On Wed, 6 Nov 2002 The Late Brad Stambaugh wrote:

<snip of the kiwi shears>
>today I was thinking about the talk of  a NEDfest in Layang Layang.
>And I wondered if there would be any intrest in going to Raja Empat,
>Papua (formerly Irian Jaya). It's in the same region, so it might
>satisify the urge for an Asian trip. Whadayafink?

Ah, I think you would be better off planning something abit closer to L-L.
I have dived at Kota Kinabalu, Labuan, L-L & Sipadan.
Spent some time at Sandakan also checking out the orangutans.  If you were
interested in wrecks try Labuan. Bonus is the grog is duty free there.

I have heard very good things about Lankayan Island also. My mate *Mad Max*
was there in May and went nuts over the ghost pipefish. The Lankayan Island
trip was tagged on to his second visit to Layang-Layang. That was were I
originally met him and he became my night dive buddy as the guy I was
travelling with (my ex) only wanted to prop up the bar at night.
The islands - Lankayan, Tegapil & Billean look like being finally made a
marine protected area and if Sabah Wildlife ok it that area will be known
as the Sugud Islands Marine Park.

The DM I dived with at Tufi Resort, PNG originally worked at some resort in
Irian Jaya. His best friend was the Manager there. That is definitely one
area I would love to check out.
Viv