Solomon Islands -
Rescheduling Done - spots available
Nils needs your input - please
Bilikiki Liveaboard – Jul 24 - August 3, 2024
The Solomon Islands is an interesting tropical destination inside the Triangle of Diversity. Biodiversity example – they have 50 species of seahorses. Solomon is located south of Equator, closer to PNG than to Fiji. The latitude is very similar to Micronesia. This is in more ways than one a “trip of a lifetime” Our club in our 50 year history has never been there. And if you look at a list of places that might not be here in another 100 years due to sea level raising Solomon is on top of that list! Solomon Islands are the third largest group of islands in the Pacific. We are going there in the dry season – for visibility. This is the 4th dates for this trip – at long last the Solomons are open post Covid-19
Solomon Islands have half a million citizen – only 1-2% speaks English. Many of them “don’t care for cash” – as it is a two-day canoe trip to get to a place to spend money!
The diving is diverse: Plenty of soft coral like Fiji and PNG, hard coral like Kosrae and Kadavu (Fiji), big animals: Mantas, Sharks, Bump head Parrotfish, Napoleons, Turtles, Cuddle Fish, gigantic schools of Jack and Barracudas. There is also plenty of small stuff: Ghost Pipefish, Nudibranchs, and Pygmy Seahorses and of course “
There are two lagoons Marovo Lagoon and “Ironbottom Sound” with 90 ship wrecks from World War II – similar to Truck Lagoon – but smaller and less visited.
Getting there: Just like Fiji – with a “puddle jump” at the end. We start from home on Sunday 7/21 from FLL (or MIA) to Los Angeles (LAX) and continue later the same day to Nadi, Fiji, and on to Solomon the next day*. Airfare is not included at this time – too early to quote. Business upgrade is available – but expensive. We spend a day in Raffles airport hotel. We fly to Solomon early afternoon and board the boat around 4 pm. We have 10 nights on the boat with 8 ½ days of diving. We fly out Saturday afternoon; connect via Nadi, back in LAX at noon – also Saturday, overnight in an airport hotel and fly back - next morning - to avoid the Red-Eye option and back in S Florida Sunday. See below for other travelling options/extensions*
Details – Bilikiki is the oldest and most experienced live aboard in Solomon with the most experienced sailors…
- 10 nights on the boat – double occupancy
- 8 full days of diving, morning dives last day – night dives when conditions allow
- All taxes and tips included
- All ground transfers
Not Included:
- Airfare: LAX-NAD(Fiji)-HIR(Solomon) (Solomon-PNG) [ticketing window is now open - and the PNG extension is at risk of selling out fast]
- Raffles(Fiji) one night needed [PS: not needed if you include a land based Fiji stop]
- Nitrox
- Fuel surcharge? (being checked)
- Airfare MIA<->LAX
Use this schedule for new signups only – if you did sign up for the 2021/22 dates and made payments – I will give you a customized/personal payment schedule
At this time all sign ups are on first come basis. – Spots are not guaranteed (the boat is allowed to sell to other divers) – please send your sign-up form and deposit ASAP…
As always, when you sign up for a trip, please consider trip insurance. I have a detailed write-up on insurance principles that I can share if needed?
Links:
https://www.bilikiki.com/ at the bottom of the homepage – there is a sign up for their Newsletter. Be sure to check out the picture gallery
Solomon Islands Tourist site https://www.visitsolomons.com.sb/
https://xray-mag.com/pdfs/xray14/X-Ray14_iBook.pdf
Download the full magazine (iPad format) or at least section (pg 85-93)
https://xray-mag.com/pdfs/xray33/X-Ray33_iBook_locked.pdf
Download the full magazine (iPad format) or at least section (pg 22-35)
https://xray-mag.com/pdfs/xray58/X-Ray58_iBook_locked.pdf
Download the full magazine (iPad format) or at least section (pg 50-58)
Full size laptop or tablet recommended (all 3 X-ray articles)
Questions? Contact VP of Overseas Diving Nils by e-mail. overseasdiving@usadiveclub.com
*Other options for airfare – you can do your own and add stop(s) as you please – we did that on the first two Micronesia trips and also for the 2015 Fiji trip. At 
this time Qantas and United both fly to Solomon via Brisbane (BNE) – but the prices are not competitive… We might not have enough people for a group airfare – please be prepared to pay airfare in full in the next 3 months [PS the early payment schedule is “padded” in preparation for this option] – but I recommend that you let our Fiji agent do your bookings from LAX onwards (both in 2020 and 2022 we suffered Covid-19 induced rescheduling’s – and it all went well – and for free – as our agent works well with Fiji Air…
Optional extensions:
- Inbound – any land based Fiji Resort (and hence no layover day at Raffles is needed)
- Homebound – instead of going back to Fiji – we go to Port Moresby – and on to a land based resort for 7 or 10 days of stay and diving. If you sign up fast you will be part of that decision…
- https://walindiresort.com/
- https://www.tawali.com/
I have some draft airfare schedules and calendars to share – just let me know …
VP Overseas diving
Nils Jacobsen - overseasdiving@usadiveclub.com
Click here to see full details of the trip. - updated recently (Aug)
Click here to download the signup form. - updated recently (Aug)
