Bilikiki, August, 1994. "Advertised gourmet meals not as advertised. Lunch and dinner good. Breakfast fruit, cold cereal and muffins. All passengers American and would have appreciated some protein. Boat's accommodations super. Diving system first-class. Moderate to strong currents overcome by efficient Tinny pickup even when washed away. Beautiful coral, walls, lion fish, and good night dives." Bill Garner, Pittsburgh, PA

Bilikiki, September, 1994. "Good stuff: Crew was excellent: diving from two small boats that took you to the dive sites. They picked up divers wherever they surfaced. Two boats meant you didn't have to wait for the rest of the divers to come up. Efficient. Cabins nice­sized and food good, except breakfast that was limited: toast, coffee, fruit and dry cereal were always available, but the cooked portions were limited to dry­tasting pancakes, muffins or French toast. Snacks after dives and before supper were plentiful (if you opted for the early evening dive, you usually missed out on the hors d'oeuvre). Diving was on your own with few restrictions. Computers encouraged. Only one side trip was arranged to a small island; great to see the locals, who are some of the friendliest in the Pacific. I would have liked to have seen more. The water temperature was 80°, but almost everyone on the boat complained of being cold. A Polartec or jumpsuit are necessary for comfort. . . . Bad stuff: See & Sea. We booked the Bilikiki through them and they were happy to take our money but unhelpful once we booked. We wanted to dive the WW II wrecks and were assured the boat would accommodate. In fact, the boat took off for the outer islands and we never dove a single WW II wreck. (The boat also seems to cater to photographers so this may be the reason we dove mostly areas suited to macro photography.) Their literature also stated that they would be diving the Morovo Lagoon area, reported to be some of the best wreck diving and one of the best places to bargain for souvenirs and local art. When we mentioned this to the divemaster, we were told that they 'never dive Morovo Lagoon on the 7­day cruise.' He said that he told See & Sea this several times before, but they keep telling people otherwise. See & Sea was no help on the air scheduling. Solomon Air has completely revised its schedule and connections with the international airlines are extremely difficult. The weight limitation is 44 pounds for check­through. Special considerations for divers leaving the Bilikiki; we were within weight limitations but other divers seemed to be over and had no problems. If you go, plan for layovers in Fiji or pay several hundred dollars more and fly through Auckland, New Zealand. . . . The diving is overrated. We saw more impressive and abundant corals and sea life (especially pelagics and sharks) in Papua New Guinea, Truk, Palau, and even some places in the Caribbean. The visibility was only 60­70 feet max. and on some dives, only 40 feet. Some dives had only 10 feet visibility and nothing to look at except garbage from the nearby island. I think our dive sites were picked to accommodate the divemaster's fascination with photography. He took pictures on virtually every dive. . . . We talked with someone who was on the Spirit of the Solomons the same week we were on the Bilikiki and they dove wrecks the entire week. . . . In summary: excellent crew, good food other than breakfast, comfortable cabins, no WW II wrecks, little or no 'action' diving, only one island visit, few large fish/sharks, average 50­70 foot visibility. If you are not a photographer, you are a nonperson." Sara M. Sendelbach, Harrisburg, PA

Bilikiki, May, 1995. "First class operation run by personable and knowledgeable individuals. The reefs and walls are pristine and swimming with life. Good food, E-6 processing, photo-friendly, wide, spacious dive deck, unlimited diving nice, comfortable accommodations. No World War II wrecks on Morovo Lagoon on seven day charters, however. Water 84 degrees, vis 50­ 100 ft. No restrictions on diving." William Ungerman, Santa Ana, CA

Bilikiki, June, 1995. "Excellent dive operation using large dive platform at stern. Dive gear always ready to go, serviced by extremely attentive and friendly crew. 'Tinnie' diving provided easy and fast access to dive sites and immediate pickup upon surfacing without having to return to Bilikiki underwater. Wonderfully convenient. Bad: Nothing, except it's HOT in Honiara, but once we departed on our cruise weather was great." Anon., Hartford, CT

Bilikiki, July, 1995. "Jim & Kay Light run a wonderful boat, informative, available, but not overbearing. They like the local people, interact with them well, so visitors are welcomed, not just for their money. . . . Wonderful for cameras. More unknown interesting critters. Great for experienced divers who feel one shark/manta/dolphin is much like another. A couple of dives with great schools of pelagics. Be sure to do the muck dive at Gavutu. 80­83 degree water, 100­150 ft vis; stay within computer limits. . . . Bad: Honiara is a dump, get out as soon as you can. Solommon Air is charging $14.25 per kilo overweight. They allow 30 kgs. per diver (most inadequate for UW photographers). Don't believe the US office that said a flat fee of 1% of FC airfare ($20) Take insecticides for village trips. There's lots of traveling at night to get to dive sites. Take 10 days or more, or you can't get to Moravo Lagoon. . . . Get a day room en route. The trip is long. We stayed three days at the Fiji Sheraton one trip, Fiji Regent the other, and it was a great stop to rest enroute home. Leave an extra day in front and after your trip, as airline times change without notice. Nearest chamber is three days to Cairns." Maxine Barrett, Los Angeles, CA

Spirit of Solomons, August, 1994. "New boat hosts: Laurie and Roger Edmunds, Canadians with many years on Caribbean live-aboards. Each meal with a vegetarian or meat choice. Crew: excellent, friendly, helpful and experienced (Solomon Islanders are almost universally the nicest, most guileless people you can meet). The chase boat ('Tinny') drivers are exceptionally skilled at boat handling and spotting divers - best I've encountered anywhere. Diving: visibility disappointing in the Florida and Russell islands due to weather. Few pelagics and sharks, but good schools of barracuda and trevally (Mary Island)." Peter Jennings, Houston, TX

Spirit of Solomons, March, 1995. "Hulalaloo point, Russell Islands ­- drift diving to beat all others. Sharks coming up from the deep water, massive barracuda, turtles, huge bump headed maori wrasses. Tonaoro passage, outside Morovo Lagoon ­- tuna, sharks, turtles, barracuda by the thousands, bump heads. Barracuda Point, Mary's Island, Russell Islands - large schools of jack and barracuda, sharks, bump heads. Strong current. Thousands of fish of all kinds. Never dove the same place twice. Lots of big critters that I like and lots of small stuff for the photographers. Boat crew was friendly, helpful and good at what they do. . . . Cabins were a little warm at times but new air conditioning is on the way. Food was excellent and even special dishes for our vegetarian member of the group." Pat Van Raden, Moorhead, MN

Copyright 1996 by DSDL, Inc., publishers of Undercurrent. All rights reserved. No portions of this report may be reproduced in any way, including photocopying and electronic data storage, without prior written permission from the publisher. For more information, contact DSDL, Inc., P.O. Box 1658, Sausalito, CA 94966.