Overview

We’ve been twice before, and can’t wait to return. The Solomon Islands – situated east of Papua New Guinea, northeast of Australia and west of Fiji – offers outstanding biodiversity and a range of diving that's hard to beat.

With over a hundred islands covered in lush tropical jungle, the archipelago offers sheltered anchorages with stunning landscapes, rich history, and beautiful people.

Bilikiki pioneered liveaboard diving in the Solomon Islands, so you're in good hands.

World-Class Diving

The waters offer an outstanding mix of world-class diving: healthy hard coral reefs, sheer walls with enormous fans, caverns and caves, current-swept passages, muck sites with their bizarre critters, bommies teeming with brilliant tropical fish, WWII and modern wrecks, pelagic dives, and a new manta dive that has just been added to the itinerary. All this in toasty warm waters with great viz and minimal dive tourism – so you'll have the sites to yourselves.

Spending 14 days at sea means there’s enough time for you to explore all three of main island groups: Florida Islands, Russell Islands, and Marovo Lagoon in the New Georgia Group. With 20 years of dive experience in the region’s waters, the Bilikiki crew have discovered countless gems to show you, these are just a few…

Mary Island / Barracuda Point
An isolated island halfway between the Russells and Morovo. We’ll spend 1-2 days here. The point has a resident large school of bigeye jacks and an enormous school of barracuda. Stakka fis (stacks of fish) swarm the pristine hard coral slope that drops away into the inky abyss. Grey reef, whitetip and blacktip sharks patrol the area, and distant rumbling underwater volcanic eruptions make this an unforgettable dive site.

Leru Cut
From a sheer wall, up in the shallows, is a spectacular split in the island. You can swim 60m (200’) into the cut, and surface right inside the jungle canopy. On the way back out, stop to look for electric clams, ghost pipefish and pygmy seahorses.

Boneghi Wrecks
The Solomon Islands was the site of major World War II naval battles. The Boneghis are two WWII Japanese freighters sunk in Guadalcanal. The wrecks are huge, stretching from the surface to the deep. Both are heavily encrusted with corals and teeming with life. Plenty of critters (seahorses, stingrays, gobies) in the surrounding sand slopes, too. Liz’s favourite site.

Twin Tunnels
A spectacular and large seamount topping out at 18m (45’). There are two tunnel entrances at the top of the seamount – enter and descend down to 33m (110’), to exit on the seamount’s side. Plenty of pelagic fish action at the point where the current hits: fusiliers, trevally, mackerel, tuna, sharks.

Velvia Reef
A small seamount in the middle of a channel. Critter hunter’s nirvana. Crocodilefish, tons of nudi’s (especially Nembrotha kubaryana), and lionfish up the wazoo.

The Ann
A modern wreck close to shore. Was sunk as a house reef for a resort that never happened. The hull is covered with enormous elephant ear sponges. Up in the shallows, near the village, you can get great shots of local children posing for you underwater.

White Beach
This mangrove-lined steep rubble slope was the dumping ground for American military equipment after WWII: sunken pontoons, earth-moving equipment, a jeep, ammunition and vintage bottles. Mantis shrimp, archer fish, mandarinfish and jawfish call this place home. Josh’s favourite critter dive.

Manta Feeding Station
This is a new site that is getting rave reviews. November-December should be perfect timing to dive with these firm favourites.

Marovo Lagoon
Awesome drift dives along stunning sheer walls covered in the largest sea fans you’ve ever seen. This area is only visited on longer trips (like ours). Many villages with carvings for sale in this area.

Local Culture

Most of the dive sites are close to small villages, and you’ll often surface from your dive to find the locals have paddled their dugout canoes to say hello. With minimal tourism throughout the islands, the locals greet you with warms smiles, friendliness and a little curiosity.

There will be at least one formal village visit during the trip, with traditional entertainment called a "sing sing" – it’s very impressive.

Additionally, during some surface intervals there will be the opportunity to purchase excellent wood carvings and other local handicrafts. The cruise directors will brief you on the art of price negotiation, Solomons style. It's also possible to trade for carvings, so consider bringing goods that are sought after by the locals.

Life Onboard

Bilikiki has been going for 20 years and has always enjoyed an excellent reputation. We were onboard for our honeymoon in 2005, and we also worked there as relief cruise directors in 2007. We found the 13 long-tenured crew to be polite, experienced and hard-working – they will take good care of you during the trip.

Bilikiki is a comfortable, clean, spacious and well-equipped ship. All of her guest cabins have a double bed plus a single bunk above. Each cabin has a private ensuite bathroom with shower, basin and toilet. All cabins are air-conditioned.

The dive deck has plenty of space to gear up, huge fresh-water rinse tanks, a carpeted camera table, hot showers, and fresh towels. In the salon area is a large table for camera assembly, storage and tinkering. And there’s a dedicated charging room well away from the wet areas of the ship.

Local villagers paddle their dugouts canoes to the ship, bringing fresh fruits, vegetables and fish that the crew purchase to re-stock the galley throughout the trip.

If you want to try a hand at fishing yourself, you’re welcome to join the crew for an evening or early morning excursion to hand-line for wahoo and tuna.

Dive Operations

The Bilikiki dive operations are extremely well run. After a detailed dive briefing, you can gear up at your own pace and go when you're ready – there are no fixed dive groups. The crew will load your gear into one of the 21’ aluminium tenders (called “tinnies”); the tinnie departs once it’s full. It’s a 1-4 minute ride to the site. The crew will lift your tank up to your back, you just buckle up and do a unison back-roll entry right onto the site. There will be a tinnie to collect you wherever you surface at the end of the dive. The two tinnies do alternate watches, so there’s no need to wait for all the other divers to surface before being taken back to the ship.

At a couple of sites the “pool is open”: diving is done direct from the ship’s stern, you just come and go as you please.

One or both of the cruise directors will be in the water as guide on each day dive.

The dive crew take care of your dive gear throughout the trip – from loading it in and out of the tinnies each dive, to cleaning it for you on the last day.

Diving is unlimited: the dive schedule is built around five daily dives (4 daytime dives plus 1 night dive after dinner), but there is scope to add more dives for the super keen. There are no depth or time limits on the dives, just keep your profiles within the bounds of common sense and safe dive practices.

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