Bougainville is not an easy destination, and most of what there is to see requires real commitment to reach. That said, the island offers things found nowhere else: pristine coral reefs that see almost no diving traffic, WWII wreck and crash sites, and a society that has come through a brutal civil war and is now navigating its path toward independence.
Buka Town on the northern island is the usual arrival point and the most functional base. From there, boat transport south opens up access to the reefs and inland areas. The Panguna Mine — the open-pit copper mine whose environmental destruction triggered the 1988–1998 civil war — remains closed and is a sobering sight, one of the largest man-made holes in the Southern Hemisphere. The Yamamoto crash site in the jungle near Buin marks where the United States shot down Japan's most famous admiral in 1943.
For divers, the reefs off Bougainville are in excellent condition after decades of minimal traffic. Visibility is high, coral cover is dense, and the diversity of marine life reflects an intact ecosystem. There are also several WWII wrecks in accessible depths.