Lissenung Island Resort

Being guests on Lissenung Island Resort in PNG in November/December 2023 - our 4th time on this beautiful island - we can judge very truthfully that this resort is the best resort we have ever visited during the last forty years all over the world. That is why we have been to Lissenung four times within the last ten years and it has become our diving paradise because of totally relaxed and beautiful diving and a very caring, friendly service by management and local staff. Our best experiences on this resort are the reason why we have to write a contrary statement to the review by olyap445, Seattle, Washington, from November 23rd 2024 because her accusations are just not true. In the following we describe how we observed that situation: When Olga arrived on Lissenung Island we (my wife and me - the other guests were on their afternoon diving ) met her for the first time after lunch in the main house/restaurant. She came in without any ‘Hello’, no introducing herself etc. just asking in a very impolite way if there is ‘nitrox’ facility . At first my wife and I we were astonished by her rude way of behavior but then we calmly told her that we cannot expect an expensive ‘nitrox’ filling station at such a small resort in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with only a few guests. That was that, she sat down, tried a little bit of her meal, quickly pushed her plate away and left the room without any comment. That was our first bad impression of ‘Lady’ Olga and in this way the development went on. She just appeared and disappeared creating a very unpleasant and tense atmosphere though we, the other guests, tried at first to have normal, holiday-like conversations with her. The two Australian substitutes, friends of Dietmar and Ange, who cared in a very professional and almost loving kind for everything at the resort – service, technical equipment, diving, staff, guests etc. – tried everything to fulfill Olga’s expectations, wishes, demands. Even her meals had to be changed to suit her requests. For us it was more than astonishing how patiently and still in a good mood Sandy and Ian reacted to all her different, rude, unfounded criticizing. It was complaining about electricity sometimes weakening because one of the generators failed (that Ian fixed immediately even in the middle of the night if necessary) , limited freshwater supplies after dry days without any rainfall. ‘Lady’ Olga obviously forgot that Lissenung is a very small remote island far away from all industry and totally depending on rainfall for fresh water. Unfortunately she fulfilled bad experiences with other spoilt holiday makers from that part of the world where she originally came from; just to remark that this is not our private opinion, but experiences and observations of so many tourists in lots of different resorts all over the world. Diving with ‘lady’ Olga was unpleasant as well; she was ignoring, almost disdaining the other divers and disregarding even the main diving regulations for safety. At the end of the dive (sixty minutes) she demanded of the dive guide to dive deeper with her and stay longer – an irresponsible attitude towards the guides risking their welfare and health. So she was always the last to come on board, much later than all the other divers. Of course the dive guides informed Ian and Sandy about this attitude and they discussed this impossible and dangerous diving behavior with ‘Lady’ Olga, but she reacted unreasonable and obstinate, on the contrary she even insulted Sandy being really hostile towards her. ‘Lady’ Olga was so proud of her worldwide diving experience. But obviously she was not used to consider dive time rules and decompression time as she claimed in her review having felt unwell and having had partly numb legs after diving. Her reproach of contaminated tanks is just rude, there were no complaints or problems of the other divers. It didn’t take long until she demanded her change to another resort. After talking to the managing couple Ange and Dietmar her moving to another resort was arranged in agreement and completed. Her reproach about ‘eviction’ is just rude and simply a lie. All the other guests, we were really relieved after Olga as troublemaker had finally left the resort. And again, all her accusations as missing security, contaminated tanks, rundown equipment and facilities are defamation and lies. My wife and I we only had best experiences on Lissenung – we spent fourteen weeks within ten years on this island and our next holiday in November this year is already planned and booked.