Honiara - Solomon Islands

Gl1tchie

Gl1tchie

New Member
Hi all,
My partner and I are just starting to plan a trip to Honiara - Solomon Islands and I was wondering if anyone here has been and could share recent experiences?
I am planning to dive with Tulagi Dive.
I'm having a bit of trouble finding nice accommodation that doesn't cost too much. It seems there are quite a lot of bad reviews on Trip Advisor for most places. I am leaning more towards finding something on AirBnB.
Has anyone stayed in Honiara recently? Did you find good accom?
We are planning to go in November, apparently the start of the wet season, does this effect the diving at all?

Thanks heaps,
Dan
 
Gl1tchie said:
Hi all,
My partner and I are just starting to plan a trip to Honiara - Solomon Islands and I was wondering if anyone here has been and could share recent experiences?
I am planning to dive with Tulagi Dive.
I'm having a bit of trouble finding nice accommodation that doesn't cost too much. It seems there are quite a lot of bad reviews on Trip Advisor for most places. I am leaning more towards finding something on AirBnB.
Has anyone stayed in Honiara recently? Did you find good accom?
We are planning to go in November, apparently the start of the wet season, does this effect the diving at all?

Thanks heaps,
Dan
Click to expand...

I returned from a year in the Solomons last September.

Decent accommodation in Honiara is expensive. Look at liveaboard options for part of your trip as you will get a wider range of diving for a similar price to accommodation + shore/boat dives through Tulagi Dive.

I didn't really notice a huge variation in visibility in the wet/dry seasons, but when I was there the wet season wasn't very wet.
 
Do not use Solomon Island Dive Expeditions (SIDE) - awful just awful. the local staff were/are magic but the white guys are total crap, lazy white trash !

regards Baz .... PS watch out for the reef tax - yet another rip off
 
bazSXD said:
.... PS watch out for the reef tax - yet another rip off
Click to expand...

As I understand it the reef tax is imposed by the local landowners whose domain extends from the shoreline of their property to the distance they can canoe in a day. It may be a rip-off but you can't blame the dive op as they have to pay it.
 
Mate .... if you believe that then I have a secondhand Harbour Bridge in good nick to sale you, it should just reach Vancouver Island.

I have absolutely no problems with a "reef tax" as such but we were stung US$25 per day per person and never dived a single reef. The thread is about diving out in the Solomon's so I don't want to high jack it but I gave an account about MV Taka and SIDE and this is a follow on regarding their piss poor service. The white crew took over Oz$2000 off us in the form of a reef taxes. We were told it was to maintain the moorings etc. - the moorings on the wrecks we dived if they were even installed consisted of plastic washing line and a 20ltr drum.

The crew said it was collected for the Government and when we asked for a government receipt we were laughed at - we are still waiting for those receipts. It was all very very shady and indicative of the service we got from SIDE staff.

regards Baz
 
Having dived in remote parts of PNG and Indonesia on liveaboards, I can confirm that it is standard practice to pay the local folks a fee for diving in their territory. 25$ a day per person seems a little steep, but it's been a while since I've been on a live aboard in the tropics... -Andy
 
Know its a bit late in the day for responding here. Dont frequent the forums that much. I officially launched my new product Lust4Rust "Deep Wrecks of Guadalcanal" in association with Solomon Island Dive Expeditions (SIDE) onboard Taka. Diving the deeper wrecks of Guadalcanal. First trip ran last August and we had a ball. Being the first trip everyone was trying to get to know eachother and how things worked. I think we pulled it off flawlessly.

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Baz, by the sounds of things you didnt have a great time onboard which is a shame. First thing that the owners said to me was that they knew nothing about technical CCR diving and was very open to learning. I found them really easy to get on with, accommodating and pretty much gave me free reign onboard the boat. I had to put everything on, Booster pumps, O2 gen plant, blending panels, stage deco tanks, helium, sorb, pretty much all that. But I am looking forward to a long relationship with them.

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The crew were outstanding. Couldn't do more to help you. The boat was comfortable and food was great.



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Not a very flattering shot, but here is a shot of the blending panel and booster which I put up temporarily. All my gear gets stored securely in Honiara and taken out for all my trips.

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Oxygen Gen plant with Rix microbooster so we are pretty much self sufficient.


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55 x 80cf Tanks, stages and 20 sets of CCR tanks. I even got 20 sets of left and right hand valves for those who want to dive sidemount or want left and right valves for their CCRs.

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This is the shot from the starboard side looking aft. You can see heaps of room for everyone. Max 12 divers with 4 Technical Crew who I put onboard. So that means that there is always someone onboard in charge of diving operations while divers are in the water. As per usual I have a Hyperbaric Doc and extensive medical kit.

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Last shot looking from the stern forward. Blending station on the port side.

I am looking forward to this years charters with SIDE.
Hope this helps.

Pete
 
Good to see this post, I had the same impression when I brought my CCR onboard. I hope to join one of your trips in the future, the Solomons are a very under-appreciated destination. WW2 wrecks, healthy environment, very few people. What more can you ask for?
 
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