Jais Aben Reef

Madang · Madang Province · Papua New Guinea

Jais Aben Reef lies within Madang's protective barrier reef lagoon, a coral system of extraordinary species diversity accessible by a ten-minute boat ride from town. Madang sits on Papua New Guinea's northern coast where the Bismarck Sea bathes a lagoon that has been documented to contain over four hundred coral species, rivalling the most diverse reef systems on the planet in a remarkably compact and accessible setting. Our boat left the small jetty at the dive resort and crossed the calm lagoon to the outer barrier. The reef begins in the shallows and slopes gradually to thirty metres at the outer edge where the lagoon floor drops away. Visibility was twenty-five metres on this May morning, the water a clear blue-green that let the coral colours below glow with natural intensity. The shallow reef flat between three and eight metres was a taxonomy lesson in Acropora. Branching, tabulate, digitate, and encrusting forms competed for space in density I have rarely encountered. Between the hard corals, giant clams of multiple species sat in crevices, their mantles shimmering with iridescent patterns. Anemonefish in at least five species defended their hosts within a small area, and I could have spent the entire dive in this shallow zone alone. At fifteen metres the slope steepened and the sea fans began. Large gorgonians oriented perpendicular to the mild current hosted crinoids and inspection revealed several tiny denise pygmy seahorses clinging to branches. A whitetip reef shark rested on a sand patch, barely acknowledging our group as we passed. The coral diversity here was staggering, every square metre presenting species I could not immediately identify. The Japanese fighter aircraft appeared at twenty metres, its wings broken but fuselage intact, now thoroughly colonised by table corals growing from the engine cowling and soft corals draping the tail section. The propeller hub remained recognisable, a poignant remnant of the Pacific War in this now-peaceful setting. Schools of sweetlips sheltered beneath the wings. A grey reef shark appeared at the reef edge at twenty-two metres, circled our group twice, and departed into the blue. The guide signalled upward on the return, and at eight metres a manta ray was making slow passes over a coral head cleaning station, its belly markings clearly visible as it banked. We froze and watched it complete four circuits before it glided away toward the outer reef. Jais Aben demonstrates that world-class coral diversity does not require remote liveaboard expeditions. A ten-minute boat ride from a comfortable town delivers reef health and species richness that stands comparison with anywhere on earth.