There were 8 of us diving from FeBrina, a 22m steel hulled, very comfortable, live-aboard. Our departure point was the Walindi Resort in West New Britain Province. The water was 29C and the visibility usually exceeded 40m and there was plenty to see.

On some dives the soft and hard corals were the main attractions, sea whips, huge Gorgonian fans and black coral in relatively shallow water. Sailor’s eyeball algae, sponges of all colours and dimensions, beautiful flower corals and feather stars also featured.

Most of the reefs we were diving were too far from habitation to be fished by the locals and there is no commercial fishing so the fish life was prolific. There were tiny shrimps and pigmy seahorses, razor fish, tiny damsels colourful butterfly and parrot fish and the goofy bat fish. We also enjoyed lionfish, Hawksbill turtles, cuttlefish, pufferfish and the occasional octopus and moray eel.

The barracuda were my favourites, mean looking predators that cruise confidently at the top of the food chain. We were joined by sharks on a number of dives, usually whitetips which ranged from 1m to around 2m in length, there were also a number of deeper bodied more serious looking grey whaler sharks and occasional silvertips.