February 12, 2023:
Battery Beach:
I rounded out the third dive day of my recent Solomon Islands trip with an enjoyable night dive at Battery Beach, a shallow dive site in the Florida Islands Group.
Fernando, one of Bilikiki’s two excellent and sharp-eyed Cruise Directors was my dive buddy.
He greatly enhanced my dive, by spotting several interesting photographic subjects.
Here are several of my favorite images from this dive at Battery Beach:
Two photos of Anemone Hermit Crabs; Brilliant Headshield Slug; Schooling Striped Catfish; Bobtail Squid; Juvenile Barracuda; Pygmy Cuttlefish; Periclimenes Shrimp on a Sea Star; and a Juvenile Scorpionfish.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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February 11, 2023:
Maravaghi Bay:
Sorry for the long interval since my last post!
My life has been a little complicated lately!
In any case, today we return to the Solomon Islands, for the fourth dive of the third dive day of our trip.
It was at Maravaghi Bay, a shallow dive site in the Florida Islands Group.
This is a somewhat “mucky” site, with patches of eel grass, some healthy hard corals, and a small shipwreck.
I concentrated on fish portraits during this dive.
Here are several of my favorite images from Maravaghi Bay:
Two photos of True Clown Anemonefish; Two shots of Common Lionfish; a Regal Angelfish; and two images of Juvenile Golden Spadefish.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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February 1, 2023:
Devil’s Highway:
Devil’s Highway is a channel dive located in the Florida Islands Group.
The dive site’s name derives from the frequent encounters with Reef Manta Rays feeding in shallow water.
However, Devil’s Highway must be dived during very specific tidal conditions.
These conditions were present for the third dive of our third Solomon Islands dive day, so we gave it a go!
The dive entails a short drift in with the current to a shallow, sloping wall.
Upon arriving at the wall, you have to duck down quickly, so that you are shielded from the current.
Otherwise, you just keep drifting along, and your dive is over!
Once tucked in behind the wall, you just wait, and hope for close passes by Reef Manta Rays feeding nearby.
We were fortunate to have three or four Mantas feeding nearby for most of our dive.
Unfortunately, they mostly cruised upcurrent from us, and never passed close enough for me to get a decent shot with the 15 mm fisheye lens which I was using.
So it goes!
Nonetheless, it was a fun experience!
Here are a couple of mediocre Reef Manta Ray photos to document our dive at Devil’s Highway.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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February 1, 2023:
Maravoso:
Maravoso, also in the Florida Islands Group, was the site for the second dive of our third dive day in the Solomon Islands.
This beautiful, healthy, predominantly hard coral sloping reef, with complex topography, has a few colorful soft corals mixed in.
Here are several of my favorite images from our dive at Maravoso:
Four Reefscapes; a Reefscape with a cruising Whitetip Reef Shark; Four Additional Reefscapes; and a photo of schooling Yellowtail Fusiliers.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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January 24, 2023:
Petrol Point:
We remained in the Florida Islands Group for our third dive day in the Solomon Islands.
We dove Petrol Point early that morning.
This dive site comprises a healthy, sloping, mixed hard and soft coral reef, with a descending submerged point.
I concentrated on photographing reefscapes.
Here are several of my favorite images from the dive.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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January 17, 2023:
Velvia:
We dove a Florida Islands Group seamount called Velvia, for our fourth, and final, dive of the second Solomon Islands dive day.
The dive site’s name hearkens back to film days, when Fujichrome Velvia was very popular with underwater photographers.
Unfortunately, large portions of this once beautiful reef have been decimated by invasive Crown of Thorns Starfish.
Nonetheless, the dive site boasted varied fish species, and I concentrated my photographic efforts on fish portraits.
Here are several of my favorite images from our dive at Velvia:
Squarespot Anthias; Clark’s Anemonefish; Common Lionfish; Orange-Banded Coralfish; Blue-Girdled Angelfish; a pair of Spinecheek Anemonefish; and a Yellow Boxfish.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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January 15, 2023:
Tanavulu West (Part 2):
Here is the other set of my favorite images from our dive at Tanavulu West:
Two photographs of a Juvenile Barramundi; Painted Spiny Lobster; a trio of Pink Anemonefish; Juvenile Ribbon Eel; and a Regal Angelfish.
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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January 14, 2023:
Tanavulu West (Part 1):
During the third dive of our second dive day in the Solomon Islands, we explored a site not far from Tanavulu Point, called Tanavulu West.
