Giant stark white cumulus cloud puffs roll down the Astrolabe range and billow out in moody transition into a sky of infinite blue. Burning sunsets light up the entire scene horizon to horizon; the tides ebb and flow; the seasons come and go and the coconut palm fronds rustle in the breezes echoing with tunes as ancient as life itself...

And in the midst of this, in a bay called Bootless, lies a very special island called Loloata. In traditional Motu language the name is made up from two words, Loloa meaning hill, and Ta meaning one. Loloata is indeed, a one-hill island. The early explorers named the inlet Bootless Bay; to them, this shallow water embayment some 22 kilometers east of Port Moresby was in seafaring terms, "Bootless," a useless anchorage for their tall ships, and as such, a place of little importance. On the surface, Bootless Bay has its own personality, controlled by the seasons.

Traditional people go about their business aided by long boats, outboard motors, nets, fishing lines and spears and eke out their existence as hunter.gatherers and gardens. Here and there small business has eventuated but for the most part life goes on much the same as it has for thousands of years. Even today, grassy hills crowned with smatterings of tortured trees, casually positioned houses and seashore villages surrounded by mangrove-fringed shorelines hardly warrant a second glance. Yet, to those few adventurers who seek outfits secrets, the awesome magnitude of Bootless Bay's underwater wilderness never ceases to amaze. Just a few metres before the surface lies a kaleidoscopic extravaganza so magnificent at times it defies description.

Set up in the early 1960's as a chicken farm, Loloata Island was established as a weekend resort in the 1970's and as a full-time licensed resort for holiday makers specializing in diving, snorkeling and water activities, together with conference rooms for special occasions. Since the late 1970's adventure diving pioneer Dik Knight, manager of Loloata Island Resort, has been providing the means by which like-minded people from around the globe could experience the wondrous underwater wildlife of Papua New Guinea. Throughout the years, excellent accommodations have been added and the kitchen is renowned for its cuisine, service and happy, helpful staff.

The Bootless Bay Photographic Fauna Survey:
My first experience here was as the subject of an English television company (ITV) nature documentary "Nature Watch" in 1980. During my time there I was amazed at the richness of the marine life, and during the filming managed to begin a list of species from the area. This list was updated and increased in 1981 when I went back and carried out the first marine biology courses held for divers in Papua New Guinea courtesy of Bob and Dinah Halstead of Tropical Diving Adventures. Although only a few animals were photographed at the time, we did managed to collect and list many hundreds of species all under the co-operation of the Wildlife Division. At the time, it was hoped to establish Papua New Guinea's first marine park, Tahira Marine Park.

However, due to lack of funds and foresight and difficulty in gained the confidence of traditional users, this didn't eventuate, and through the years the idea slipped away. My return to Bootless Bay at the request of Dik Knight in May-June 1996 on behalf of interested sponsors allowed me to take up the program begun all those years ago. Even as my experience and knowledge has increased a thousand fold and I have dived many parts of the world, taken thousands more photographs and discovered hundreds of new species, I was just as enthralled on my 1996 dives at sites like End Bommie and Lion Island as I had been in the pioneering days of the 1980's. The diving was magnificient. I dived at least twice a day, and shooting with three cameras per dive, was able to begin the visual identification survey of the various dive sites.

Marine scene: From a natural science point of view, Bootless Bay is a paradise - an ecosystem which contains just about every major habitat, from mangroves to sea grass meadow, sand banks, slopes and soft bottom. There are rocky reefs, rubble banks, coral reefs, slopes and drop offs, shallow water, deep water, oceanic water and within these major habitats (and a thousand micro habitats) live an amazing array of the most beautiful, bizarre and bewitching marine creatures. Spectacular shapes, incredible patterns and designs, intricately emblazaoned and embroidered colours, every bit as extraordinary as the birds reminiscent of Air Nigini's trademark - and what's more there are thousands of species to see. The rain forests of Papua new Guinea (eg, Varirata National Park, Port moresby) support a virtual extravaganza of beautiful creatures. The birds, insects, flowers and frogs of Papua New Guinea have enthralled millions, just as the traditional displays, dances and handicrafts of the people have. Ye the fact remains that what can be seen by a person walking in a Papua New Guinea rain forest compared to what person can see floating across or swimming, snorkeling or diving on a Bootless Bay coral reef, is hardly comparable. Coral reef viewers will see a thousand times more wildlife than the rain forest walker, because even though the coral reef may only be the second richest ecosystem on the earth, what can be seen is close up, not high up in the canopy, or hidden by the forest vegetation.

The problem divers or snorkelers have is that there is so much of a visual extravaganza that unless there has been some attention paid to learning and recognizing the many different animals, the vision blurs into a mass of "pretty stuff." The beginnings of the initial survey (courtesy of John Miller's dive boat Solatai) were very encouraging, even though at times working in close proximity with pleasure divers did have its limitations, especially on wrecks. However, some of the local divers were very keen to help and made up for any "lost shots" by finding several interesting nudibranchs for the survey listing.

We were shown where the famous lacy scorpionfish Rhinopioas resided at End Bommie and managed to get shots of the pink/orange colour form. Everywhere I dived something new turned up, though due to the whims of the weather, sometimes getting back to interesting sites was governed by the mood of the sea (as per usual)> During the time at the resort I ran another PADI Marine Biology workshop and gave some audiovisual presentations. However, the weeks passed very quickly and even with a little help here and there, it took quite a lot of bottom time to produce a comprehensive photographic fauna survey and a lot more time to research and list all the animals of each major phyla, from sponges to fish. The list was added to and updated and the existence of some 580 species of animals confirmed; several species were totally unknown to me. This was an excellent beginning.

