Pacifico
Registered
PART 1:
I had the privilege of traveling to the Solomon Islands in late May and early June of last year as a guest with Solomon Island Dive Expeditions (SIDE) aboard the MV Solomon Star. My friend and I both traveled from Canada. We were extremely lucky to find out, as we were picked up prior to boarding the ship in Honiara, that we were going to be sharing this trip with 2 other guests and a crew of 6! That SIDE agrees to run their trips when even just a single passenger is booked demonstrates their dedication - many thanks! A more detailed review of my experience with SIDE is provided at the end of this post.
THE DIVING
Overall, my 10-day trip in the Solomon Islands was marvelous because the diving was so varied. My impression is that, as far as tropical locations go, the Solomon Islands are going to be hard to top because of the variety of marine life (corals, other invertebrates and fishes), the variety of dive sites (shallow protected, exposed with current), the variety of underwater topography (walls, gental coral slopes, swim-throughs, cuts, caves, sandy slopes etc...), the WWII wrecks and, of course, the relatively pristine state of the marine environments and the remoteness of dive sites. Here is log of the notes I took about the diving during the trip.
27/05/2015 - Florida Islands
Dive 1: Ghavutu Island Wharf
Dive 2: Ghavutu Island Wharf, saw large cuttlefish, brilliant headshield
Dive 3: Ghavutu Island Japanese plane wreck (no dive - difficulty equalizing)
visit Tulagi
28/05/2015 – northern Florida Islands
Dive 1: Maravagi village, Maganlonga island reef
Early dive at around 6h30. Down to 18 - 20m beautiful reef, large field of cabbage coral. Even more pretty shallow. Lionfish, anemone clownfish (several spp.).
Dive 2: Maravagi village, Maganlonga island reef
Same site. Stayed shallower with buddy. Beautiful and sun shining through.
Dive 3: Devil's Highway, Mangalonga Island
Strong current, saw 4 - 5 manta rays (one about 6 m wingspan), one bumphead parrotfish, one blacktip reef shark
Dive 4: Baby Cakes, Bokonimbeti Island
Open and exposed reef. Slight current. Three grey reef sharks at about 27 – 30m depth on edge of reef. Two broadclub cuttlefish and one very large green turtle. Beautiful and massive gorgonians. Large coral colonies.
Dive 5: Baby Cakes, Bokonimbeti Island
Dusk dive. Current stronger now. Lionfish, crinoids.
29/05/2015 - Russell Islands
Dive 1: White Beach, Banika Island channel between Banika and Hae Island
I could not equalize...no dive
Dive 2: White Beach, Banika Island channel between Banika and Hae Island
US army dump site from WW2. Many tires, ammunition, trucks. All mostly rusted, degraded and overgrown with coral. Many lionfish and pipefish. Beautiful large coral colonies along steep slope. Down to ~35m. Headed north along wall.
Dive 3: White Beach, Banika Island channel between Banika and Hae Island
Dive with buddy. Stayed much shallower. Headed south this time.
Dive 4: White Beach, Banika Island channel between Banika and Hae Island.
Dive with buddy and another guest. Mostly stayed with buddy since other guest was off on his own taking pictures. Had to abort dive early and ended up taking a dump in 10ft of water near shoreline with children playing on shore – yikes!
Marvelous crossing through the maze of islands and reefs that make up the northern Russells. The coastline is largely exposed old reefal limestone and is undercut and ripe with caves. As a good omen, a pod of bottlenose dolphins come from offshore to ride the ship's bow wave. As we enter the passage between Marulaon Island and Leru Island, a magical wave of floral aroma washes over the ship. We arrive in Kafoleon Bay at Mane Island just as dusk sets in. The boat backs the stern in 20m from undercut coral cliffs. Jungle biophony in full gear with birds, frogs and bats calling.
Dive 5: Night dive at Mane coral gardens and bommies in Kafoleon Bay. Fantastic! Marvellous hard coral. Parrotfish, buddy found a beautiful Papuan Scorpionfish. Ended dive in the beautiful shallow at the island's rock wall. Wow!
30/05/2015 - Russell Islands
Dive 1: Same site as night dive (Kafoleon Bay) Dive solo with buddy.
Nice coral gardens, water very clear. Shy octopus in a crevice changing colors.
Dive 2: Mirror Pond at north side of Mane Island.
Incredible dive with 35m visibility. The Shallow hard coral gardens we passed through were spectacular. They were almost completely covered in live coral. Entering passage through to Mirror pond was surreal with light shaft beaming down from above. Exited and swam through shallow coral gardens again before exiting on beautiful reef wall dropping off into oblivion. Coral gardens were utterly marvellous!
