From: jnickel@netcom.com (John Nickel)
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
Subject: Re: Has anyone dived the Solomon's
Date: 31 Aug 92 20:21:19 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)

npatten@nz.oracle.com ("Nick Patten") writes:

>Hi dudes/dudesses..

>I am diving the Solomon's (just East of Papua new Guinea) next month and was
>wondering whether anybody has done any diving there. I'd be most interested to
>hear your comments as there's not much info about this beautiful diving area.
>I'm particularly interested in Honiara (the capital) & 'Gizo' & also Uepi.

>I'll be sure to fill the rest of you in on what the diving's actually like
>there when I return. BTW, its a pretty cheap place to stay, as its not as
>touristy as Fiji etc....

>Cheers & Thankx in advance
>Nick



>*****************************************************************
>*  Nick Patten			unixgate:npatten@nz.oracle.com  *
>*****************************************************************
Yes, a group of us chartered the Bilikiki in August of 1991 for 7 days.  We dove
the Russells, and New Georgia groups.  We did not dive Honiara.  The diving is
with out doubt some of the best you will ever experiance.  The dives are mostly
dirfts along the vertical (sometimes slightly undercut) islands.  The walls all
start **at the surface** and continue down.  The diving is extremely virgin.
We dove one location that had never been dove before.  What to expect:
-- Lots of soft coral
-- Lots of small tridacna clams
-- Lots and Lots and Lots of small reef fish
   ( some of the cleaners will try and remove your hair from legs and arms as
   parasites!!)
-- Bump head parrot fish
-- We dove with a school of several thousand baracuda of a small island called
   Mary Island.
-- We saw sharks at every dive.  Most small reefs about 3-5 feet in length.
-- Manta rays were seen once.
-- On a night dive a group of us were stunned when a cuttle fish we were all
   watching killed an ate a soldier fish.
   It happened so quick none of us were sure we even saw it until we started
   comparing notes after the dive.
-- We saw quite a few turtles.  about every other dive.
-- On hawkfish wall we saw lots of the longnosed hawkfish hiding among the
   branches of large black coral trees.
-- Lots of nudibranches of verous types.
-- Several moray eels.
-- The hard and soft coral gardens were absoulatly incredable.
-- One dive in the Russell group was through a narrow channel into the island
   about 20 yards where you entered a hole about 20 feet across that was open
   to the sky, and had jungle surrounding it.  That was a great dive.

Water temperature was 83F, most of us wore some sort of 1/8" suit.  Some opted
for just their swimming suit.  I wore a shorty the entire trip and was fine.
The visiability was usually 100+.  Only one dive on an exposed pinnicale was
really dirty 50+ (a fantastic day in Monterey).  If you are going it is well
worth your time to try and get on a charter with the Bilikiki.  They do it right
You get up have breakfast, dive, treat, dive, lunch, dive, treat, dive, dinner,
dive, sleep, repeat until money runs out!  The boat is excellent.  So much so in
fact that we are returning in August of 1993 for a 10 night charter, with two
days of diving in Honiara.

  We did not dive there, but we studied up on it.  Most of the diving there is
on a couple of Japanese wrecks for WWII.  Their bows are on the surface and 
their sterns are at 200+ feet. (Get the idea of steep walls!)  Also there is a
B-17 in about 60 feet that is supposed to be in good condition.  There is also a
Japaneses Sub that is divable, althoght Rick Belmare (owner of Island Dive 
Services, and the Bilikiki) says that it is perty broken up after the salvage
attempts on it.  It is a must to take the tours on Guadalcannel to some of the
WWII battle fields.  This area has tremendous historical significance.

  We also looked into Gizo, Upi and decided that they were probaly great resorts
but, not the best way to dive the Solomons.  The only place that might be better
is if there is a dive service in the Flordia group.  There are several wrecks
there from WWII that are a lot shallower to dive on.

  We are decided that diving the Solomons was like combining the best dive sites
with some of the other great features like really freindly people, great dive
services, one of the worlds best live aboard vessels for diving, and an as yet
still untouched dive destination.

John Nickel
jnickel@netcom.com  or john_nickel@aplidbio.com
Remember Sharks are just tasting you.
Take pictures, take memories, but don't take advantage of our oceans.