Hi there, divers! My head is officially spinning and I am hoping some of you can provide some guidance. Very overwhelmed with too many choices & too much info at the moment!
I will be taking a trip on the Bilikiki Solomons liveaboard in Sept 2025. With the expense & time involved in reaching that part of the world, I would like to take advantage of my time there to see some more of the region. All the Pacific islands have been on my wish list for ages, but PNG is especially high on my list. I've been reading bits & pieces for the last two weeks or so and I feel like I'm more confused than when I started lol.
I would like to add on a land based stay with diving and some cultural exploration, either before or after the Bilikiki (depending on logistics). Coming from east coast US, it seems based on 2024 pricing that the most direct and economical routing will be NY-SFO-Nadi-Honiara.
Struggling because most friends who have had occasion to visit this part of the world & who might advise me have mostly traveled not so recently, and much of the info on the web is similarly dated. Also I am far from independently wealthy, & I am trying to keep costs under a zillion dollars - not so easy in that part of the world.
My biggest question is where to add on - elsewhere in the Solomons, somewhere in PNG, or possibly Vanuatu??
-I understand that PNG can be a nightmare re travel logistics
-Tufi resort is on my short list but don't love that there is no beach
-Recent online forum posts suggest diving elsewhere in Solomons may be limited / impossible, but I am over a year out, so????
-I'm a little concerned I may be disappointed by the diving in Vanuatu
A little background - I've spent a fair bit of time diving in SE Asia (so I'm kind of spoiled!), enjoy macro photography (just moved up to my first camera w a strobe), good w air consumption, have 1000+ dives, don't love strong current / fast drift dives, not overly interested in wrecks aside from the life on/around them.
Hoping to see some larger life ie sharks, mantas, big schools as I don't have as much experience w lots of big big stuff, but I have done Lembeh twice & I love the small weird muck, too. Really excited by the off the beaten path / unexplored aspect of things. One of the worst dives I have done was in the Red Sea w 16 boats at the same mooring & traffic jams of groups underwater. Yuck. Hoping to see something "special" if that makes sense.
Sorry for the novel & thanks in advance for your advice & suggestions!
I will be taking a trip on the Bilikiki Solomons liveaboard in Sept 2025. With the expense & time involved in reaching that part of the world, I would like to take advantage of my time there to see some more of the region. All the Pacific islands have been on my wish list for ages, but PNG is especially high on my list. I've been reading bits & pieces for the last two weeks or so and I feel like I'm more confused than when I started lol.
I would like to add on a land based stay with diving and some cultural exploration, either before or after the Bilikiki (depending on logistics). Coming from east coast US, it seems based on 2024 pricing that the most direct and economical routing will be NY-SFO-Nadi-Honiara.
Struggling because most friends who have had occasion to visit this part of the world & who might advise me have mostly traveled not so recently, and much of the info on the web is similarly dated. Also I am far from independently wealthy, & I am trying to keep costs under a zillion dollars - not so easy in that part of the world.
My biggest question is where to add on - elsewhere in the Solomons, somewhere in PNG, or possibly Vanuatu??
-I understand that PNG can be a nightmare re travel logistics
-Tufi resort is on my short list but don't love that there is no beach
-Recent online forum posts suggest diving elsewhere in Solomons may be limited / impossible, but I am over a year out, so????
-I'm a little concerned I may be disappointed by the diving in Vanuatu
A little background - I've spent a fair bit of time diving in SE Asia (so I'm kind of spoiled!), enjoy macro photography (just moved up to my first camera w a strobe), good w air consumption, have 1000+ dives, don't love strong current / fast drift dives, not overly interested in wrecks aside from the life on/around them.
Hoping to see some larger life ie sharks, mantas, big schools as I don't have as much experience w lots of big big stuff, but I have done Lembeh twice & I love the small weird muck, too. Really excited by the off the beaten path / unexplored aspect of things. One of the worst dives I have done was in the Red Sea w 16 boats at the same mooring & traffic jams of groups underwater. Yuck. Hoping to see something "special" if that makes sense.
Sorry for the novel & thanks in advance for your advice & suggestions!