Dive 3: Leru Cut, northwest side of Leru Island.
What a site for my 100th dive! Beautiful and ethereal penetration into a narrow cut/chasm that extends about 30m into jungle. Buddy stayed at the surface while I stayed at the sandy bottom around 14m. Chasm was about 2.5 - 3m wide. Exited on reef wall. Beautiful soft coral of all sorts.
Dive 4: Bat Cave, north side of Marulaon Island.
Sat this dive out and decided to nap instead after a persistent headache. Slept about 2 hours. Felt rejuvenated after that!
Dive 5: Custom Cave, off a northwest section Pavuvu Island.
Late day dive with buddy and cruise director. Swim through to wall and directly into opening descending to about 15m where we penetrate into the cave. Overhead environment for a short distance. Buddy and I surface to the mangroves and slow surge pouring in. While at the surface of this hidden pond, I take a moment to listen to the waves in the background and the noises of the jungle that surrounds – this place is a world away from everything. Descend again and spend about a half hour in the cave looking for cometfish and other critters before exiting onto wall. Several jacks and snappers patrolling.
31/05/2015 - Southeast Marovo
Crossing to Borokua (Mary) Island overnight was much rougher than expected. We arrived at Borokua (Mary Island) around 5 30 AM but the dive sites were not diveable. Plan B: off to Marovo. 5 hours later and with 2m swells out of the south we arrive at Gatokae Island.
Dive 1: Northwest tip of Bulo Island.
Beautiful high limestone cliff Island. Narrow reef dropping of steeply. Crystal clear water with visibility at least 35 - 40 m. Fabulous hard corals and spur and groove formations. A few bumphead parrotfish. Wow!!!
Dive 2: North side of Malemale Island.
Nice small low island with palm trees lining beach. Upon entering we see a turtle, bumphead parrotfish and two black tips and an inquisitive young grey reef shark that stuck around for 4 min. More bumphead parrotfish, several whitetip reef sharks and blacktip reef sharks.
Dive 3: Lagoon Peava village
Nice, calm and long shallow night dive looking for critters. Stayed between 3 and 5 m. Robust ghost pipefish, many bobbit worms, lionfish, shrimp.
01/06/2015 - Southeast Marovo
Dive 1: Kavachi Corner, northeast Kicha Island
Crossing back over to Kicha was still rough but calmer than the day before. This was an electric and most incredible dive. Early morning drop in and the volcano is rumbling, thumping and pounding throughout the dive as if a soundtrack backdrop to an eerie movie. Every once in a while there is a very loud crackle followed by a massive low pitch thump. Wow!!!!! An inquisitive grey reef shark comes right at us early on. Several more come in at a distance throughout the course of the dive. Large schools of fish and many pelagic species all over the place: big eye barracuda, greater barracuda, jacks, schools of bumphead parrotfish. Wow dive!!!!!
Dive 2: Bulo Cathedrals, north side Bulo Island.
Great visibility (~35-40m) Drop in at wall, shallow areas covered in beautiful coral. Structure and coral make the place look like a magical playground – unbelievable! Many swim-throughs and caverns. One area covered in thicket of delicate branching Acropora coral. Finally reach cavern leading to cathedrals. Opening is magical with light shafts beaming down from multiple areas. Wow! I say, but really, it is hard to fully convey the beauty in my post.
Dive 3: Lagoon reef in between Big and little Karanjou islands.
As soon as we anchor blacktips are cruising below the boat. Buddy and I enter the water but the sharks quickly disperse. We head down to the reef and a few sharks swim along the wall but at a distance. We dive along the reef. Good visibility (~25m) and nice shallow coral. We closely approach a cuttlefish in the shallow and surface shortly after where I take some over-under shots. Back at boat, about ten blacktip reef sharks are circling and pass close by. I take a bunch of photos. Some commercial logging going on on Karanjou.
Dive 4: Toatelave Island.
Small island near Bili passage and Minjanga Island. Relatively poor visibility (~10 -15 m). Nevertheless, sheer vertical wall dropping off into the abyss is impressive! We go deep (~34m) where an inquisitive grey reef shark cones in and hangs around for 2-3 min. Wall is full of massive gorgonians and sea fans, as big as tables. Many schools of bumphead parrotfish. As we are ending dive, buddy and I are ahead in ~7m of water when I look up at reef crest and see a sicklefin lemon shark that slowly swims away towards the shore – that was a fantastic treat!
