The Adventure Continues to...
Solomon Islands
I am going to the Solomon Islands on the wonderful (old but comfortable) MV Bilikiki July 30 to August 13, 2013. (Yes, 2013--so you have lots of time to plan!)
The MV Bilikiki
The 125-foot Bilikiki is steel hulled, with 10 staterooms, each with private shower and toilet, double lower and single upper bunk and 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.
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 afternoon dive which can be almost two hours long.
Meals are served buffet style and there are plenty of choices for all types of diets. We eat in the open air on the forward deck.
There is a lot of public space in the salon where we all 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
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.
Air travelers can reach Honiara, the capital of Solomon Islands, and the home port for the Bilikiki Cruises via Nadi, Fiji (on Solomon Airlines and Air Pacific); Brisbane, Australia (on Solomon Airlines and Virgin Blue) or Port Moresby, Papua - New Guinea. None of these are daily flights, and we will let you know closer to our departure time what flights we will be using. If airline schedules change drastically, we may decide to change our cruise dates to match the flight schedule.
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 August than it is from November to April, so it is quite comfortable.
The diving
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 dive
skiffs or "tinnies". You sit down and they put the tank on your back. After a one to five minute tinny ride, you fall into the water and they hand you your camera. 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 three tinnies in the area as they ferry the earlier divers back to the boat.
The diving
This trip always has an option for easy diving but it can also challenge experience 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 the 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--photos will be up SOON.
Trip costs
The cost for the boat portion of the trip is $5978.00 plus $350.00 government tax for a total of $6328.00 if paid by check or cash. Cost is $6511. if paid with credit card. (This is regular rack rate--there is no up-charge for traveling with me.)
Cost includes:
• 14 nights aboard the Bilikiki
• All meals, snacks.
• All diving
• Fuel surcharges as of 2011
• Government tax of $350.00
Cost does not include
• Nitrox
• Alcoholic and canned beverages
A $500.00 deposit is due a soon as you wish to confirm your space.
Revised December 12, 2011
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