to Cape Vogel through more reefs to the last resting place of Blackjack - a B17 bomber, forced to ditch because of thunderstorms and low fuel. She now lies in 50 metres on a white sandy seabed and is an essential dive. Niugini Diving's Rod Pearce is accredited with discovering this incredible wreck, as well as several others in PNG. The Wreck Diving Special Programme covers some 500 miles and takes 10 days to complete. Variations on this expedition are available as 7 day programmes. Niugini Diving works out of Lae or Alotau for these expeditions, as this allows maximum time to be spent on the sunken vessels.
Interested in our Wreck Diving Special Programme? Why not contact us for more information? Consider following your wreck diving adventure with a trip to one of the other land based or live-aboard destinations in Papua New Guinea! With Niugini Diving, feel free to customise your trip the way you want it! |
 Black Jack  S'Jacobs  Kotoku Maru
Jacobs Guns
Jacobs Lantern
Local Pottery
Jacobs Binicle
Mini Sub |
