M/V Pai/Pacific Gas formaly the Nanayou Maru is a boat accessible salt water dive site, located in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
The purpose-sunk Pacific Gas is one of the largest shipwrecks in PNG, and it sits just outside of the capital of Port Moresby. But the Pacific Gas is just one of a handful of easily accessible shipwrecks near the city, loaded with some of the ocean’s strangest marine life. in fact, just next door to the Gas sits the M/V Pai, a 75-foot trawler purpose sunk along Horseshoe reef. The Pai’s grasping masts are laden with a thick coat of soft corals, and it’s a picturesque backdrop against which divers can find an exotic and ever-changing collection of creatures. Anything from wobbegongs and hammerhead sharks, to rhinopias and harlequin ghost pipefish can be spotted on this small but biodiverse wreck, while anthias and sweetlips congregate in the water column.
Distance from Loloata – 3.1 nautical miles
Best Diving Depths – 16 to 30 meters Wreck lays with her mast in 9 meters and her rudder in 45 meters.
Best Time / Tide – Location is exposed so weather conditions must be right. Caution with moderate currents diving spring tides.
Highlights – Scuttled in 1986 for sport divers. Ship is 65.1 meters long. Tremendous quantities of fish surrounding the wreck. Magnificent Soft corals, particularly on the mast. Resident lionfish, Leaf scorpionfish and Ghost pipefish. One of the two sites where the Red lined Basslet is found.
MV Pacific GasThe largest and deepest wreck dive in this area. Built in japan in 1967 as a liquid gas carrier. Originally named “Nanayou Maru”. Renamed “Pacific Gas” in 1972. Sunk in October 1986 by Bob and Dinah Halstead. Length 65m/213ft. Width 10.5m/34ft. Gross tonnage 1130 tonnes. The wreck is covered with Tubastrea hard corals and numerous soft corals and Sea fans. Swarms of fish above the bow when the current runs.
From SportDiver
