DIVING … STUNNING & REMOTE
Dive the Solomons aboard the Bilikiki
14 glorious days of diverse diving
Your desire is to “get away from it all” ? We can’t imagine a more perfect choice than the Bilikiki in the Solomon Islands. You will find exceptional dive sites wherever you go. Diving in the Solomons is pristine thanks to the limited number tourists, dive liveaboards & resorts.
ICONIC SITES …. DIVERSE DIVING
Your 14-night odyssey will include the most iconic Solomon regions – Guadalcanal , Mary Island, Marovo Lagoon, and the Florida Islands & Russell Islands. Even if you’re a repeat client on the Bilikiki, you are likely to dive few, if any, of the same sites you dived before. The crew makes a conscious effort to rotate the most popular sites and to explore new sites …. to help to minimize the impact of diving on the corals and the animals.
Dive sites will include cuts, caves, tunnels, seamounts, coral gardens & walls, dramatic drop offs, “muck” dives, ship wrecks, plane wrecks and some crazy currents.
It’s common to experience encounters with mantas, eagle rays, mobula rays, five different types of sharks (black tip, white tip, grey reef, silver tip, leopard sharks … and the occasional hammerhead). Recently, divers have been graced with stunning displays by sailfish!
Ever-present are the huge schools of jacks and barracudas while critter fans are pretty well guaranteed nudibranchs, gobies, mantis shrimps, jaw fish, pygmy pipefish and pygmy seahorses. You’ll see huge turtles and those crazy-looking bumphead parrotfish.
Nowhere on the planet can you find coral gardens more spectacular and untouched, nor healthier fan-covered walls.
On your night dives, keep your eyes peeled for weird and wonderful critters including banded sole, leaf scorpionfish, cuttlefish, spearing mantis shrimps, murex shells, ghost pipefish, giant night nudis (Asteronotus cespitosus), sleeping parrotfish … and lots more!
WWII TREASURES & VILLAGE VISITS
Of course, nearly every diver in the Solomons wants at least a taste of the very moving remnants of WWII such as the impressive Maru 2 and the Japanese Mavis seaplane … and the Bilikiki crew will make every effort to ensure that wreck junkies get what they are seeking. Please note, however, that the vast majority of the wrecks are below safe diving levels so set your expectations accordingly.
The land tours which are included in your cruise are a great opportunity to find unique gifts (for yourself or others) in the wood carving markets of Marovo Lagoon and village visits … where you’ll usually be treated to an outstanding performance of the villagers playing their pan pipes and singing and dancing for you!
INIMITABLE BILIKIKI
The Bilikiki was a very early “luxury” liveaboard … and she has maintained her original charm. In other words, she isn’t a luxury liveaboard by today’s standards. She’s a diver’s dive boat … and a grand old dame of the seas. She works for and with you, the diver. She’s comfortable, sturdy and has all that the intrepid diver needs… including great food. No Jacuzzi … no marble in the en-suite facilities ….. no disco with whirling colored lights!
What she has is diving that ranks amongst the finest on earth …. a crew that loves to make divers happy …. and the stunning ambiance of South Pacific Islands !
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Bilikiki Cruises has a superb reputation for environmentally sound diving practices and for ensuring that the local people benefit from the business. One of their projects is to distribute seeds which the local villagers plant, selling the fresh fruit & vegetables they produce back to the boat for fresh, healthy meals. This also helps the local people to have a more varied diet.
Bilikiki is also involved in annual medical trips with the Loloma Foundation who provide nurses, doctors, dentists and supplies so that Bilikiki can be turned into a floating hospital for a week or two.
And very importantly, Bilikiki pays the local chiefs to dive the reefs. Paying to dive means that Bilikiki is always welcome and provides incentives for reef owners to protect their reefs as much as possible. As frosting on the cake, you’ll be treated to village visits to observe traditional singing and dancing and to purchase & bring home some of the beyond incredible wood carvings so intrinsic to the Solomon Islands.
RATES, WHAT’S INCLUDED, WHAT’S EXTRA
{slider See the dates rates, what’s included & what’s extra …… |dest|closed}
Dates:
Next available 14-night trips
December 2023
September & December 2024
Search for Spaces
Rate:
$8880 + tax 2023
$9100 + tax 2024
Included
- transfers to and from Honiara hotel or airport
- 14 nights accommodation
- all meals & snacks, water, tea and coffee
- weights and belt, tanks and air fills
- unlimited diving (4 dives per day + night dive)
Extras
- nitrox
- taxes
- gear hire
- alcoholic drinks {/sliders}