Dive Review of Bilikiki Cruises in
Solomon Islands

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Bilikiki Cruises: "Great Diving in the South Pacific", Jul, 2016, by Thomas W. Doeppner Jr., RI, US ( Reviewer 5 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 9108 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was my fourth trip to the Solomons, the third on the Bilikiki (I went once on the Spirit of the Solomons, run by the same company). Ownership had changed hands since my previous trip in 2003, but it was still a very well run liveaboard. This was the managers' next to last cruise; the next managing couple were on the cruise as well. Thus we had four very helpful managers. Diving is mainly from "tinnies", small boats that took you on what were always very short rides to the dive sites. There were always at least two dive guides in the water, often four. If you wanted to dive with them, that was fine -- they showed you great stuff. If you wanted to dive on your own, that was fine as well. When you finished a dive, you simply surfaced, and a tinnie would soon be there to pick you up (the drivers were really good at tracking bubbles). There were 15 or so crew members and, regardless of their nominal function of boat captain, kitchen helper, etc., they all helped out in getting divers into and out of the water -- amazingly good organization. While there is better macro diving elsewhere, better tropical fish elsewhere, better pelagics elsewhere, etc., they all seem to exist in the Solomons. It's a good place to see a little of everthing (including saltwater crocodiles, which we didn't see, but the previous group did). My favorite site was White Beach, where in the shallows are archer fish and cardinal fish, with signal gobies, and shrimp/goby pairs in the sand, and octopuses at night. On Mary Island were bumphead parrotfish and rivers of jacks. We saw broadclub cuttlefish at many sites. We encountered two different species of pygmy seahorses. I was a bit disappointed at the dearth of nudibranchs (I'd remembered more on previous trips), but we encountered a fair number on the last two days. Food was plentiful and healthy, but a bit bland. I've been on boats that have had (much appreciated) espresso machines. On this boat, I decided I'd rather drink tea than their coffee. Beer, wine, and soda were available, but one had to pay extra for them. They rinsed AND DRIED everyone's gear at the end of the trip.
Websites	Bilikiki Cruises
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	all over
Closest Airport	Honiara	Getting There	Using my frequent flyer miles, I flew to Sydney, Brisbane, then Honiara
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	82-85°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	50-70 Ft/ 15-21 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	No real restrictions, other than the admonition that the nearest chamber was a long ways away
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish	N/A
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 boat caters to UWPs. The large central table on the dive deck is reserved for cameras. The experienced crew rinsed your camera and carried it to and from the tinnies. If you needed to work on your camera, there were tables indoors available. There was a separate room on the upper deck for charging batteries.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Bilikiki Cruises in Solomon Islands

Bilikiki Cruises: "Great Diving in the South Pacific", Jul, 2016,

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