Oro Province dive sites

Tufi is reached by small aircraft from Port Moresby, with flights operating several times per week to the grass airstrip at Tufi Station. The flight takes approximately one hour. The Tufi Dive Resort is the only dive operation in the area and offers accommodation, meals, and guided diving. Facilities are comfortable but remote and basic by international resort standards. Alternatively, some liveaboard vessels include Tufi fjords in extended Papua New Guinea itineraries. Bring all personal dive equipment as rental availability is limited.

The Tufi fjords are tropical rias, drowned river valleys with vertical walls dropping to extreme depths, created by volcanic and tectonic activity along Papua New Guinea's northern coast. Unlike typical reef diving, the walls are sheer cliff faces dropping hundreds of metres, draped in black coral trees, soft corals, and gorgonians. The sheltered fjord environment means currents are negligible and surface conditions are always calm. Water clarity varies from 15 metres near shore to 40 metres at the outer fjord entrances. The isolation means marine life is pristine and unhabituated.

Tufi's volcanic sand and rubble slopes host extraordinary critter diversity. Rhinopias scorpionfish in both weedy and paddle-flap varieties have been documented here. Flamboyant cuttlefish walk across the sand, Ambon scorpionfish hide in debris, and pygmy seahorses occupy gorgonians on the fjord walls. The muck diving rivals Lembeh Strait in diversity but with a fraction of the diver traffic. Mandarin fish emerge at dusk in sheltered rubble patches. Blue-ringed octopuses are regularly encountered during day dives on sandy slopes.