Dive Review of Solomons Master in
Solomon Islands/Guadalcanal & Western Province

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Solomons Master: "Terrific Experience: Good Diving, Culture, History, & Rumbling Volcano", May, 2025, by Dean C, CO, US ( Sr. Reviewer 9 reports with 13 Helpful votes). Report 13421 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Dear fellow divers, in May and June of 2025, I was able to dive one of my bucket list destinations, the Solomon Islands, on back-to-back 10-day cruises on the Solomons Master following the Guadalcanal & Western Province itinerary. I found this trip to have very good diving, a wonderful crew, a bit of history, and enriching cultural experiences. The diving included a medley of dive types from wrecks, walls, drift, caverns, sea mounts, and military surplus scrap piles. On some dives, the booming of an underwater volcano reverberated through our bodies adding a whimsical aspect to the experience. On about twenty percent of the dives we encountered large creatures like schools of jacks and barracuda, eagle rays, a mobula, gray reef, white and black tip sharks, and one hammerhead (first for the DMs who had been diving there for years.). More typically though, the focus was on the topography (caverns and wrecks) or smaller fish like the plentiful anemone fish (we spotted 8 of the 9 varieties that live in the Solomon’s). The briefings typically called out a unique specimen that could be found at the site like a razor fish or fiery angel fish and it was fun to spot them in the water. Also, the scenery almost always included a mix of hard and soft corals. In some places there were acres of healthy hard corals. Overall, the corals were in good shape but were suffering from global warming and other impacts from humans. People that had visited the Solomons in the distant past, 20 years ago for one of our divers, decried how things had deteriorated over the years. Since the Solomons are in the Coral Triangle, I was expecting more “exotic” species. Something like a cross between the Philippines and Raja Ampat. Critters like varieties of frog fish (we saw none), numerous and different flavors of nudis (saw some but not a huge quantity or diversity), saw a couple of scorpion fish (Not exciting to me but also missing), buffets of Cephalopoda (a few shy ones hiding), etc. Maybe t ... Subscribe to get the full story. Active subscribers continue reading here
Websites	Solomons Master
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, Indonesia, Fiji, Australia, Malaysia, Mexico, Florida, California, Colombia, Costa Rica, Hawaii, French Polynesia, Palau, Red Sea, Philippines, Solomons, and inland reservoirs.
Closest Airport	Honiara	Getting There	Colorado - LA - Australia - Honiara
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	84-86°F / 29-30°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	30-150 Ft/ 9-46 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Diving was mostly with a guide and limited to 60 minutes. There were a couple of afternoons that were designated as open deck dives. During these you and a buddy had the freedom to plan multiple dives or one long dive. Guides were also available to accompany those that requested one.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Cameras storage and handling was a mixed story. On the plus side, there were very handy areas for charging batteries and maintaining cameras inside. Some were just off the div ... Subscribe to get the full story. Active subscribers continue reading here

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

Subscriber's Comments

By Lawrence O'Keefe in OR, US at Jun 24, 2025 18:27 EST

Thanks for the great writeup. I am joining Master in December of this year for a "best of the Solomons" itinerary. Glad to hear the positive feedback on crew and guides.

By report author: Dean C in CO, US at Jun 25, 2025 12:41 EST

Thanks for the kind words. Have a great trip!

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Dive Review of Solomons Master in Solomon Islands/Guadalcanal & Western Province

Solomons Master: "Terrific Experience: Good Diving, Culture, History, & Rumbling Volcano", May, 2025,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Solomons Master in
Solomon Islands/Guadalcanal & Western Province