Dive Review of Bilikiki Cruises in
Solomon Islands/Russell Islands, Mary Island,

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Bilikiki Cruises, Nov, 2006, by Janet & Bob Czapski, MI, USA ( Contributor 14 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 3503.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The boat is an older boat with some unique features. Those who have difficulties with stairs, high steps in doorways, step-downs from cabins into hallways will not enjoy this boat. The cabins were clean, bathrooms were tiny but adequate. Noise travels very easily on the cabin deck level. Food was mediocre at best. We did 4 liveaboards back-to-back on this trip and we rated this food the poorest. Breakfasts were never hot, food selections were extremely limited. The fruits, however, were the best and most plentiful we've ever seen. The crew did the best they could with the ingredients on hand. The crew itself was extremely competent but very, very shy. They were NOT introduced to the group upon arrival, but thankfully they wear their names on their shirts so you could address them by name! Once you called them by name, they were a little more outgoing. The strength of the crew members is incredible! It was nothing for one of them to pick up two sets of gear and carry it easily into the tinnies! The tinny drivers were extremely competent in handling cameras & dive gear prior to boarding via the small ladder at the rear of the tinny. We did a few dives directly off the back of the Bilikiki and thoroughly enjoyed those also. We felt that this was the least "guided" diving that we've ever done on a liveaboard in an "exotic location". If you were not familiar with the marine animals in that part of the world, it would be easy to miss things. One of the two cruise directors was in the water for every dive but they didn't seem to go out of their way to point things out. We didn't have a full charter so there were less divers than usual. If you were on a full boat, it would be very difficult to observe some of the unique critters with this type of guiding. None of the "local" crew were used as dive guides and most were not even certified divers. We loved our village visits and visited three carving villages during the 10 day trip. We also were taken to a lovely village that performed a fantastic "sing sing" for us. The musicians used PVC piping of various lengths/diameters to produce incredible music! The Solomon Islands wood carvers are among the world's best. I contacted the owners of Bilikiki Cruises with my concerns/comments upon return from the 6 week adventure and addressed all of the above issues with them. Their reaction was "well, everyone else loves us" so I feel that our concerns were totally dismissed. I felt like since we had done 4 "world-class" liveaboards back to back, giving them an update of the comparisons would be of value to them...apparently not.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Thailand, Fiji, Bali-Komodo, Raja Ampat, Malaysia, Caribbean
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, surge, currents, noCurrents
Water Temp	82-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	75-100 Ft/ 23-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	No restrictions
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	The crew handled cameras wonderfully. They had a large camera table for storing cameras during the day on the back deck. The camera rinse tank was good. They do, however, move the cameras into the salon floor during transits and small baskets were provided each diver for lens, batteries, etc which were kept in the salon, not on the camera table. The charging area was in a nice room, but it was on the top deck, so lots of moving about was necessary for camera set-up changes. That was inconvenient.

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Diving Guide to Solomon Islands
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Dive Review of Bilikiki Cruises in Solomon Islands/Russell Islands, Mary Island,

Bilikiki Cruises, Nov, 2006,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Bilikiki Cruises in
Solomon Islands/Russell Islands, Mary Island,