The Adventure Continues... Join me in the Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands Previous Tour 01

Solomon Islands Previous Tour 02

Solomon Islands Previous Tour 02

The MV Bilikiki

The steel-hulled, 125-foot Bilikiki has 10 staterooms, each with private shower and toilet, 8 have double lower and single upper bunk and two have two single beds. All have AC. None have windows. It has been operating since 1989, so they know the waters and the people intimately. It is a basic, no frills boat with a steady, solid reputation. The crew is seasoned, friendly and reliable. I have been on this boat 18 times and I look forward to yet another incredible trip.

The Happy Hour

Happy hour snacks are offered on the upper deck during sunset. I love this time of day -- relaxing, talking with friends, unless I am still on my extended late afternoon dive which can be almost two hours long. I love the adjustable dive schedule that often allows us the freedom to enjoy very long dives.

The Food

Meals are served buffet style and there are plenty of choices for all types of diets. Food is purchased from the local islanders who come to the stern of the Bilikiki in their dugout canoes filled with wholesome fresh produce. We eat in the open air on the forward deck. There is public space in the salon where we can gather with our computers after dinner to compare photos, inspire each other with ideas and solve problems. Here I am oohing and aahing over one of Bill Gewin's wonderful photos.

The Solomon Islands

The Solomon Islands is an island nation located in the southwest Pacific, 1,500 miles (2,400 km) west of Fiji and 1,200 miles (2,000 km) northeast of Australia. It is primitive, but safe and friendly. While English is the official language, there are almost 70 distinct languages spoken there, and Pijin is the main way to communicate in the outer islands.

Getting there

Air travelers can easily fly to Honiara, (on Guadalcanal), the capital of Solomon Islands, and the home port for the Bilikiki Cruises. Fiji Airways flies from LAX to Nadi, Fiji and then on to Honiara on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Solomon Airlines flies from Brisbane, Australia to Honiara on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and from Honiara back to Brisbane Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. This last option will involve an overnight in Honiara Saturday night after the September 5 - 16 trip.

We will be happy to work with you to plan your air travel. 

The weather

The weather is exceptionally boring -- calm, flat, warm, sometimes a little soft rain, a breeze or two. Just for variety a brief squall may dash through, but then it quickly returns to the boring, calm, warm, sunny weather. The weather is cooler and drier in September than it is from November to April, so it is quite comfortable. Most island crossings are calm.

The diving routine

Dive gear is stored on the back diving deck and is handled by the crew for you. You just point to it, they load it onto the small diveskiffs or "tinnies". You step into the tinny for the short ride to the site, and your tank is lifted to be put on your back. All you have to do is fall into the water and they hand you your camera. (If you cannot do this backward roll with a tank on, then optional techniques will be used just for you. Wherever you surface, the tinnies will come and get you. The drivers are excellent. They know where you are, how many divers are still in the water, and there is always at least one of the two tinnies in the area as they ferry the earlier divers back to the boat.

Diving sites

Our itinerary will include the Floridas, Georgias, Mary Island, and Morovo Lagoon.

This trip always has an option for easy diving but it can also challenge experienced divers too. It is a perfect introduction to South Pacific diving. Most sites offer shallow options with no current and clear water. Many dives are along walls so that you can choose to go deeper in the beginning, and work shallower until you make your extended stop at 15 feet along the top of the beautiful and lush wall. A few dives will be muck dives to give divers the experience of looking for interesting creatures along a sand slope or shallow wreckage. Then there are the high velocity dives with brilliant soft corals, and then a wreck dive and the dive with mounds of hard corals and the dives with tiny pygmy sea horses, and the dives with a large school of jacks and barracudas, and the dives with caves and the dives with sea whips and... and... and...  

There is a little of everything on this trip. There is always a surprise, always something that I have never seen before. This is not, however, well known for large pelagic encounters. While people have seen whale sharks, hammerheads and even sperm whales, these sitings are rare. You can, however, depend on finding every kind of anemone fish, and every type of scenic found in the South Pacific. 

I was intrigued by the pattern of the rind of this gorgonian, but a pygmy seahorse kept sticking his head in the photo.

For more underwater photos, click here.

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