Nusa Island Retreat.
Daniel Scott explores the pristine marine world off New Ireland.
'When we first visited some of the islands up here," says Dani Smith, one of two Australians who run Adventures in Paradise Yacht Charters, "the kids had literally never seen a white woman before".
It's early evening and Dani and her husband, Adam, are at the helm of a 33-foot catamaran off New Ireland, the long, slender island in Papua New Guinea's north-east. The sails are flapping. Reclined in netting slung between the twin hulls, it feels like I'm skimming across the remote South Pacific Ocean on my backside.
Deep down ... marine life off Kavieng.
The Smiths came here as travellers from Melbourne in 2004 and decided to stay when they found there weren't any charter boats to the necklace of islands off the northern tip of New Ireland. "It's one of the world's last frontiers," Dani says. "There are surf breaks in this region that have probably never been ridden. "The diving's arguably the best in the world and there are 150 untouched islands to explore. It's not called the 'Wild Pacific' for nothing."
I'm not a surfer but I love diving and what I've seen today in the nearby Albatross Channel is exceptional. The reefs are colourful and healthy, the ocean temperature is a balmy 28 degrees and we can see as deep as 40 metres. In the profound drop-offs that we explore, there are schools of barracuda, hawksbill turtles and scores of well-fed reef sharks. The abundance of sharks indicates that the marine ecosystem here is in good condition and the smaller species haven't been overfished.
Encountering big pelagic fish in the passages off Kavieng is only one of the lures of diving off New Ireland's northern cape. There are World War II plane wrecks to explore in the relatively shallow harbour waters and the reefs are alive with sponges and fans. Among them we discover throngs of iridescent minnows and tiny, brightly emblazoned nudibranchs - or sea slugs - gripping on to the coral.
As the sun sets, we tack back to our base on Nusa Island, a short boat ride from Kavieng. The Smiths run week-long sailing trips but for now a few idle days at the Nusa Island Retreat will do very well. It's the only resort on this friendly Melanesian island, so small you can walk across it in 10 minutes.
The retreat has 11 traditional Papuan-style bungalows, five of which are raised above the lagoon edge, and it occasionally brings to mind the South Sea ambience of Tahiti. The main differences are the price tag - $180 a night at the Nusa Island Retreat - and the simplicity of the facilities: a composting toilet and a bore-fed shower in the en suite bathroom and a comfortable, rather than luxurious, room with a bed draped with a mosquito net.
At night I sleep with the windows open to the ocean breeze and the sound of the lapping lagoon. And I wake to the throaty call of Harry, the retreat's resident hornbill, perched on my verandah. From bed to daybed outside, I watch the lagoon slowly come to life, its smooth, sunlit surface puckered by tiny fish.
Meals, including plenty of tropical fruit and freshly caught fish, are taken communally in a central hut and eaten to a constant soundtrack of the Eagles and Bob Marley. The ambience is laid-back and surfy. Wherever we venture on this small island we're met with welcoming beams and gentle curiosity. "Why you come here?" asks one doe-eyed boy as we stroll along the beach, "you surfer, you diver?"
Our appearance is cause for hilarity at the impromptu souvenir market set up on our behalf beside the island's only village. It adds to the entertainment as we barter for carvings, hand-made jewellery and string bilum bags. I secure a sleek wooden shark for 80 kina (about $40), a third of the price that I later see being charged for similar carvings in Port Moresby.
We dive and sail and swim and only once stray off the island - to Kavieng and its weekend market. It's hard to believe that this sleepy little town was heavily engaged in the Pacific War.
In January 1942, weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, the Australian-controlled outpost was bombarded by 60 Japanese aircraft.
The Japanese subsequently invaded and occupied Kavieng and in the next two years killed many of New Ireland's remaining westerners. The bloodshed culminated in the Kavieng Wharf massacre in early 1944, in which more than 20 Australian and British internees were executed. Evidence of the conflict remains in plane and boat wrecks offshore and a hefty gun emplacement overlooking Kavieng harbour.
Although World War II history forms part of my final impression of the region, it's not the abiding one. That comes with the view as our plane leaves Kavieng. Banking over sparkling, empty bays and coral atolls that lie just two degrees south of the equator, it feels as if I'm leaving one place in the world that could still genuinely be called unspoilt.
Daniel Scott travelled courtesy of the Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority.
FAST FACTS
Getting there
Air Niugini has a fare to Kavieng from Sydney for about $1650 low-season return including tax. Fly to Port Moresby (4hr), then to Kavieng (90 min). On some days the flight from Port Moresby to Kavieng will travel via Rabaul. Melbourne passengers pay about $100 more and fly Qantas
to Sydney to connect; see airniugini.com.pg. Australians require a visa for a stay of up to 60 days, available on arrival for about $50 and payable in kina.
Staying and touring there
Nusa Island Retreat has bungalows sleeping up to six people. Premium overwater bungalows with en suites cost $180 a night. There are also cheaper beach huts. See www.nusaislandretreat.com.pg.
Adventures in Paradise Yacht Adventures runs five- and seven-day chartered sailing trips around the remote New Guinea islands, from
$275 a person a night all inclusive (except drinks). See www.adventuresinparadise.com.pg.
Kavieng-based Scuba Ventures runs diving trips off New Ireland's north
cape and has six-night dive packages in conjunction with Nusa Island Retreat from $2150 a person (triple share), including airfares from Sydney.
See scubakavieng.com.
More information
See papuanewguinea.travel.
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