Tugged in a beautiful setting of rugged mountains, reef-fringed lowlands and offshore volcanic islands lies the prettiest town of the south: Madang township. Set up by the German New Guinea Company in 1884, the City of Madang boast with a perfect mix-ture of nature and modern facilities. Parks, waterways and shade spending trees are as much a part of Madang as hotels or department stores. Madang has a heritage from different tribes it can truly be proud of. There are the highlanders, the river peo-ple, the coastal people and the islanders. While the river, coastal and island people build their houses on stilts in order to allow the play of cool and refreshing breezes, the highlanders continue to build their homes from traditional materials designed to remain warm in the chilly evenings. If you decide to dive the Madang area you have chosen a region that is as diverse as it can get.
Starting off at Barracuda Point this is, as the name already implies, a perfect site to see Barracudas. But don’t be mistaken: This place has much more to offer. Rainbow runners, horse-eye jacks, damselfish, grunts, snappers, surgeon-fish, creole wrasse and sergeant majors are just a few of the species that can be found here. Talking about the marine life and not about the setting would be a shame however. The drop-off, that starts at about 9 m (29 ft) and goes beyond 30 m (98 ft) is beauti-fully covered with staghorn, large pillar corals, gorgonians, elkhorn as well as star and fire corals. Remember not to dive this site in strong south-east winds as the cur-rents is it will not be comfortable. However, the site can be done as a drift dive if the current is right.
Have you ever had the possibility to jump out of your car, right off a cliff and directly into a beautiful dive site? If not, this is exactly how you enter the spot called Boston, provided that no waves are breaking on shore. The USS Boston is an American W.W.II freighter at a depth of about 30 m (98 ft) Being a classic war wreck, there isn’t just simply a prolific soft coral growth but there are still many artefacts in the holds and cabins. Please do not take anything with you, so that others following you can enjoy the same beauty that you did. A big gash in the hull is a silent witness of when the propeller became tangled in mine sweeping cables, slic-ing the hull in the process. Today the area inside and around the USS Boston is in-habited by barracudas, sweet lips, trevallies, large pelagics and cod. To return to your exit simply ascend across the current and return to the south through shallow waters. Keep in mind that this dive should only be done by experienced current-divers.
wreck experience after the USS Boston or you fancy night dives, go see the Mitchell B25 Aircraft that was ditched 200 m (660 ft) southwest of Wongat Island after losing its port engine. Otherwise in-tact, the aircraft lies upright on a reef slope and is covered with sponges and soft corals. Unfortunately the site was visited by vandals, just days after its discovery, who took the side swivel-guns and other artefacts. Today, thanks to a government act that was put into place after these events, all W.W.II relics are legally protected. Remember to take a torch with you as you will be able to peek into the aircraft and have a look at the cockpit controls.
The south side of Crown Island is yet another spot that should not be missed. A gradual drop, covered with fans, sea whips, black corals and barrel sponges and the local marine life consisting of schooling reef fish, mackerels, dog tooth tunas, giant trevallies and sharks make for quite an exceptional dive. If you are lucky enough you might even see a couple of hammerheads. Again this is not a dive that should be done by inexperienced divers. For one there is usually quite a current and some of the predators are quite fearless and might scare the inexperi-enced.
Planet Rock is a seamount that rises from a depth of 600 m (2000 ft) to a tiny reeftop. Again, this is a perfect spot for later in the day, when the predators feed. Simply move to the side of the reef and receive the current that is usually going over it and you will be able to follow schools of barracuda, trevallies and fusiliers. Other inhabitants of Planet Rock include hammerheads and tuna hunting baitfish among the coral formations.
The last but definitively not least spot is the Coral Queen a 150 ft freighter that was scuttled as an artificial reef. Only suitable for experienced divers there is something special about this dive. The time of day that you visit this site is of utmost importance. At day the Coral Queen is of very little interest at all. It is in the evening, more precisely at dusk, that the beauty of this spot can be experienced. Make sure to be at the site no later than 5.45 pm. Dive down and sit on the bow just as the sun clips behind the horizon. The following experience of the Coral Queen depends on it that you do not turn of your torch. As the ambient light rapidly fades tiny dots will start to appear amongst the superstructure of the wreck. As they glow in bright-ness and magnitude it will start to look like a cascade of lights that is pouring from the wreck and into the sea. As you cautiously swim towards the gangway the lights are appearing from you, still not using your torch, you will see that all these lights are in-fact millions upon millions of flashlight fish. And just as quickly as it started it is over, leaving you at about 40 m (130 ft) on a night dive: an absolutely overwhelming ex-perience.