Scuba Diving in Witu Islands (North of Kimbe)

About Witu Islands (North of Kimbe)

The Witu Islands, also known as the Vitu Islands, lie north of Kimbe Bay and are among the most remote and unspoiled dive areas in Papua New Guinea. The group is dominated by Garove Island, the rim of a vast extinct volcanic caldera whose warm, sheltered waters host frogfish, seahorses, nudibranchs, and unique sponge formations that thrive in the geothermal seeps. Mundua Island offers steep walls with pelagics, grey reef sharks, barracuda, and manta rays in the channel, while Narage Island is a pristine, seldom-visited reef with schools of jacks, trevally, and the occasional whale shark. Reached from Kimbe on the MV FeBrina liveaboard or by extended day trips, the Witu Islands reward divers willing to travel with solitude, dramatic underwater topography, and encounters that feel genuinely frontier.

Highlights

• ✓Garove Island (Witu crater): diving inside an extinct volcanic caldera with warm water, frogfish, seahorses, and unique sponges.
• ✓Mundua Island: steep walls with pelagics, grey reef sharks, barracuda, and manta rays in the channel.
• ✓Narage Island: a remote reef with schools of jacks, trevally, and occasional whale sharks.

Getting There

The Witu Islands are reached from Kimbe, either on the MV FeBrina liveaboard that departs from Walindi or on extended day trips by fast boat. The crossing from the New Britain mainland to Garove and Mundua takes several hours, so a liveaboard is by far the most efficient way to dive the group. Domestic flights from Port Moresby to Hoskins connect with the Walindi base.