....
I had the privilege of traveling to the Solomon Islands in late May and early June of last year as a guest with Solomon Island Dive Expeditions (SIDE) aboard the MV Solomon Star. My friend and I both traveled from Canada. We were extremely lucky to find out, as we were picked up prior to boarding the ship in Honiara, that we were going to be sharing this trip with 2 other guests and a crew of 6! That SIDE agrees to run their trips when even just a single passenger is booked demonstrates their dedication - many thanks! A more detailed review of my experience with SIDE is provided at the end of this post.
THE DIVING
Overall, my 10-day trip in the Solomon Islands was marvelous because the diving was so varied. My impression is that, as far as tropical locations go, the Solomon Islands are going to be hard to top because of the variety of marine life (corals, other invertebrates and fishes), the variety of dive sites (shallow protected, exposed with current), the variety of underwater topography (walls, gental coral slopes, swim-throughs, cuts, caves, sandy slopes etc...), the WWII wrecks and, of course, the relatively pristine state of the marine environments and the remoteness of dive sites. Here is log of the notes I took about the diving during the trip.
27/05/2015 - Florida Islands
Dive 1: Ghavutu Island Wharf
Dive 2: Ghavutu Island Wharf, saw large cuttlefish, brilliant headshield
Dive 3: Ghavutu Island Japanese plane wreck (no dive - difficulty equalizing)
visit Tulagi
28/05/2015 – northern Florida Islands
Dive 1: Maravagi village, Maganlonga island reef
Early dive at around 6h30. Down to 18 - 20m beautiful reef, large field of cabbage coral. Even more pretty shallow. Lionfish, anemone clownfish (several spp.).
Dive 2: Maravagi village, Maganlonga island reef
Same site. Stayed shallower with buddy. Beautiful and sun shining through.
Dive 3: Devil's Highway, Mangalonga Island
Strong current, saw 4 - 5 manta rays (one about 6 m wingspan), one bumphead parrotfish, one blacktip reef shark
Dive 4: Baby Cakes, Bokonimbeti Island
Open and exposed reef. Slight current. Three grey reef sharks at about 27 – 30m depth on edge of reef. Two broadclub cuttlefish and one very large green turtle. Beautiful and massive gorgonians. Large coral colonies.
Dive 5: Baby Cakes, Bokonimbeti Island
Dusk dive. Current stronger now. Lionfish, crinoids.
29/05/2015 - Russell Islands
Dive 1: White Beach, Banika Island channel between Banika and Hae Island
I could not equalize...no dive
Dive 2: White Beach, Banika Island channel between Banika and Hae Island
US army dump site from WW2. Many tires, ammunition, trucks. All mostly rusted, degraded and overgrown with coral. Many lionfish and pipefish. Beautiful large coral colonies along steep slope. Down to ~35m. Headed north along wall.
Dive 3: White Beach, Banika Island channel between Banika and Hae Island
Dive with buddy. Stayed much shallower. Headed south this time.
Dive 4: White Beach, Banika Island channel between Banika and Hae Island.
Dive with buddy and another guest. Mostly stayed with buddy since other guest was off on his own taking pictures. Had to abort dive early and ended up taking a dump in 10ft of water near shoreline with children playing on shore – yikes!
Marvelous crossing through the maze of islands and reefs that make up the northern Russells. The coastline is largely exposed old reefal limestone and is undercut and ripe with caves. As a good omen, a pod of bottlenose dolphins come from offshore to ride the ship's bow wave. As we enter the passage between Marulaon Island and Leru Island, a magical wave of floral aroma washes over the ship. We arrive in Kafoleon Bay at Mane Island just as dusk sets in. The boat backs the stern in 20m from undercut coral cliffs. Jungle biophony in full gear with birds, frogs and bats calling.
Dive 5: Night dive at Mane coral gardens and bommies in Kafoleon Bay. Fantastic! Marvellous hard coral. Parrotfish, buddy found a beautiful Papuan Scorpionfish. Ended dive in the beautiful shallow at the island's rock wall. Wow!
30/05/2015 - Russell Islands
Dive 1: Same site as night dive (Kafoleon Bay) Dive solo with buddy.
Nice coral gardens, water very clear. Shy octopus in a crevice changing colors.
Dive 2: Mirror Pond at north side of Mane Island.
Incredible dive with 35m visibility. The Shallow hard coral gardens we passed through were spectacular. They were almost completely covered in live coral. Entering passage through to Mirror pond was surreal with light shaft beaming down from above. Exited and swam through shallow coral gardens again before exiting on beautiful reef wall dropping off into oblivion. Coral gardens were utterly marvellous!
