Many locations in the Pacific provide the opportunity for wreck diving. Tufi Dive Resort in Papua New Guinea’s Oro Province is one of the best, reports Nina Karnikovski.

Wreck diving at Tufi Dive Resort. Credit: Tufi Dive Resort

The Tufi wharf was established by the Australian New Guinea Administration before World War 2 and began operating as a base for PT boats for the US Navy in 1942. As a result, you’ll find wreckage from two destroyed PT boats and a small Australian freighter on the seabed just off the wharf, which exploded in
a refuelling mishap during the war.

What you’ll find

The waters surrounding Tufi are a scuba diver’s Shangri-La, being home to swirling cyclones of barracuda, reef fish and sharks, including the rare white hammerhead, all flitting around the artificial reefs created by the coral-encrusted wrecks.

Something special

As you swim between the various pieces of wreckage, keep an eye out for several machineguns and ammunition scattered across the ocean floor. 

Details

Tufi Dive Resort runs specialty wreck dives, and offers dive and stay packages. Tel. +67 5323 3462, see tufidive.com.

This article first published in the March/April issue of Paradise, the inflight magazine of Air Niugini. Reproduced with permission.