Walindi CHERTAN travel agent

[Kelpfish 15]

Hi all,

 

I am looking for a very reliable and knowledgeable travel agent for a trip to PNG Walindi Plantation and a Chertan livaboard. I need a good agent because I will be using frequent flyer miles to travel and sometimes it gets a little involved to book a trip. Any recommendations?

 

Joe

[echeng 0]

Joe -- I'm moving this to the appropriate forum (from the critter ID forum, where it was posted).

[Kelpfish 15]

Joe -- I'm moving this to the appropriate forum (from the critter ID forum, where it was posted).

 

Thanks, Eric. Bad hiccup there!

[scorpio_fish 5]

Jen Darby

[Drew 0]

Why not book directly? The Chertan's Rob Van Der Loo will take bookings direct as will Walindi. Are you sure you want the Chertan and not the Febrina, which is tied to Walindi?

[gecko1 12]

Hi all,

 

I am looking for a very reliable and knowledgeable travel agent for a trip to PNG Walindi Plantation and a Chertan livaboard. I need a good agent because I will be using frequent flyer miles to travel and sometimes it gets a little involved to book a trip. Any recommendations?

 

Joe

 

I've had good luck with Jenny at Reef and Rainforest. I've used her for my last 2 trips to PNG. Also, like Drew were wondering if you meant Tawali and Chertan or Walindi and FeBrina. The Chertan operates out of Tawali and the FeBrina operates out of Walindi. If you end up at the former say hi to Rob and Sebastian and if at the latter say hi to Alan, Josie, Digger and co. for me.

 

http://reefrainforest.com/

 

Clinton

[Kelpfish 15]

Why not book directly? The Chertan's Rob Van Der Loo will take bookings direct as will Walindi. Are you sure you want the Chertan and not the Febrina, which is tied to Walindi?

 

 

The reason behind the Cherton is cost, but we've been wanting to stay at Walindi. Probably adds some complexity to the agenda. Any thoughts on the quality of the Chertan vs. Fabrina?

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

Joe

[dzwiad 0]

The reason behind the Cherton is cost, but we've been wanting to stay at Walindi. Probably adds some complexity to the agenda. Any thoughts on the quality of the Chertan vs. Fabrina?

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

Joe

 

 

Hi Joe

When are you going to Walindi?

I'm in there from 15 to 31 october.

 

Bart

[philsokol 1]

I can highly recommend Tina at Island Dreams (www.divetrip.com). I've also been very happy working with Jenny at Reef and Rainforest too.

 

Phil

[okuma 64]

Second on both Reef & RainForrest and Island Dreams.

[Kelpfish 15]

Thanks for the replies. What are your opinions on the house reef dives between Walindi and Tawali? My wife and I want to spend a month in PNG and combine a livaboard with resort based diving and are wanting to stay at the most resort with the most user friendly diving that has prolific marine life. Any advice or opinion?

 

Joe

[reubencahn 2]

Reef & Rainforest is good as is Diversionoz. I really like Diversionoz but you if you're paying by credit card, the banks will hit you with foreign transaction fees since they're located in Australia. On the other hand, Diversionoz may be able to get you the Australian pricing for Walindi which is much less than they charge Americans. It's worth asking.

 

Walindi doesn't really have a house reef and most of the reefs are a bit of a ride from the resort. I was just at Walindi for a week before a trip on Star Dancer. While I loved Kimbe Bay, I didn't love Walindi--or at least not at its price. I posted a report here:

 

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/pacific-i...-i-walindi.html

 

Two other things: First, if you're going to Walindi, book your dives through your agent rather than booking and paying there in order to avoid 10% PNG tax; Second, you can get better Air Nugini fares on their website than any agent can get. Although the agents told us that we wouldn't have the same baggage allowance, we were able to get Air Nugini to give us the same piece allowance (2 x 32kg) as we had on our transpac by showing our itinerary.

[Drew 0]

Reuben, you just ruined it for the peeps at DiversionOz since they are NOT supposed to sell at the non-US rates to Americans from the US.

I personally won't support places which have such BS rules which have rates based on nationalities. I fully support local rates but any developed country should pay the same rate, especially the Ozzies, who should pay more after what they bloody did in PNG.

I've used DiversionOz as well when I was in Australia and they are a nice operation. Very prompt and quick to adapt to changing circumstances.

