Manta
Ray
Frog FishThis trip in March 2001 marks my sixth trip on the Tiata, my seventh trip to PNG and my fifth trip to Milne Bay. The Tiata changes locations to maximize seasonal weather and provide the best diving for that particular season/location. Kavieng is more oriented towards pelagic animals whereas Milne Bay is more of a rare critter location although it has its share of large animals as well. While the boat itself has not changed at all since my first trip on it, the crew has evolved somewhat. Kevin Baldwin, the owner of the Tiata, is now the skipper as well but he is training Russell, formerly of Mike Ball operations, as the new skipper. Kevin is extremely adept at finding the unusual and rare critters endemic to Milne Bay as are Jim and Steve, members of the crew, who are happy to dive with you and help find interesting marine life. Marti, the cook on all of my previous trips has moved on but is ably replaced by Peter an Aussie instructor and gourmet chef, who makes wonderful, out of this world, meals in a kitchen the size of a closet. Ella remains as chief steward and is quite a good critter finder when he takes to the water. This boat could formerly be booked only as a charter but recently can be booked through selected travel agents. For more information check their website at www.bomatu.com
Manta
Ray
Frog FishThe boat is GORGEOUS and is extremely well maintained with nice touches abounding. While not roomy, at sixty-six feet, it is adequate and exceptionally well laid out with scuba divers in mind. Every inch is used maximally for crew storage and/or diver comfort. Supplies are stored under the seats in the lounge, under the dive deck and in other locations, which would otherwise be dead space. Even the bathrooms are designed to maximize usable space. The dive deck is not as spacious as the Telita, Paradise Sport, or especially the Bilikiki; with ten divers preparing to go in the water simultaneously things can get crowded such that divers must be "processed" serially rather than concurrently. This was not a problem and in fact was more desirable than the entire complement of divers hitting the water at the same time. There is an outdoor table for meals that will barely accommodate all ten divers and this is often used for camera maintenance in between dives. There are 12 small camera cubicles indoors, each with a charging outlet but there is no camera table due to lack of room; cameras are stored on the floor outside the lounge around the outside eating area but this does not present a problem. On this trip we had 17 cameras for 10 divers and all were accommodated easily; the most seen on a previous trip was 23 cameras! Tanks are steel or aluminum; this meant that many of us who opted for steel did not use or have the need for weight belts. Both 90 and 100 cubic foot tanks are available. Air fills are 3000 psi+ and refills are promptly accommodated even for back-to-back dives in shallow areas. We had some divers who spent 8+ hours underwater on some days, myself included.
Lasala Wharf
At 66 feet, the Tiata has 5 double cabins for guests, additional cabins for the captain and for the cook, and one below deck for the crew of three. The cabins are small but comfortable and are laid out well. The boat has two desalinators so fresh water is plentiful with unlimited showers on the dive deck and in the two heads, which are internal to the boat and are used by the guests; there are an additional two heads for use of the crew. As there was rarely any kind of wait for the heads, this seemed quite adequate. The boat also has stabilizers, which can be beneficial in seas that are less than calm. On our trip, the weather was nice with periods of rain and sun, and the seas were very calm except for one evening storm.
There is a video monitor available for viewing video including a recently installed DVD player. There is superb, automated E6 processing available at a cost of $10/roll whenever there are five rolls in the processing jar. We sometimes exceeded fifty rolls of film processed per day.
Water temperature was a warm 84 degrees for most dives and most people wore little or no thermal protection but protection from stings is recommended. Some dives had very strong currents but most had mild or no current at all. In some cases current lines were desirable and available. Visibility on the reef dives was exceptional approaching 100 feet horizontally. Some of the reefs are stressed most likely due to higher temperatures.
Tiata does not require buddy diving and in fact solo diving is the norm. Crewmembers will dive with you if you prefer diving in a buddy team.
Passages were often done at night so there were always five or even more dives available including a night dive on most nights. In some locations due to the shallow depth, dives were 2 hours plus.
The diving on our trip could be characterized as approximately 40% reef diving and 60% muck diving. With the excellent visibility there were many opportunities for excellent wide angle. The muck diving occasionally had visibility as low as 40 feet.
The day starts out with an early breakfast followed by an 8:00 AM dive. After a suitable surface interval (remember you are a LONG way from a chamber) the second morning dive is followed shortly by lunch. The first afternoon dive is at 1:30 and the second afternoon dive is about 4:00 PM. My only complaint is that dinner was not until 7:30 or sometimes later which made night diving start a tad late for my taste. There were plenty of snacks available at all times.
Flamboyant CuttlefishWe were fortunate to find many rare critters but some of the rare critters found the preceding year were in diminished attendance. Some of the critters included: Mimic Octopus, cuttlefish, flamboyant cuttlefish including two mating pairs, squid, Pigmy Seahorses, Rhinopias in black but greatly diminished from prior years, Caledonian Stingers, Cockatoo Waspfish, frogfish, and a variety of nudibranchs. There were also various and sundry shrimp including a pair of Harlequin Shrimp pictured below, eels, etc.
Harlequin
Shrimp Pair
The highlight of the trip was diving with Manta Rays for two days. We visited a cleaning station that had anywhere from 2 to 9 different manta rays that allowed very close approach IF you followed correct procedure. Correct procedure was:
+ No touching
+ Stay on the bottom and don’t try to swim with the rays
+ Minimize bubbles when the rays were close
Manta RayTo say that Chris and Deda are personable is to greatly understate their charm, sense of humor, and warm personalities. It is obvious that they really care about whether their guests have a good time and they do everything in their power to make sure the trip runs smoothly and that each person feels included. Chris produced three slide shows that illustrate the elements of composition with some of his own slides.
If you are curious about what Chris and Deda shoot, as I was, I will share that information with you. Chris and Deda have changed cameras! They have moved to use the new Subeye camera and have four of them, two for macro, and two for wide angle. These cameras have amazing potential and are constantly being improved with changes from operation by Chris and Deda. The first interesting feature is that, using an adapter, they take all of the RS lenses. For those shooting with the Nikonos RS, a body which has been discontinued, that protects their sizable investment in lenses. For those lucky enough to have the new German made 18 mm rectilinear lens, this means SLR water contact optics for wide angle. But the real advantage is that the Subeye allows shooting extreme (!) macro at 2:1, 3:1 or even greater magnification. This is done using a Nikon 105 mm or 200 mm lens coupled with either extension tubes or tele-converters and then coupled with close-up lens diopters. For more information about this camera, contact Chris and Deda at Rainbowed Sea Tours.
Ok, so would I go back? I would dive Milne Bay again in a heartbeat and I would repeat diving with Chris and Deda at every opportunity!!