Madang Province dive sites

Madang is served by daily flights from Port Moresby taking approximately one hour, and less frequent flights from other Papua New Guinea cities. The town has a functioning tourism infrastructure with several hotels, dive operators, and restaurants. Madang is generally considered one of the safer towns in Papua New Guinea for foreign visitors, particularly within the resort and dive operator zones. Exercise standard precautions as in any developing country. The dive resort areas along the coast are well-secured and provide airport transfers.

Madang was a major Japanese base during World War II and the surrounding waters contain numerous wartime remnants. At Jais Aben, a Japanese fighter aircraft rests on the reef slope at around 20 metres, its structure colonised by coral but still recognisable. A landing craft sits nearby in shallower water. These are not formal wreck dives but rather historical features integrated into a coral reef dive. The lagoon itself was used as an anchorage and there are additional wrecks at other Madang dive sites accessible from the same operators.

Madang offers a different character from Milne Bay or Kimbe Bay. Its strength is accessibility and coral diversity rather than muck diving or pelagic action. The lagoon barrier reef creates sheltered conditions ideal for less experienced divers, and the proximity to town means comfortable shore-based diving without liveaboard costs. The coral biodiversity surveys have documented over 400 species in the Madang lagoon, placing it among the most diverse reef systems anywhere. Madang works well as a standalone destination or combined with other PNG diving on a multi-stop trip.