Coral Triangle · Papua New Guinea
Madang & the North Coast
Wrecks, a shark seamount and an endemic walking shark from one lagoon town
Madang sits on Papua New Guinea's north coast at the edge of a huge lagoon dotted with reefs and small islands. Boats work the channels that drain it, such as Magic Passage, the walls outside it at Barracuda Point, the shark-patrolled seamount of Planet Rock, and a string of war and scuttled wrecks from the B25 Bomber to the FS-172 Boston. At night the reefs give up the hooded epaulette shark, a small walking shark found only in this part of the country.
About diving in Madang & the North Coast
Each diving day runs by boat to sites inside and outside the lagoon, and many of them lie only minutes from Madang Resort: Barracuda Point is about 15 minutes out. A high-speed boat makes the longer runs to Karkar Island, the north coast and Bagabag Island, which lies 32 nautical miles off the coast and has harbours the Japanese Navy used during World War II.
Just offshore a barrier reef plunges to great depths, and a little farther out a submerged volcanic mountain chain rises into a series of islands and seamounts. Corals flourish in the calm, sheltered water of the lagoon and cover its reefs and wrecks. In Magic Passage, the most popular of the channels, tidal currents feed lush coral gardens, with barracuda and silver trevally above the reef. Outside the lagoon, the wall at Barracuda Point draws batfish, fusiliers, snappers and sweetlips, along with crocodilefish, banded sea kraits and moray eels.
The wrecks run from the B25 Bomber to the FS-172 Boston, the Coral Queen and the scuttled Henry Leith, a night dive for its sheltered position inside Wongat Island. At Pig Bay a scuttled Cessna sits on a sandy slope with nudibranchs, pipefish, anemonefish and even an ornate ghostpipefish, and afternoon dives at the Madang Resort jetty turn up seahorses, cockatoo waspfish, emperor and mantis shrimps and juvenile batfish. Hooded epaulette sharks are searched for after dark at The Hood, off Leper Island.
The Henry Leith, in the calm water of the lagoon, is an easy dive that anyone will enjoy. Planet Rock is rated for intermediate divers and the FS-172 Boston for intermediate to expert, while the strong, unpredictable current at The Quarry makes it the hardest dive of the set. Divers after clear water do best at the remoter islands, where the visibility is usually excellent because they lie far from the mainland and its run-off.
Best time to dive Madang & the North Coast
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good |
Madang is dived in every month, and rain can fall in any of them. November to April sees less of it, and the sea is at its warmest around December, close to 30 °C. May to October brings the most rain, and the run-off from the mainland cuts visibility at the sites closest to shore. The water bottoms out in August at around 28 °C.
Best months: January, February, March, April, November, December
Dive types & marine life
Hooded epaulette sharks hide in the coral by day and walk out over the reef on their fins at night to feed, but they are shy: a dozen may turn up on night dives, yet most duck under ledges or into holes as divers come close. Hammerheads are often seen in the area, and sperm whales pass the remote islands from July to September.
- Wreck
- Wall
- Seamount
- Drift
- Muck & macro
- Night
- Hammerheads
- Tiger sharks
- Reef sharks
- Barracuda
- Trevally & jacks
- Tuna
- Nudibranchs
- Macro critters
Best dive sites in Madang & the North Coast
- 1
Planet Rock
Volcanic seamount 3 km offshore, topping out at 4 m, with silvertips, hammerheads and tiger sharks among its predators.
- 2
Barracuda Point
Coral wall on the east corner of Pig Island with schooling trevally, barracuda and bumphead parrotfish.
- 3
Magic Passage
Lagoon channel about 40 m wide and 30 m deep, dived as a drift on the tidal current.
- 4
B25 Bomber
World War II plane wreck shot down in 1943, resting in 15 to 22 m with its guns and cockpit on show.
- 5
FS-172 Boston
US Army freight and store ship lying at the foot of a coral drop-off in 30 m.
- 6
Coral Queen
Wreck where a dusk descent meets flashlight fish streaming out of the holds.
- 7
Henry Leith
Small cargo ship scuttled in 20 m and now coloured with coral.
- 8
The Quarry
North-coast reef metres from shore that falls near-vertically to over 600 m.
Site guides
Wreck
Machine guns still in the nose, midships and tail of a 1943 bomber
Wall
Hooded epaulette sharks tucked under ledges on a current-fed wall
Wreck
Office items and big refrigerators still sitting in the holds
Wreck
The remains of a truck still lying in the cargo hold
Channel & pass
A wall of big-eye trevally closing around divers on the turning tide
Seamount
Grey reef sharks on patrol and hammerheads in the deeper water
Wall
Silvertip sharks on a sheer wall a few metres from shore
How to get to Madang & the North Coast
Air Niugini flies daily from Port Moresby's domestic terminal to Madang, about one hour in the air. A resort shuttle meets the flight for the drive of about 20 minutes to Madang Resort, where the dive centre is based.
Questions divers ask
Is a PADI card required to dive in Madang?+
No. PADI certification is accepted along with SSI, RAID, NSU, BSAC and other agencies, and a dive master or instructor is aboard every charter.
Is Planet Rock dangerous because of the sharks?+
The sharks are not the main concern at Planet Rock. The currents around the pinnacle and the triggerfish that aggressively defend their territory are the bigger safety threats.
Which Madang dives are best at night?+
The Coral Queen at sunset, when millions of flashlight fish leave its holds; the Henry Leith, sheltered inside Wongat Island; and The Hood off Leper Island, where hooded epaulette sharks come out to feed.
Should a Madang trip allow spare days for flights?+
Yes. Flights between Port Moresby and Madang may not operate as scheduled, and travellers can be made to overnight in Port Moresby and rebooked onto the next day's flight.
Sources
- Dive Sites - Niugini Dive Adventures — Niugini Dive Adventures
- Dive Boats - Niugini Dive Adventures — Niugini Dive Adventures
- Getting Here - Niugini Dive Adventures — Niugini Dive Adventures
- Madang diving guide — Underwater Asia
- Wrecks and walking sharks in Madang, Papua New Guinea — Diveplanit
- Madang Average Sea Temperatures — Sea Temperatures
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