On our latest Bilikiki trip (September 10-23, 2023) we were lucky enough to be joined by a group from Under Exposures led by the fantastic Erin Quigley of Go Ask Erin fame. The lovely group of guests came from Scotland, England, the USA, Canada and Australia and we all had a great time.
The water was warm and the visibility was great (most of the time) and that led to a lot of long dives and wonderful wide angle shots. The beautiful reefs of the Solomons kept everyone busy with all the amazing hard coral, soft coral, fans, fish and general abundance of life! I will let the photos do the talking.
We did see a whole bunch of things though including sharks, rays, hunting tunas, big schools of all kinds of fish and 12 lobsters under a rock! There was also a very welcome return of the mantas to Devil’s Highway! With the focus on wide angle we probably didn’t see as much macro as normal but we still saw some of my favourites like hairy squat lobsters, coral hermit crabs, cuttlefish, flame angels and squid.
I did miss the gilded triggerfish but saw loads and loads of red tooth triggerfish which are much better anyway. One thing that wasn’t spotted was a green flash but I am assured they do exist.
We visited Roderick Bay to see the local village perform their traditional singing, dancing and wonderful panpipe music. It is a beautiful village made even more interesting by the giant ship wreck of the World Discoverer laying on the beach.
A big thank you to all the crew and Pato and Fernando, all of who were as great as always! The office staff also deserve a big round of applause for all the hard work they do in the back ground.
I hope we see everyone that joined us on this trip back soon, I know I can’t wait to get back again!
Sam
Photos thanks to Erin Quigley.