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From Stephanie Oswald
CNN Travel Now

LOLOATA ISLAND, Papua New Guinea (CNN) -- Some of the fiercest air, land and sea battles of World War II took place around Papua New Guinea, leaving relics scattered throughout the area.

Now, Papua New Guinea -- PNG, for short -- in the southwestern Pacific is one of the top destinations in the world for wreck diving. About 5,000 aircraft were lost there during World War II, and divers have discovered a few dozen of them.

In Madang, a jumping-off point for diving adventures, reminders of the war are everywhere. On land, for example, there's a Japanese Mitsubishi bomber with bullet holes in it. But by far the most interesting relics lie under water.

"There is opportunity to see genuine wrecks, and that goes for right across the country, and there is a good deal of war debris left around in terms of planes and ships," said Dik Knight, vice president of the PNG Divers Association.

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Flying Fortress

Perhaps PNG's best-preserved and best-known wreck is the Blackjack, a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. The enormous plane crashed just off the coastline near the village of Boga Boga in 1943. The crewmembers from the United States bomber survived and were rescued by villagers, but their plane wasn't as fortunate.

Today the Blackjack sits in more than 150 feet of water. Eerily, it's in almost the same condition as when it went down more than 50 years ago.

"The Blackjack B-17 was just fabulous, it made you feel like it just glided down at the bottom of 155 feet and you were on it and just climbed out, guns and everything," diver Sonja Gilkison said. "It was, I'd say, one of the best experiences I have ever had and probably will have. It is just fantastic."

Sights like that are a dream come true for divers visiting PNG.

"I would say if you like diving and you like unexplored places and you don't mind roughing it a bit, it is a fabulous, once-in-a-lifetime place to go to," diver Adam Bates said, adding "It is going to change in the future, so go now."