Experiencing the Solomon Islands a Scuba Diving Trip Aboard the Bilikiki Beginning in the Solomon’s

Eric Keibler   Sep 30, 2013

Beginning in the Solomon’s

               Photo by James Burton

Let’s just get this over with at the beginning.  The Bilikiki is an old vessel that is not as well appointed as many other modern live aboard diving and touring vessels.  The dining area has plastic lawn chairs and the tables are simple.  The main salon is not air conditioned and there is no wet head on the dive deck.  But, the crew on this vessel is second to none.  The newest member of the crew has only been on the vessel for two years but spent seven years on the Spirit of the Solomon’s, the sister ship to the Bilikiki.  Most of the remaining crew members have been with the vessel for more than seven to twenty-years.  The on-board diving managers have been here a year and come from extensive ship management in the Red Sea.  Needless to say, they all know how to make your life aboard special!

 

Evan, the shore based manager met us at the airport and like the crew on board the boat, Evan has been a part of the operation for a long time (I can attest that he was here in 2006 when we last visited the Bilikki.)  Amazingly, all of our luggage arrived with us and we were promptly taken to the Kitana Medano Hotel to wait for our time to board.  To capitalize on our available time, Ann had arranged for a tour of Honiara and some of the sights that made Guadalcanal such a memorable location in World War II. There is a beautiful tribute to the men who died in the Pacific defending our

 freedom and bringing it to others.  This war memorial sits atop a hill above Henderson field and has multiple marble carvings highlighting the battles in this region of the Pacific.  So many men died here that the locals are still finding mess kits and other personal items scattered throughout the jungle.

The ships scattered on the bottom of Iron Bottom Sound even now contain the remains of American, Australian, British and Japanese sailors.  The majority of these wrecks lie well beyond the range of recreational scuba divers in over 240 feet of water.

Our tour also encompassed Henderson field (we landed here), the river near Red Beach, and a stop at the statue of  Sir Jacob Vouza, the Solomon Islander who alerted the allies to the advancing Japanese troops despite being tortured, stabbed and left

for dead.  He survived, was Knighted by the Queen of England and even renamed his village to California so he could tell his friends in America that he was in California.

As our tour ended, our diving adventure was about to begin.  Csaba, on of the on-board boat managers met us at the hotel and transported us to the Honiara Yacht Club – a stuffy name for a simple location with small boats and a nice bar.  Here we joined our luggage which had already been loaded by the crew.  We were met by Daniela, the lively Venezuelan on-board manager.  She is also married to Csaba and no, he is not from Venezuela but rather hails from Hungry and Eastern Europe.

          Photo by James Burton

The first day on a live aboard is always busy with everyone scurrying around trying to assemble their dive equipment which is scattered around various bags necessitated by the airline luggage rules.  Only after everything is reassembled, tested and stored is there time to relax.

It was soon after dinner that the boat set sail for the beginning of our ten-day cruise through the Solomon Islands.

The adventure continues…