Loloata November 1996 Expedition:
The next visit I again ran Marine Biology courses for beginners at Loloata Island and it gave me the opportunity to dive different sites due to the prevailing season. Although the Solatai wasn't available to me, Dik organized two dives a day from the long boat with Steven (the island's national dive guide) to act as skipper and dive assistant plus a deckhand along to look after the boat and to retrieve and heave dive gear and cameras as there are not steps on the long boats. With Steven's assistance, I dived many new (to me) dive sites and discovered and photographed another 500 species in the ensuing weeks, with some wonderful finds on the black coral reef off Lion Island. An excellent dive site finder and guide, Steven found a number o f exciting animals, including harlequin shrimps, giant mantis shrimps, nudibranchs and some stunning commensals and between us we discovered a number of new species and hundreds of new records for the bay. After many weeks back in Brisbane curating the pictures and adding the photographs (once identified) and observations to the list, it number 1080 species.

Dive Loloata June 1997 Expedition:
What a surprise was waiting for me when I arrived. A splendid new "Reefmaster" dive boat, built in Brisbane and shipped to Papua New Guinea was already in service. A new dive shop had been built and a dozen sets of new equipment installed. Dive manager, boat skipper, mechanic and all round fixer-upper Michael Burden certainly had shown his ability to provide his contracted responsibility to the island's management with a service to divers the like of which I had never before experienced. Not only that, every dive site was not buoyed with submerged single bolt reef anchor moorings so that coral damage from boat anchors was a thing of the past, and dive sites (due to modern navigation instruments) easily located and secured.

While Australia's dive organizations have spent 20 years talking about the merits of buoyed dive sites, Loloata's dive management had come up with a brilliant idea which was no danger to shipping and could be constructed simply, efficiently, on a shoestring budget by only two divers at a mere $K350 per unit. Twenty sites surveyed and installed in a few months certainly impressed the dickens out of me...

The "Dive Loloata" has a hot water shower on board and a high priority is maintained for all camera equipment which is washed immediately and stored under the seats out of the traffic area. Dive equipment is individually set up for each dive by the divemaster. At the end of the day or night all equipment is stripped from tanks, taken back to the island (under full security) washed and hung up to dry, ready for the next day's dive. This service is available to every customer regardless. After 35 years of roughing it (mostly on my own) this was pure luxury, a real diving service. One just... went diving. Everything else including hot coffee, sandwiches and fruit between dives was an integrated part of the diving day.

The results? Fifty-one dives later our finds included ghost pipefish, new species of commensal shrimp, new nudibranchs, short-nosed dragonfish, new crabs, hundreds of new records of sea stars, sea urchins, molluscs, ascidians and fish, as well as a grub-fish, which at this point in time is not able to be identified. We witnessed mating squid, mas nocturnal egg-laying of spiny murex shells, coral spawning, ejaculating sea stars, previously unknown commensal associations, territorial displays, prey and predator actions, courting behavior and relationships and discovered unbelievable animals. We found plants that mimic coral, fish which mimic flatworms and cosmic camouflages so bizarre that believing the seeing, at times, verged on bewilderment!

Yet for all the work and endeavors, the 150 hours underwater, the 8000-plus photographs, the 1500 species so far listed on the fauna survey and the hundreds of hours cataloguing and identifying pictures and species, one thing remains clear - the Bootless Bay area with its myriad habitats and diversity has one of the richest marine macro faunas to be found anywhere.

With the 1998 publication of "Discover Loloata Island," (A Marine Life Guide to Papua New Guinea by the author) illustrated by over 500 colour photographs from the bay and its environs, many of the initial results will be displayed. However, this will only be a single step forward in the pursuit of knowledge. The Bootless Bay Photographic Fauna Survey will continue for as long as it takes to discover all the many secrets.

Loloata Island
Late December to early March is the wet season. The sea is relatively clam, but visibility declines during this period. Late April through to late May brings the doldrums, seas are usually calm and the visibility is on the improve. Early June to early October is the dry season; southeast trade winds blow at this time which can mean choppy seas but the visibility is usually quite good. Late October until early December brings the doldrums again, but this usually means the best diving with calm seas and good visibility.

The diving runs all-year-round and even on the rougher days some of the dive sites are still accessible and protected. Water temperatures range from 27 degrees C (80 degrees F) in August and September up to 30 degrees C (86 degrees F) in March and April. Divers should either wear a Lycra suit for protection against sunburn or up to 3mm thick wetsuit for thermal protection.

Loloata Island Resort is regularly visited by botanists, marine biologists and others with a special interest in flora and fauna and the rarer marine creatures. Its also a welcome escape for locals and provides an excellent alternative to Port Moresby stop overs, depending on international and domestic connections. The resort also caters for work groups, seminars and conferences. Special diet and vegetarians are catered for with advance notice and children's meals can also be served earlier if desired.

Neville Coleman is a multi-award winning photographer, naturalist and author of 43 books on marine natural history and diving. Article and images ©1997-98 Neville Coleman and published with his permission. All Rights Reserved. These images cannot be copied, downloaded or used in any way without the written permission of the copyright owner. For more information, see About The Loloata Web Site