Dive 3: Leru Cut, northwest side of Leru Island.
What a site for my 100th dive! Beautiful and ethereal penetration into a narrow cut/chasm that extends about 30m into jungle. Buddy stayed at the surface while I stayed at the sandy bottom around 14m. Chasm was about 2.5 - 3m wide. Exited on reef wall. Beautiful soft coral of all sorts.
Dive 4: Bat Cave, north side of Marulaon Island.
Sat this dive out and decided to nap instead after a persistent headache. Slept about 2 hours. Felt rejuvenated after that!
Dive 5: Custom Cave, off a northwest section Pavuvu Island.
Late day dive with buddy and cruise director. Swim through to wall and directly into opening descending to about 15m where we penetrate into the cave. Overhead environment for a short distance. Buddy and I surface to the mangroves and slow surge pouring in. While at the surface of this hidden pond, I take a moment to listen to the waves in the background and the noises of the jungle that surrounds – this place is a world away from everything. Descend again and spend about a half hour in the cave looking for cometfish and other critters before exiting onto wall. Several jacks and snappers patrolling.
31/05/2015 - Southeast Marovo
Crossing to Borokua (Mary) Island overnight was much rougher than expected. We arrived at Borokua (Mary Island) around 5 30 AM but the dive sites were not diveable. Plan B: off to Marovo. 5 hours later and with 2m swells out of the south we arrive at Gatokae Island.
Dive 1: Northwest tip of Bulo Island.
Beautiful high limestone cliff Island. Narrow reef dropping of steeply. Crystal clear water with visibility at least 35 - 40 m. Fabulous hard corals and spur and groove formations. A few bumphead parrotfish. Wow!!!
Dive 2: North side of Malemale Island.
Nice small low island with palm trees lining beach. Upon entering we see a turtle, bumphead parrotfish and two black tips and an inquisitive young grey reef shark that stuck around for 4 min. More bumphead parrotfish, several whitetip reef sharks and blacktip reef sharks.
Dive 3: Lagoon Peava village
Nice, calm and long shallow night dive looking for critters. Stayed between 3 and 5 m. Robust ghost pipefish, many bobbit worms, lionfish, shrimp.
01/06/2015 - Southeast Marovo
Dive 1: Kavachi Corner, northeast Kicha Island
Crossing back over to Kicha was still rough but calmer than the day before. This was an electric and most incredible dive. Early morning drop in and the volcano is rumbling, thumping and pounding throughout the dive as if a soundtrack backdrop to an eerie movie. Every once in a while there is a very loud crackle followed by a massive low pitch thump. Wow!!!!! An inquisitive grey reef shark comes right at us early on. Several more come in at a distance throughout the course of the dive. Large schools of fish and many pelagic species all over the place: big eye barracuda, greater barracuda, jacks, schools of bumphead parrotfish. Wow dive!!!!!
Dive 2: Bulo Cathedrals, north side Bulo Island.
Great visibility (~35-40m) Drop in at wall, shallow areas covered in beautiful coral. Structure and coral make the place look like a magical playground – unbelievable! Many swim-throughs and caverns. One area covered in thicket of delicate branching Acropora coral. Finally reach cavern leading to cathedrals. Opening is magical with light shafts beaming down from multiple areas. Wow! I say, but really, it is hard to fully convey the beauty in my post.
Dive 3: Lagoon reef in between Big and little Karanjou islands.
As soon as we anchor blacktips are cruising below the boat. Buddy and I enter the water but the sharks quickly disperse. We head down to the reef and a few sharks swim along the wall but at a distance. We dive along the reef. Good visibility (~25m) and nice shallow coral. We closely approach a cuttlefish in the shallow and surface shortly after where I take some over-under shots. Back at boat, about ten blacktip reef sharks are circling and pass close by. I take a bunch of photos. Some commercial logging going on on Karanjou.
Dive 4: Toatelave Island.
Small island near Bili passage and Minjanga Island. Relatively poor visibility (~10 -15 m). Nevertheless, sheer vertical wall dropping off into the abyss is impressive! We go deep (~34m) where an inquisitive grey reef shark cones in and hangs around for 2-3 min. Wall is full of massive gorgonians and sea fans, as big as tables. Many schools of bumphead parrotfish. As we are ending dive, buddy and I are ahead in ~7m of water when I look up at reef crest and see a sicklefin lemon shark that slowly swims away towards the shore – that was a fantastic treat!
....
