MV Golden Dawn
I made my second trip on the Golden Dawn in November 2013 and found the boat completely refitted with new engines, a new salon, cabin rebuilds, etc. My first trip the Eastern Fields was wonderful but my trip last year to Milne Bay was even better. The Golden Dawn is more exclusive only taking a maximum of 10 divers. The Owner, Graig Dewitt, and his entire crew are easy going and absolutely delightful. Diving is at your indivdual pace and most locations in the Milne Bay region are "open deck." Craig has been voyaging this region for nearly 20 years and knows exactly where rare and tiny critters can be found. On one paticurlar dive, Craig came to find me milling around a reef just to take me back to where he had found a certain type of anemonefish I'd come specifically to Milne Bay to shoot with my camera. Impressive! In the Milne Bay region Craig will take you to spectaclar pinnacles, precipitous walls, manta feeding stations (with NO other diivng competition from other boats) and, of course, a pethora of muck diving locations. Oddly, our group in November categorically eschewed the spectacular reefs for muck! On one open deck day I logged 8 hours underwater at a famous loation called Dinah's, where a vertical wall reef quickly changes to a sloped muck bottom!
You will never have the same meal twice durring dinner and courses range from fresh local fish and vegetables to Kangaroo. goat and mud crab. Trust me, the meals are not only hearty to replace burned calories but really, really delicious. Of course during the day snacks like cookies are everpresent. If you are wine drinker, you are in luck, Craig is a conesouir and has many different varieties along with his favorites on board for the the evening meal; that is, unless you are night diving, like I did most nights!
Amble space is available for both photo and dive gear. While the inflatables are occasionally used to ferry dvers to sites, most diving is done right from the Golden Dawn in Milne Bay. Upon return, an endless supply of HOT fresh water is available from a deck shower, the twin reverse osmosis systems insure that the fresh water is indeed endless.
Finally, if you are not familiar with the Milne Bay area, at every stop local villagers come to meet and barter with you from their hand-made dug-out canoes. Its as if you are on a National Geogrpahic expedition.
