The Coral Adventurer, a cruise ship carrying 80 tourists, found itself in a precarious situation when it ran aground on a coral reef off the coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG). The incident occurred approximately 90 kilometers from Lae, PNG’s second-largest city, as the ship encountered strong sea currents. Fortunately, all passengers and the ship’s 43 crew members were unharmed. However, despite ongoing efforts to refloat the vessel, it remains stranded nearly four days after the incident.
The grounding of the Coral Adventurer has left the 93-meter-long ship and its 120 occupants stranded in the remote waters of PNG. This article delves into the details of the voyage, the incident, and what lies ahead for the vessel.
Details of the Incident
The Coral Adventurer was navigating the waters near Dregerhafen Point at 5:30 am local time on Saturday when it ran aground north of PNG’s Nussing Island. Vessel tracking data indicates that the ship first approached the PNG coast on December 20, having departed from Cairns, Australia, two days earlier. The ship’s journey took it between Normanby Island and Fergusson Island before it hugged the coast of Morobe Province, ultimately running aground near Finschhafen, about 90 kilometers from Lae.
Morobe’s provincial governor, Rainbo Paita, noted that the Coral Adventurer was taking a route not typically used by local operators. Despite attempts to reach Coral Expeditions for comment, the company declined to respond to the governor’s remarks.
Passenger Situation and Response
Following the incident, Coral Expeditions arranged for the passengers to return to Australia. On Tuesday, they disembarked from the Coral Adventurer and boarded the MV Ialibu, a passenger boat that transported them to Lae. From there, they were expected to fly back to Cairns.
Earlier, on Sunday, passengers had disembarked the ship for a brief respite at Gingala village, where they participated in community-hosted sightseeing activities while a tugboat attempted to free the vessel.
The Coral Adventurer: A Closer Look
The Coral Adventurer is one of three small cruise ships operated by Cairns-based Coral Expeditions. Built by Vard, a Norway-based shipbuilder, in 2019, the vessel was constructed in a Vietnam shipyard at a cost of $119 million. It boasts a capacity of 120 passengers, 60 staterooms, and over 1,000 square meters of open deck space. The ship, with a gross tonnage of 5,500, was on a 60-day cruise around Australia in October when a passenger tragically passed away on the Great Barrier Reef’s Lizard Island.
The grounding incident in PNG occurred approximately two months after the death of 80-year-old tourist Suzanne Rees on the Great Barrier Reef.
About Coral Expeditions
Coral Expeditions is a Queensland-based company specializing in small ship expedition-style cruises to remote regions, including the Kimberley and the Pacific Islands. As Australia’s largest local passenger cruise line, the company is headquartered in Cairns and offers multi-day cruises around Australia and internationally through Indonesian islands.
Coral Expeditions is owned by the NRMA, which first acquired shares in 2021 before taking full ownership in 2023. According to the NRMA’s annual report, the company transported 6,700 passengers for 77,600 nights at sea and increased its revenue by 11.4% in 2025, partly due to expanded itineraries. The report also highlighted a “deep dive on safety” conducted by the NRMA board’s audit and risk committee, which made recommendations for operating in international waters.
In addition to the Coral Adventurer, the company operates the “sister-ship” Coral Geographer and the smaller Coral Discoverer, built in 2005, for exploring Australia’s remote coastlines.
Future Steps and Investigations
Professional divers have inspected the Coral Adventurer underwater and found no critical external damage. Nonetheless, the vessel remains stranded on the reef despite a three-day effort to free it. A tugboat from PNG company Pacific Towing arrived on the scene on Sunday to attempt refloating the vessel, but early attempts failed when the tugboat’s engine overheated, necessitating a return to Lae. A larger tugboat from Lae was expected to make further attempts on Tuesday.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has initiated a safety investigation into the incident and is gathering evidence. Meanwhile, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority has detained the vessel “based on reasonable suspicion” that it is “not seaworthy due to potential damage sustained during the grounding.”
As efforts to refloat the Coral Adventurer continue, the incident underscores the challenges of navigating remote waters and the importance of safety protocols in the cruise industry. The outcome of the investigations and the eventual fate of the vessel will likely have implications for future expeditions in the region.
