alijtaylor
Contributor
I recently had three weeks diving in the Solomons, Gizo, Uepi and a week on Bilikiki. In summary a great place for tropical diving (30C water) - this report will briefly summarise my impresions of each location (I wasn't anywhere long enough to claim it is more than my impression) with a few photos - happy to answer questions or elaborate by PM.
Gizo is in the North the second biggest town in the Solomons - one street but two banks and a reasonable Gizo Hotel and a resort just out of town. I stayed in a $US20 an night guest house (Pheobe's) with a wonderful view and made sashimi with fish caught that morning, fantastic. Arrival and departure are interesting. The airport is on a small island and transfers consist of a motor boat ride the 5 minute crossing from town. Before departure the co-pilot will hand pump two 44 gallon drums of aviation gas into the little plane.
Gizo was hit by a tsumani in April 2007 and some sites still show the scars (and they are not diving other sites). I had 9 dives at Gizo - the coral was good but perhaps not as good as Marovo lagoon, but for me the highlight was the wrecks - a Japanese transport (Toa Maru 2) max depth 35m and an American Hellcat in 10m. The day we dived the Hellcat we had a free diver with us and he was unencumbered enough to fit in the pilot's seat.
The diving operation is well run, generally 2 dives a day and the surface interval is highlight as it usually involves a barbque on an unhinhabited tropical island.
My next stop was Uepi Island Resort on the Marovo lagoon where I had three days diving. They describe this as a "no star resort" in a 5 star environment. While it doesn't have airconditioning and hot water it is exceedingly comfortable with great food, good staff and fantastic views.
I saw more sharks here than elsewhere in the Solomons, snorkeled with Mantas and had an excellent full day trip (the Bapita trip) which I would recommend to anyone going to Uepi. This trip involved a fishing boat wreck, a lovely coral reef, a P38 fighter from WW2 and the sinkhole which is some of the most impressive geography I have ever dived in.
The fish life and coral around Uepi Island itself were prolific and in wonderful condition. I found the atmoshpere at Uepi attractive, there was discussion of where we wanted to go before each dive - they attempted to avoid taking people back to the same place twice, and the fills were generally huge.
From Uepi I headed back to Honiara and boarded Bilikiki. She and her sister ship Spirit of Solomon's are the only 2 liveabaords operating in the Solomons. She will take 20 divers - there were 15 of us. She is very comfortable and the food and amenities were good. While there is always a dive guide in the water they don't expect you to necessarily follow them, you are free to dive your own profile.
Five dives a day are offered, the coral, fish and small stuff, are fantastic.
While there were fewer sharks and other pelagics than I had seen off New Britian in PNG this was compensated for by the accessible wrecks. We dived a fishing boat and two Japanese transports from WW2 and White Beach which is a graveyard of American war rubble.
A highlight on Bilikiki was the floating market which would assemble at the stern most days as the locals arrived to sell fresh fuit and veges to the boat.
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Concluding comments - if you are travelling to, or within the Solomon's, don't expect everything to go like clockwork, planes are late (or early), transfer transport may not arrive when expected and the clock doesn't reign like it might in your world. But the locals are friendly, the fish, fruit and vegetables are fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed the diving. More photos are here.
Alison
Gizo is in the North the second biggest town in the Solomons - one street but two banks and a reasonable Gizo Hotel and a resort just out of town. I stayed in a $US20 an night guest house (Pheobe's) with a wonderful view and made sashimi with fish caught that morning, fantastic. Arrival and departure are interesting. The airport is on a small island and transfers consist of a motor boat ride the 5 minute crossing from town. Before departure the co-pilot will hand pump two 44 gallon drums of aviation gas into the little plane.
Gizo was hit by a tsumani in April 2007 and some sites still show the scars (and they are not diving other sites). I had 9 dives at Gizo - the coral was good but perhaps not as good as Marovo lagoon, but for me the highlight was the wrecks - a Japanese transport (Toa Maru 2) max depth 35m and an American Hellcat in 10m. The day we dived the Hellcat we had a free diver with us and he was unencumbered enough to fit in the pilot's seat.
The diving operation is well run, generally 2 dives a day and the surface interval is highlight as it usually involves a barbque on an unhinhabited tropical island.
My next stop was Uepi Island Resort on the Marovo lagoon where I had three days diving. They describe this as a "no star resort" in a 5 star environment. While it doesn't have airconditioning and hot water it is exceedingly comfortable with great food, good staff and fantastic views.
I saw more sharks here than elsewhere in the Solomons, snorkeled with Mantas and had an excellent full day trip (the Bapita trip) which I would recommend to anyone going to Uepi. This trip involved a fishing boat wreck, a lovely coral reef, a P38 fighter from WW2 and the sinkhole which is some of the most impressive geography I have ever dived in.
The fish life and coral around Uepi Island itself were prolific and in wonderful condition. I found the atmoshpere at Uepi attractive, there was discussion of where we wanted to go before each dive - they attempted to avoid taking people back to the same place twice, and the fills were generally huge.
From Uepi I headed back to Honiara and boarded Bilikiki. She and her sister ship Spirit of Solomon's are the only 2 liveabaords operating in the Solomons. She will take 20 divers - there were 15 of us. She is very comfortable and the food and amenities were good. While there is always a dive guide in the water they don't expect you to necessarily follow them, you are free to dive your own profile.
Five dives a day are offered, the coral, fish and small stuff, are fantastic.
While there were fewer sharks and other pelagics than I had seen off New Britian in PNG this was compensated for by the accessible wrecks. We dived a fishing boat and two Japanese transports from WW2 and White Beach which is a graveyard of American war rubble.
A highlight on Bilikiki was the floating market which would assemble at the stern most days as the locals arrived to sell fresh fuit and veges to the boat.
Concluding comments - if you are travelling to, or within the Solomon's, don't expect everything to go like clockwork, planes are late (or early), transfer transport may not arrive when expected and the clock doesn't reign like it might in your world. But the locals are friendly, the fish, fruit and vegetables are fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed the diving. More photos are here.
Alison
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