INDO-PACIFIC
Milne Bay · Deacon's Reef
- Papua New Guinea
- Experienced
- May - November
Plan your dive
- Experience level
- Experienced
- Depth guide
- Wall and muck 5-30 m
- When to go
- May - November
- Site type
- Macro & Wall
Featured wildlife
- Pygmy seahorse
- Harlequin shrimp
- Giant frogfish
- Green turtle
About this dive site
PNG birthplace of muck diving and soft-coral walls.
Near Alotau, Deacon's Reef drips with soft corals while nearby sites hold seahorses, ghost pipefish and classic muck subjects on volcanic sand. Milne Bay launched the term muck diving, guides still find critters others walk past. Liveaboards and lodges serve the wider bay and offshore seamounts.
Go slow, stay off the bottom, and follow a local macro guide - silt and fin kicks ruin shots and habitats. Calendar peak is May - November, but skippers still move sites when wind, swell or current change. Book with a crew that knows Milne Bay day to day, not just the map pin.