Bilikiki has just returned from another 14 day trip! This trip we had onboard a group of 14 snorkelers lead by the great Ethan Daniels and Lee Goldman, founders of Coral Triangle Adventures. So this trip was all about snorkeling and it was just as amazing as our diving trips or our whales watching trips are.
Snorkeling with the Coral Triangle Adventures was a real delight! Everyday we had long snorkeling sessions in the morning and afternoon giving us the opportunity to explore these beautiful islands' reefs and marine life (in all its forms!) During these two weeks we had the chance to snorkel and experience different marine environments, going from coral reefs to sandy habitats to mangroves, we even snorkelled into Leru Cut! We witnessed an incredible amount of vibrant marine life, big and small!
We don't think any of our guests are going to be able to forget any time soon all our encounters: so many different damsel fish, butterfly fish, angelfish, trigger fish, juvenile rock mover wrasse, juvenile midnight snappers, dragonets, puffer fish, scribble filefish, the 9 different spices of anemone fish that live here in the Solomon Islands (including the endemic (sort of) white bonnet and very angry panda), the balls of silver fish, the juvenile barramundi, the sea horses, the spiny devil fish, the moray eels, the flatworms, the sea snakes, the pipe fish, the nudis, the lobsters, the giant clams, the octopus, cuttlefish, squids, black tip reef sharks and even mobula rays...! And together with all of that, the incredible biodiversity the Solomon's Islands, as part of the Coral Triangle, have to offer when it comes to corals, so many different species of hard and soft corals. And we’d better not forget all the sponges and tunicates too! Wow! honestly, It has been mind blowing!
We were also very lucky with cetaceans when we spotted some pods of Risso's dolphins around Mary Island, and also spinner dolphins later. We even got to spend 20 or 30 minutes on a couple of afternoons with the rare Omura' s whale, it was feeding and checking us out! What a privilege!!
The presentations that Ethan and Lee gave in the evening were really interesting and very helpful in learning and understanding more about these incredible coral reefs and marine biodiversity in general. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge with all of us. We are very happy to have learnt so many new things this trip!
Our guests also enjoyed Karumolun village visit, with their traditional dancing, singing and their magical pipe show. And of course the floating markets were, as always, one of the favourite moments of the day!
Thank you very much Ethan and Lee from Coral Triangle Adventures, and all the guests, for these amazing days, we really enjoyed having you onboard and we are hoping we will be seeing you again soon!
Big thanks, as always to our crew, for their hard work, enthusiasm and kindness!
Happy Bubbles
Pato&Fernando

Photos by Pato & Fernando