The Chertan is an older boat with shared bathrooms on the top. Not luxurious but comfortable. Rob Van Der Loos is as (and probably more) knowledgeable than anyone about Milne Bay diving, very flexible in terms of diving and itinerary. Round the clock diving is possible (especially useful in the muck sites of Bunama etc) if you can convince the crew If I wanted to shoot specific things (expedition style), I'd consider his boat first. Steene, Coleman and many others have used Rob for expedition style trips because of his knowledge and crew ... oh and probably cost too The only boat operator I know to honor a trip with only 2 paying passengers. There are many who'd cancel and reschedule.

The Febrina is captained by the inimitable Alan Raabe. The boat is nice and the crew very competent. More of a typical dive boat trip so there's nothing more to say.

[reubencahn 2]

Reuben, you just ruined it for the peeps at DiversionOz since they are NOT supposed to sell at the non-US rates to Americans from the US.

 

I'm not saying they ever did or would do this. It was just speculation. I used Reef & Rainforest to book.

[Timmydive 0]

I'm not saying they ever did or would do this. It was just speculation. I used Reef & Rainforest to book.

 

Reubencahn I have noticed you bringing this rates issue up on several dive forums and I think you are obviously not familiar with how the industry works.

 

So I will give you a little help

 

First of all did you know that currency values change all the time? Everyone in the industry would have provided rates for 2009 to agents etc by late 2008, at that time the Australian dollar was almost equal to the American dollar, so everyone was paying the same. Now a certain person called George Bush ruined your economy which went on to impact the rest of the world. The value of the Australian dollar then collapsed, so the Australian rate would have been cheaper if converted to US.

 

Now . . . . Americans like to have their prices in USD and guess what Reubencahn . . . . Australians (PNGs biggest market) like to have their prices in AUD! So if you looked at todays exchange rates the Australian dollar has strengthened greatly so now Americans and Australians are living in harmony again with roughly equal rates.

 

I have been to Walindi many times and love the place and the diving. If you are so worried about cost why did you go? PNG is an expensive place, you won't find 5-star dive resorts in PNG, but what people go for is the quality of diving. Walindi has never claimed to be a 5 star resort, if you want 5 dives a day, cooked food on the boats then stick to liveaboards and don't go to PNG!

 

Hey Drew what exactly did the Aussies do in PNG?

Personally Americans should pay more especially after what they did to the Native Americans / Iraq / the world economy . . .

[reubencahn 2]

Reubencahn I have noticed you bringing this rates issue up on several dive forums and I think you are obviously not familiar with how the industry works.

 

So I will give you a little help

 

First of all did you know that currency values change all the time? Everyone in the industry would have provided rates for 2009 to agents etc by late 2008, at that time the Australian dollar was almost equal to the American dollar, so everyone was paying the same. Now a certain person called George Bush ruined your economy which went on to impact the rest of the world. The value of the Australian dollar then collapsed, so the Australian rate would have been cheaper if converted to US.

 

Now . . . . Americans like to have their prices in USD and guess what Reubencahn . . . . Australians (PNGs biggest market) like to have their prices in AUD! So if you looked at todays exchange rates the Australian dollar has strengthened greatly so now Americans and Australians are living in harmony again with roughly equal rates.

 

I have been to Walindi many times and love the place and the diving. If you are so worried about cost why did you go? PNG is an expensive place, you won't find 5-star dive resorts in PNG, but what people go for is the quality of diving. Walindi has never claimed to be a 5 star resort, if you want 5 dives a day, cooked food on the boats then stick to liveaboards and don't go to PNG!

 

Hey Drew what exactly did the Aussies do in PNG?

Personally Americans should pay more especially after what they did to the Native Americans / Iraq / the world economy . . .

 

Timmydive,

 

Thanks for your help in understanding the dive industry, global economics and politics. I'm sure I'll find it very useful in the future.

[Timmydive 0]

Timmydive,

 

Thanks for your help in understanding the dive industry, global economics and politics. I'm sure I'll find it very useful in the future.

 

Not a problem Reubencahn, glad I could help!

Edited October 1, 2009 by Timmydive

[chavala 0]

I second Jenny at reef & Rainforest. She knows everything and will get the job done with no hassles whatsoever.