On the southwest side of Ura Island is a small lighthouse, below which there are huge coral rock bommies standing at least 6-7 metres tall. There are resident double-headed maori wrasse, coral trout, crayfish as well as heaps of critters like nudibranches. We swim down through the bommies until you get to a flat bottom where there are barrel sponges, sea whips, lettuce leaf coral and schools of reef fish, all just in 16-20m of water. One of my most talked about dive sites.
Lloyd Woo, Dive Guide
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A small seamount just a short swim from the main reef Tom. This outcrop of hard and soft coral is an nice point to hover in the on-coming current to see the world pass by...
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Being between it's two brothers - Tom and Harry, Dick is generally a start or finish point when the current is a bit too fast for the divers. On finishing here in the shallows, Dick consists of an apparently barren field of rock and some clusters of coral. Taking the time to peruse this field will pay off with nudi's and shells.
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This is the longest of the three reefs (Tom, Dick & Harry) and has a much deeper flat than the other two reefs.(12m). Harry is 90 % live coral, from staghorn to large plates and barrel sponges.Having a high likelihood of seeing pelagic species pass by makes this one of my favorites to dive...
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(picture by Jürgen Freund)
Named after the photographer's nickname, this site is only 5 minutes from Kabaira. Mainly a hard coral reef, it has large plate corals - some the size of a double bed - with its own collection of fusiliers and other marine fish. It makes for a nice relaxing dive to end the day or the week. Oh, and it's the only spot so far that we've had an 11ft tiger shark say hello.
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As the name suggests, this is the closest site to Kabaira where I have found a small cluster of Pigmie seahorses. They were nestled under an over hanging branch of coral fan amongst other fans and black coral trees. This reef also has a deep wall for you to peruse to your hearts content. It would be classed as a classic wall dive.
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This is a small sunken reef that rises up from a deeper coral ride. With the right moon and tide this site is amazing with dozens of different fish species going for broke in the current. Even when the time isn't right this site still produces something interesting either large or small.
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This wall has over hangs, short swim-throughs, and canyons spread right the way round the open side of the reef. The drop-off plummets to 50m before easing away. Many small schooling fish travel the wall, rainbow runner's and blue fin traveally to name two, but the wall is also covered with smaller and cryptic creatures.
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A fantastic dive, with lots of colourful corals ranging from the 3m to the 30m depth mark. With hard and soft corals, barrel sponges, olive sea whips and more on site, you'll be definitely happy with this dive and relaxed. It is also great for the snorkeler as there is plenty of colour in the shallows and has it's fair share of marine life to be seen.
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This sheer drop off (250 meters or more) located meters from the shore line, was used in World War 2 for Japanese submarines to unload and load cargo with a quick escape plan. Straight down! Its natural sheer wall is the edge of a vast submerged caldera, with many soft and small corals growing from the wall, barrel sponges and sea fans and sea-whips decorating the wall. Entry here can get a bit awkward at low tide especially if you don't have your booties but once in, it is like you are falling into the abyss. A must dive.
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It is said to be the outer edge of the Tavui Caldara, which stretches into the Saint George's Channel. This sea mount rises in the middle of the channel, from the depths to the shallowest point at 30m. It is not dived a lot. I have only dived it once. Because of the extreme current, you just hang
onto the rope and watch the world go by.
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We acknowledge and thank Peter Stone and Monica Foster, authors of "Rabaul's Forgotten Fleet" for some of the information below. They dived these wrecks extensively in the 1970s and put together a magnificent reference book which contains information on the majority of the wreck dives in Rabaul Harbour including the ones that have now been lost to the volcanic eruptions in 1994. For more information on this book and others you can contact Peter Stone at peter@oceans.com.au .
This is one of the best wreck dives you could ask for. The wreck itself rests bow up on a steep slope with its anchor firmly fastened in its anchor hole on the starboard side. The ship’s length is roughly 220ft and the wreck is estimated to be about 1,500-2,000 tons. It is said to be a mine laying vessel. Initially (some would recall) the bow of the ship was above water and gradually over the years the ship has slipped further underwater and now rests upright with the bow at 11m and stern deck at about 55m. It is littered with sea-fans and black coral at the deeper ends. It is also possible to see cowries, feather stars, nudibranches, camoflaged fish - scorpion fish, stonefish, pipefish - and the odd pelagic.
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A drive, a walk and a bit of a swim in 30m of water, the Zero lies on grey sand facing the shore were it attempted to crash land much closer to land. It has one crack in the body just behind the cock pit, and is covered with an army of hinge-back shrimp. It is in pretty good condition, with a lot of smaller critters roaming the shell in search for food. Like many of the wrecks I dive, this also has a shallow reef to swim up which helps to complete the dive.
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The Italy Maru is a 5,859 ton freighter built in 1919 in at Kawasaki Dockyard, Kobe. It was sunk by U.S. Navy landbased aircraft on 27th December, 1942. The wreck sits in 48 meters of water with the starboard side of the vessel at 30 meters.
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The Manko Maru was a 1,502 ton refrigeration ship and cargo cargo carrier. It was build at the Yokomaha Dock Yard in 1923. It sits upright at a depth of 33 meters.
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The Yamato Maru is a cargo carrier of approximately 4,359 tons.This is a ship that I have just come across recently, and I know there hasn't been any divers on it since the 1994 volcanic eruptions. In searching for this ship, I found myself and my buddy where swimming along a flat sandy bottom when we came across a wall of steel. We knew then we had found it. There were steering wheels and axles littering the sand-covered ship. At 35m we ran out of time so we headed back to the suface following our new ascent line. I'm yet to dive it again.
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The Iwate Maru was built in 1920 by Teikoku Kesen Harima Shipbuilding Company. It came to Rabaul in 1943 as a water carrier. One of the many ships that went down in Karavia Bay. Sitting on brown sand in slightly murky water, the ship appears twisted and turned indicating the mass of bombs drop on it. Surprisingly there are still live shells (bombs) scattered around the vessel and a wok. Golden trevelly cruise past hoping to get a feed from the many schooling fish that call it home.
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This jetty is a must to be dived for one of your last dives in town. It is only a shallow dive - max of 18m if you want to see a colony of razor fish, but most of the dive is spent in 5m of water perusing very slowly amongst the pylons that hold the jetty up. It been described as one of the best muck dives around Rabaul. Some of the critters that can be seen include the Cockatoo Wasp Fish, scorpion fish, seahorses and even the master of disguise, a White frog fish, which I haven't found again since I first came across it.
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I would have to say that I have one site that is just as good as the Jetty right on my very own doorstep. Yes, The Door Step (or house reef) is probably one of the best dives Ican offer guests. It might not look like much but once you're under you'll be suprised. I am. Just recently I found my own Frog fish right off the beach. Over the years that I've dived the Doorstep I have been surprised to find creatures that I have always wanted to see, and now I have my own collection where I live. Just some of the things I've found here: numerous types of pipe fish including the Harliquin Ghost pipefish, scorpion fish, live shells, nudibranches, seahorses, seamoths, sea robins, snake eels and gobiis. All these creatures live amongst the corals and little coral bombies that scatter the sandy flat between the two reefs.
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