The nice thing I like about PG's diving is the accessibility of nice easy diving right off the shore. For my first dive in PG, the boat brought me out maybe 100 yards just beyond where a lot of boats are anchored and there were nice beautiful coral heads with lots of fish. After that, I told my divemaster that I'd rather just swim from the shop out to the reef and back so I can look for critters. Around one of the big concrete blocks that act as anchors for the boats, we found 2 harlequin ghost pipefish and 2 baby frogfish.
By far the best diving in PG is on Verde Island. A group of us got the dive shop to rent a larger boat to make the long 45minute choppy trip out to Verde Island a comfortable smooth 30minute ride. Verde Island is a pinnacle that breaks the surface just a little. You can go as deep as you want and constant strong currents make it an awesome drift dive. We started at just about 100ft and slowly made our way up to our safety stop. The largest schools of fish, colorful soft corals and huge barrel sponges make this trip out to Verde Island really worth it.
The other divers I dove with at Verde Island said the conditions were perfect that day. We had 100ft viz and the water was about 78 degrees.
Topside, there is a small town to explore. Massage parlors and bars are available everywhere. The red light district is confined to one alley and easily avoidable if that is not your scene.

The Red Sea Aggressor II does the northern Red Sea itinerary which is great for wreck diving enthusiasts. The boat itself isn’t new, but it is well maintained and we did not envy other boats that were anchored next to us. Everything worked exceptionally well on the boat and no one encountered any issues on the boat.
There is no camera room, but there are two camera tables on the dive deck and lots of cubby holes for photographers to put their electronics in. There are lots of electrical outlets all over the boat for charging as well.
The best thing about this boat is the crew. They really made the trip for us. The cruise director is one of the best that I have encountered (I’ve done over 20 liveaboards) and he makes the trip really fun for everyone, including his crew. The guests and the crew were all having fun during the week. It is. It only really fun, but there is also a strong focus on safety. The dive crew are all very experienced divers in the Red Sea and excellent at what they do.
We also have the flexibility to dive with the divemaster or buddy up and go do our own dives. The dive briefings are very detailed so it gave us a lot of confidence to separate from the group and go off on our own to explore. For divers who prefer to dive with the divemaster, the groups are smaller because some divers would rather plan and do their own dive. Everyone wins!
Overall the crew really made the trip for us and we had a really good time on the boat. Highly recommend!

Wow! This is one of the best places in the world to interact with whales. Gray whales migrate into the bay every year to mate, and give birth and guests can pet them and kiss them. We were not chasing the whales. We simply motored next to them, cut the engine, and they chose to swim over to us and stick their heads out of the water looking to interact with us. This is a great trip for the whole family. We are not allowed in the water so non-divers can enjoy this trip as much as divers.

This is my 2nd trip to the Maldives doing the central atolls itinerary and the diving blew my mind this time (I just did Raja 2 months before this trip). The soft coral gardens were so colorful with reds, oranges, yellows and blue colors. There were also dives with table coral gardens stretching as far as the eye can see.
For marine life, we saw lots of sharks (blacktip, whitetip, grey reef, guitarfish, nurse, tiger), mantas, whaleshark, massive rays, dogtooth tuna, big schools of blue-striped snappers, bannerfish and red toothed triggerfish. There were lots of batfish, sweetlips, soldierfish, giant travellys, morays, and anemonefish.
The water was a very comfortable 82-85F and no one complained about feeling cold.
The Maldives covers a big area and you can cover a larger area with more varied dives from a liveaboard versus resort based. Liveaboard diving here is also very affordable and most of them are very nice. If you have not done a liveaboard before, the Maldives is the perfect place to do your first.