July 13-23, 2024 Trip Report
Another 10 day trip has come to an end with 20 guests onboard, some of whom had already been with us several years ago, it was very nice to see so many familiar faces! Our trip was blessed with fantastic weather conditions and beautiful dives.
In the Russells, Leru Cut and Mirror Pond fascinated our divers with a stunning array of light beams breaking into the water, providing an unforgettable experience, only topped by sightings of a big banded seakrate hunting in the reef. The small reef critters fascinated our divers too, namely the beautifully coloured coral hermit crabs, nudibranchs, orangutang and soft coral crabs, sarasvati shrimps, banded pipefish, and many more too.
A definite highlight, and a first time experience for most of our divers, came with the underwater volcano Kavachi rumbling loudly throughout our day at Mary Island, leaving the schools of barracudas and big eye jacks unimpressed by the noise! At Wickham Island we spotted some Denise's pygmy seahorses and ghost pipefish, a total delight to see! Equally impressive was the presence of the flashlight fish during a night dive in Mbulo, a first for many of our guests too! However, nothing was more thrilling than the unexpected sighting of a saltwater crocodile resting on the bottom during one of our dives in Marovo Lagoon - our guests did not stop chatting about this encounter! There were so many beautiful moments above and below the waves, too numerous to mention!
Of course, many souvenirs were purchased at the carving markets in Marovo Lagoon as a beautiful reminder of a great trip.
Finally, in the Floridas we certainly created lasting memories with our fast speed drift dive on Devil's Highway, where the mantas came flying over our heads in a ripping current - absolutely stunning!! A definite dive of a lifetime, which will not be forgotten! We finished our trip with a day's diving back in history, visiting the wrecks in Tulagi harbor, the Japanese Mavis seaplane, and the remnants of WW2 at Ghavutu.
A huge thank you goes to our dear guests, Ken Kollwitz, his wife Tessie, and their group for revisiting us again here in the Solomon Island. Together with some new diver friends too, everyone had a great time! Thank you all for coming to dive with us!
Of course our heartfelt thanks go out to our incredible Bilikiki crew for their continuous hard work once again to make it all happen - tagio tumas!
We're looking forward to the next round with all of you.
Best fishes,
Tina and Oli