Detailed Itinerary

07 Dec 2006	2110 PX393 SIN - POM
08 Dec 2006	0600 Arrive at Port Moresby Jackson's Airport We were not warned of what to expect ... or what NOT to expect at the airport as there was nothing at the airport. Prior to arrival, we were contemplating on whether to take the city tour but looking at the airport, staying there for 10 hours was not an option. We were sleepy and tired from the overnight flight but took the tour anyway. Our gsm tri-band phones did not work. An airport/hotel personel helped make the calls to Tropics tour to arrange for the city tour 0900 Tropics Tour - City Tour (K110 per pax) Paga Hill lookout Botanical Gardens Highlights there were various animals the tree kangaroo, bird of paradise and the cassowary (recently added to the guiness book as the most dangerous bird on earth !!) National Parliament Tour of the paliment chamber and various exhibits   National Museum This museum a very good collection of historical tools and explains all aspects of PNG history and tribal living. PNG Arts Shop selling local handicraft Hanuabada village A small village on the coast built on stilts Local market Quick visit to the local market where the locals bring their produce to sell. Cost of living is apparently quite high as you can see a watermelon costing something like SGD$10 1430 Back to the domestic airport Anything is possible in PNG, domestic airport was more chaotic then we expected. Long queues through security checks (was told that this is not normal !?), folks in "secured" area getting pass security checks without tickets, folks pushing their way pass queues, small kids lying around the airport and security folks at the entrance keep non-passengers out of the airport and queues after queues at the security scans, ticketing booth, customs, boarding gates ... its all normal :> The airline information board showed that the gate to our flight to Tufi was closed. The guy at the boarding gate said that we were suppose to board from another gate, making us think that we have missed out flight. Good thing there was another guy there going to Tufi on the same flight. Told us to ignore all of  that and just wait for the APNG staff to come get us. Keeping our fingers crossed, we were quite happy when someone finally shouted for boarding for flight to Tufi. We finally boarded the plane at 1600hrs. 1700 Landed on Tufi "airport" which looked like a makeshift grass patch. The entire village was there to watch the place land ... what a welcome. Very short walk from the airfield to Tufi Dive Resort Jumped into the pool to cool down from the blazing heat, dinner and an early night
09 Dec 2006	Dive 1: Minor Reef Dive 2: Bev Reef The sites are known for the abundent ribbons of nudibranch eggs which looks like a large flower underwater White tip reef shark appear as we start the dive. The dive guides were rolling a half empty bottle making the sharks look very hungry and swimming around very nervously Dolphins were just off the edge of the reef where we were doing safety stop. Quite an unexpected sight for us We did not see other dive boat, divers or tourist, making us feels that we are the only divers in the entire fiords ... we probably were !! Short walk around Tufi village station area. The village policeman, brought us to his house so that his wife could sell us some souvenier. Tufi is still very rural, villages do not have electricity yet.  Urbanization has  not got to this place YET !
10 Dec 2006	Dive 3: Paul's Reef Lunch: Beach BBQ Komoa beach Had BBQ fish and sausages for lunch. White sand beach in a fiord opposite Tufi, 5 minutes by boat. Sun was blazing hot and I think the fish and sausages were not the only ones being BBQ Dive 4: Steward's Reef Dive 5: Tufi House Reef Tufi house reef has a good variety of unique nudibranch and a rare black anamome fish. Juv tetra batfish on surface at jetty, weird jellyfish and such Dinner: Lobster dinner at Tufi Dive Resort Balcony
11 Dec 2006	Dive 6 Cyclone Reef Dive 7: Cyclone Wall Both dives on different side of cyclone. Skipper told us that fish life was not as beeming as usual, but still it was a site with a good mix of fish and lots of macro oppotunities. Maori wrasse, barracudas, octopus, whitetip reef sharks on the reef. Spotted a solo hammerhead patroling the deep along the cyclone wall. You can tell how unspolit the site is with its 6meter diameter brain coral, large tabletop coral of about the same size ... etc
12 Dec 2006	Enroute to dive site, we stopped to watch 2 large manta rays circling around on the surface with wing tips out of the water Dive 8: Evy's Reef Small circular reef formation, about 45 mins to swim around at my very slow speed. Nice coral garden and the usual shark on the other side of the reef Dive 9: Ribbon Eel Reef So called 'muck diving', but in my view was not very muck. However it is one of my favourite site on this trip. It was a very unique seascape that I have not experience before ... kind of a mix of pale green "grape-like" softcoral, tiny coconut tree soft corals, small pockets of green, red and black algae forming carpet grass like patches, large sponges of blue, green , lots of brown lettuce-like stuff... etc 1600 - 1800 Kayaking Tufi Fiords Got a kayak from the dive shop and paddled out along the tufi fiords. Easy paddle along the quiet mangrove coast of the fiords.  Bird life was quite abundent in the trees but were too far to spot without bino.
13 Dec 2006	0800 - 0930 Visit to Iyagirua village 30 minutes walk from Tufi Dive Resort. Nice lookout into the fiords and the Safu village in the opposite ridge Flight from Tufi to Port Moresby was scheduled at 1100hrs. Plane arrived in Tufi at 1620hrs. As they say ... it's PNG :> Good thing we were not in a hurry and don't mind getting stuck longer in Tufi Dive Resort :> 1730 Arrive at Port Moresby Jackson Airport 1800 Transfer to Gateway Hotel was hassle-free and very near the airport. Rooms were big, clean nice and the hotel had 2 very decent restaurant
14 Dec 2006	1530 PX POM-SIN 1930 Arrive Singapore