Intro

Papua New Guinea is located in the coral triangle, the centre of marine biodiversity which has the highest diversity of tropical fish and coral in the world. The waters of Kimbe Bay are home to prolific and diverse marine life and reef structures. Pristine and colourful corals are home to a variety of fish, crustacean and invertebrate life and many of the reefs have resident schools of barracuda, tuna and jacks.

Includes:

• 1 night Airport 85 Hotel, Brisbane
• Return flights Brisbane-Port Moresby-Hoskins flying Air Niugini
• 8 nights Walindi Resort, Kimbe
• Plantation room twin share
• All meals while at Walindi Resort
• Up to 18 boat dives, 7 dive days
• Includes tanks, weights, air fills & dive guide
• Return airport transfers

 

A range of shark species are regularly sighted, including hammerheads and silvertips, particularly on the offshore reefs. Resident pods of dolphins frequently entertain divers transiting between sites. The occasional sightings of orcas, pilot whales, whale sharks and other marine life passing through Kimbe Bay waters delight both guests and staff.

Walindi Resort has three purpose-built day boats to take guests out diving and snorkeling the wonderful waters of Kimbe Bay. The Bay with over 40 different sites to choose from, offers a variety of different sorts of dives - underwater sea-mounts, unbelievable sheer walls, fabulous coral gardens, huge fans and funky critters. Our dive sites are suitable for all levels of diver and whatever the length of your stay, the one thing we can promise is that you will not be bored!

Kimbe Bay pulses with life: its coral reefs hold more than half of all species on Earth, a rainbow jungle that more than 900 reef fish species call home. Kimbe Bay is located in the Bismarck Sea, a key area in the global center of marine biodiversity. The Coral Triangle and Kimbe Bay lie almost centrally within this. Its marine life is remarkable: Kimbe Bay possesses 4 critically endangered, 11 endangered and 173 vulnerable species. These include the Largetooth Sawfish (Pristis pristis), Pondicherry Shark (Carcharhinus hemiodon), Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) and Leatherback Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea), Scalloped Hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini) and Sei Whale (Balaenoptera borealis).

Kimbe Bay’s secret to its rich healthy marine ecosystem is its complex and diverse bathymetry (the measurement of depth of water in oceans, seas or lakes). A narrow coastal shelf fringes the coastline of the bay, descending to oceanic depths of over 1,000m. Along this coastline, fringing nearshore emergent reefs are neighbors to seagrass beds, mangroves and river estuaries forming multiple land-sea interfaces.

Coral reefs in Kimbe Bay are as striking as they are fortunate. Its reefs have been assessed as high diversity and high coral cover sites – amazingly with relatively low human impact. Of the 173 IUCN Redlist vulnerable species, 159 of these are scleractinian corals. The endangered coral Cantharellus noumeae is also found in the Bay. In 2018, researchers from James Cook University undertook upper mesophotic surveys in Kimbe Bay, which resulted in reporting a species of Black Coral (Antipatharia) that had not been previously described to science, let alone the Bay itself.

The occasional sightings of orca, pilot whales, whale sharks and other large marine life passing through Kimbe Bay often with young are also an indicator of the importance of Kimbe Bay as a habitat for these animals.

The combination of a rich and varied fish fauna, well developed coral reefs, and a spectacular, relatively pristine environment, is ample justification for the establishment of a special conservation status for Kimbe Bay.