Flying Catalina

The whole site sits in a narrow depth band, 19 metres at the shallow end and 30 at the deep, so the plan is a single working depth rather than a tour: drop onto the shallower end of the airframe, follow it down, and turn well before no-decompression time runs short. The aircraft is well preserved, which makes it readable as an aircraft rather than as scattered debris, and one unhurried lap is usually all the bottom time allows.

Growth is the second half of the dive. Black corals and gorgonians have taken the exposed surfaces, and the sheltered spaces in and under the airframe hold schools of glassfish, with lionfish working the edges of them. Photographers get the most out of the site by picking one section and staying with it, since the depth band leaves little room for a second pass. Ascend off the shallow end of the wreck and finish the stop in open water.

Access is by liveaboard: at the time of writing that is the only option recommended for diving West Papua and Cenderawasih Bay, and this site sits with the rest of the plane and wreck diving in the waters around Biak, at the northern entrance to the bay. Because 30 metres is the deep end of a recreational profile, the site is worth taking early in the day, with shallower reef diving kept for afterwards rather than the other way round.