For this dive, I concentrated on smaller subjects, which I photographed with a 60 mm Macro lens.
Sharp-eyed Pato, one of Bilikiki’s two excellent cruise directors, who led the dive, significantly enhanced our experience by spotting several interesting Macro subjects.
Particularly impressive were her sightings of at least three well-hidden small Velvet Ghost Pipefishes!
Accompanying this post is the first of two sets of my favorite images from Tanavulu West:
Two photographs of Velvet Ghost Pipefishes; Nudibranch (Notodoris minor); a pair of Ornate Butterflyfish; Giant Moray Eel; Threadfin Anthias; and a Juvenile Pinnate Spadefish.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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January 12, 2023:
Tanavulu Point:
In the late morning of our second dive day, we dove Tanavulu Point, also located in the Florida Islands Group, for our second dive of the day.
This dive site features a wall, and an attractive, predominantly hard coral, sloping reef, with a sprinkling of colorful soft corals.
Accompanying this post are several of my favorite reefscapes from this dive.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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January 10, 2023:
Simon’s Nature Preserve:
We remained in the Florida Islands Group for our second dive day in the Solomon Islands.
Our first dive was on a beautiful, sloping, predominantly hard coral reef called “Simon’s Nature Preserve.”
Diving conditions were quite welcoming, with balmy 86° F water, 75′ visibility, and no current.
Here are a few of my favorite images from this early morning dive:
Four Reefscapes; two photos of Giant Tridacna Clams; and an attractive Spinecheek Anemonefish.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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January 8, 2023:
Gavuthu Reef:
After we dove the Kinugawa Maru Wreck, the remaining guests arrived aboard Bilikiki.
Shortly thereafter, we cruised over to the nearby Florida Islands Group for a dusk/night dive at Gavuthu Reef, a sloping, predominantly hard coral reef, also boasting numerous attractive, pastel-colored Elephant Ear Sponges.
Here are several of my favorite images from this dive:
Variable Thorny Oyster; Vermiculated Angelfish; Humphead Bannerfish; Staghorn Damselfish; ID Uncertain, (perhaps a Wrasse?); Reticulated Hinge-Beak Shrimp; Eight-Banded Butterflyfish; Redfin Butterflyfish & Damselfish; and two photos of colorful Bleeker’s Parrotfish.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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January 6, 2023:
Kinugawa Maru Wreck:
We made the second dive of the Solomon Islands trip at the adjacent Kinugawa Maru Wreck (a.k.a. “Bonegi Wreck #2”).
The dive site was somewhat “mucky,” and with relatively poor visibility due to fine particulate matter suspended in the water.
Consequently, I chose “macro,” rather than wide angle photography, hoping to find a few interesting small creatures to photograph.
Unfortunately, for me it was a somewhat disappointing dive, yielding relatively few compelling photographic subjects.
Nonetheless, here are a few of my favorite images from the dive:
Giant Shrimpgoby; Soft Coral; Vagabond Butterflyfish; Christmas Tree Worm; Nudibranch (Phyllidiella pustulosa); Striped Puffer; and a Lion’s Paw Sea Cucumber.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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January 5, 2023:
Return To The Solomon Islands!
This past October, I returned to the Solomon Islands for the first time in ten years!
It was a trip that was originally planned for October 2020, but was postponed for two years due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.
I traveled to Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, located on the island of Guadalcanal, via Brisbane, Australia.
I spent a total of four full days exploring the city of Brisbane and the surrounding area, three on my outbound trip, and one on the return trip.
After overnighting in Honiara, I rejoined Bilikiki, one of my favorite liveaboard dive boats, for a two week cruise through the Solomon Islands.
It was like returning “home” to old friends!
Several members of the superb and close knit Bilikiki crew had been aboard the boat when I last visited ten years ago!
I plan to document this trip in upcoming online posts, starting with underwater images from the thirteen dive days aboard Bilikiki.
The first two dives of the trip were made just off the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, near the mouth of the Bonegi River, as we awaited the late arrival of several guests, who traveled through Nadi, Fiji.
We dove on two World War II Japanese shipwrecks, known as the “Bonegi Wrecks.”
Both were troup transport and supply vessels, which were deliberately beached and sunk on November 15, 1942, in a last ditch effort to deliver reinforcements.
On our initial dive, we explored the Hirokawa Maru, (a.k.a. “Bonegi Wreck #1”).
Here are several of my favorite images of the wreck and the surrounding reef.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
