Lissenung Island Resort
Lissenung Island Resort
Lissenung Island Resort is unique, it is one of the northern most dive locations in Papua New Guinea, and firmly under the Imperial Japanese Navy WW2 air supply route. Everything had to go from Rabaul to Kavieng, the aircraft was refuelled and then made the perilous hop 500nm north to the base of Truck Lagoon. Towards the end of the war, the US Airforce and US Navy harrassed the Japanese, shooting down many aircraft, sinking destroyers and bombing Kavieng Airbase numerous times.
What this means to the diver in Lissenung is that in addition to the most phenomenal passage diving where schools of jacks and sharks abound, there are deep and shallow aircraft wrecks to Explore. In addition to this, Dietmar Amon, the founder of Lissenung, sometimes runs expeditions to look for the destroyers sunk in deep water. For most of us, Lissenung is a small series of chalets on tiny paradise island. It is located a 20-minute boat ride from Kavieng, the capital of New Ireland Province.
Ange & Dietmar Amon
The resort was started by Dietmar Amon in early 1996; he and Angelique Amon run the place with the assistance of Nozaki and their Papuan team. This is an atmospheric place, with hardwood floor and spacious verandahs and without doubt our favourite location in New Guinea. That’s not to say that its the best, there is no best in Papua New Guinea, all the resorts are quite something, we just collectively love it. Its a personal place, where you eat with the staff and owners, they make every effort to make you stay and dive holiday the very best. No stone is ever left unturned. Lissenung has seven ocean-front rooms; Six with private facilities. None of the rooms have hot water, but the air is fairly hot. The rooms are spread out over the island. Other than a handful of New Guinean staff, you won’t see another soul. Its easy to wander around the island in about 10 – 15 minutes.
The Diving
New Ireland is known for its pelagic fish action, but you need currents to attract big fish. These currents can sometimes be strong and make diving a challenging. The experienced dive staff at Lissenung will guide you to have the easiest and safest dive. Bear in mind that nature prevails and that currents (and pelagics) cannot be guaranteed to occur daily, nor to run the right direction. There are no working tide tables for the Kavieng area, and so adventure awaits.
There is so much more to diving than pelagics in lissenung. The house reef and small critters provide world class diving. As people keep reminding me; Papua New Guinea is part of the Coral Triangle and has one of the largest bio-diverse reefs in the world.
Water temperature in this area ranges from 28 – 30 degrees Celsius (83 – 87F) all year round and underwater visibility from 20 – 40m (60 – 120ft) on most dives.
Lissenung - Price Guide:
Price on application