Bilikiki Cruises, Guadalcanal Island, Solomon Islands

5Bilikikibound 5:00 PM Jun 7, 2020

Excellent
The diving is great, the crew fantastic, and the boat is in great shape. I have been 8 times since 2007. I take underwater pictures and have had great results. I read one negative review with a bunch of complaining. I call nonsense. Bilikiki is a great experience and a great value.

4K B 5:00 PM Oct 15, 2019

Spectacular diving, Exceptional crew, marginal boat
If you want to dive the Solomon Islands from a liveaboard, your choices are very limited. That's the good news and the bad news. On a recent two week trip, we saw NO other dive boats, a very different experience from many spectacular dive destinations. Overall the diving was extremely good. Not a lot of big sharks. Only one dive for pelagic manta rays (and you have to have the right conditions for them to be there which, unfortunately, we didn't). Some extraordinary sites near these basically limestone (rather than volcanic or coral) islands. Reefs are extremely well preserved for the most part. Little bleaching or damage in most of the areas we went. Interesting and unusual "critters", especially on the night dives (which are available nearly every night). The crew of Bilikiki was the best I have encountered aboard a dive boat . Food is also extremely good. Three solid warm meals daily and snacks available after every dive. Five dives including a guide were scheduled daily: am after breakfast around 7:30-7:45am; 2nd dive before lunch. Third after lunch. 4th before dinner. night dive after dinner. Ends up being a long day, particularly for people who are used to doing a first dive before breakfast, say, 6-6:30am. The boat itself is old and would be considered 'basic'. All 10 cabins are below deck. After the Conception fire, you have to consider this. All cabins on Bilikiki are separate and each has a smoke detector. There are 4 fire extinguishers in the hallway leading to the cabins. The escape hatch is on the foredeck, outside the salon/galley area. The steep main stairs lead from the inside salon which is adjacent to the galley. the crew maintains a "military watch": at ALL times there are a minimum of two crew members awake assessing the status of the vessel. No cabin has a window or porthole. A couple have 'twin' beds that take essentially all of the floor space. The others have bunk beds, upper reached by a 4 step wooden ladder. For dexterious people, not that much of a problem. The cabin is the only private space. Public space includes a salon, not air conditioned but with a fan in each corner, a dining area forward, and a sundeck. Inside the salon, there is a table reserved for cameras. Also an area on the dive deck and large tanks reserved to wash cameras, computers. There is a devoted charging area on the upper deck. Charging lithium ion batteries elsewhere is not encouraged. The dive deck is aft. Gear and tanks are stowed here and compressor refills tanks here. Nitrox is available: $20/person/diving day. Diving is unlimited. In many locations, you have the option to go in at will from the dive deck. Scheduled dives are frequently from a small tender, the "tinny". Here some dexterity is needed but the exceptional crew will make accomodation if you need it. The boat has 10 double cabins; expect a full complement of 20. For whatever reason, 4 people cancelled so there were 'only' 16 on our trip but I have to say the boat felt crowded even so. I can only imagine a tighter squeeze if all 20 divers are present! The theory here is each buddy pair will do their own dive at the site. In practice, for the divers on our trip, everyone wanted to have a guide and there is only one per dive for everyone. So 16 divers pretty crowded together on many dives was not overly comfortable for any of us. If you are experienced finding "critters" on your own, this may not be an issue for you. (Curiously, unlike, say, Indonesia or Maldives, there are no locals going under water on dives.) If you are young to middle age, this is perhaps a perfect experience, particularly if you don't need a guide underwater. The boat crew does try to accomodate and work with everyone. The 'Managers'/Dive guides aboard our trip (2, a couple) seemed somewhat intolerant of and impatient with the older (> age 60) divers. They were in their 30s so maybe understandable. Bilikiki is committed to environmental issues and also to the people of the islands. Villages are paid for divers to go there to encourage the people to preserve the reefs and not overfish them. The two week trip had 4 'market' visits to enable guests to purchase superb wood carvings by the islanders, and a 'cultural' visit to a village where the villagers put on a very nice show; at this site there was nothing for sale. Overall, if you are comfortable with the physical characteristics of an older boat (ie don't need a 'premium' above the waterline cabin with natural light from window or porthole), don't mind one 'guide' per dive for everyone, and are on the 'younger' side, this boat can be highly recommended.