August 26, 2023:
Kokoana West (Part 2):
Here is the second set of my favorite images from our dive at Kokoana West:
Two photos of a Freckled Hawkfish; Vagabond Butterflyfish; Purple Anthias; Tailspot Squirrelfish; Twotone Dartfish; and four shots of Clark’s Anemonefish.
Stay safe, and have a great day!
P.S.: I’ll be away for a while. Early tomorrow morning I am heading out for an extended scuba diving trip to Indonesia! Stay tuned!
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August 26, 2023:
Kokoana West (Part 1):
Bilikiki cruised to Mattu Island, located in Marovo Lagoon, for the third dive of our tenth dive day, at a dive site called Kokoana West.
This is a wall dive, featuring a fairly healthy reef.
I dove Kokoana West as a “Macro” dive, concentrating on fish portraits.
Here is the first group of my favorite shots from this dive:
Two photos of Fire Dartfish; Orangefin & Orange Anemonefish sharing an anemone home; a pair of Longnose Butterflyfish; Ornate Butterflyfish; Redfin & Purple Anthias; Schooling juvenile Redfin Anthias; Bluestreak Goby; and two shots of a Pink Anemonefish.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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August 22, 2023:
Luma-Li He East:
Luma-Li He East, a dive site located in a channel between two Marovo Lagoon islands, provided the second dive of our tenth Solomon Islands dive day.
Unfortunately, there was no current, and relatively poor visibility of less than 50′ during our dive.
Furthermore, similar to our previous dive at Sambulo Gardens, the reef at Luma-Li He East was generally in very poor condition. 
In any case, here are four reefscapes from this dive.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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August 21, 2023:
Sambulo Gardens:
We began our tenth Solomon Islands dive day at Sambulo Gardens, located adjacent to Sambulo Island in Marovo Lagoon.
This dive site is topographically quite interesting, comprising a complex wall and reef structure, including pinnacles and a small cave.
Unfortunately, however, much to our dismay, we encountered a reef that was largely devastated, algae-covered and dying or dead!
It was quite shocking!
I only have recollections of pristine and vibrant reefs from my two previous visits to the Solomon Islands, 10 and 15 years ago.
I don’t recall having seen anything like this!
In fact, on this trip we encountered several dive sites, particularly around Marovo Lagoon, where the reefs were in generally poor condition.
Something has definitely changed since my prior visits, and not for the better!
Perhaps we were viewing one consequence of a warming ocean???
In any case, there was very little that I was interested in photographing during this dive.
But here are three reefscapes from this sobering dive at Sambulo Gardens.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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August 17, 2023:
Wickham Bay:
Bilikiki remained at Wickham Island for our final dive of the day, a dusk dive at Wickham Bay.
This dive site comprises both coral reef and “semi-muck” environments.
I concentrated mainly on fish protraits, using my 60 mm Macro lens.
Here are several of my favorite images from our dive at Wickham Bay:
Longnose Hawkfish; Pacific Double-Saddle Butterflyfish; Freckled Hawkfish; Regal Angelfish; Dark Knee Hermit Crab; Three shots of False Clown Anemonefish; and an Orange-Lined Triggerfish.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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August 16, 2023:
Wickham Wall:
Bilikiki cruised on to Wickham Island for the third dive of the day at a site called Wickham Wall.
The outstanding feature of this dive site were the intermittent patches of brightly pastel-colored soft corals!
Once again, utilizing my 15 mm Fisheye lens, I concentrated on capturing attractive reefscapes.
Here are some of my favorite shots from our dive at Wickham Wall.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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August 14, 2023:
Golden Wall:
We continued our ninth Solomon Islands dive day with a late morning dive at Golden Wall, located adjacent to Karunjou Island.
This attractive dive site is named for the abundant golden colored soft corals festooning the wall.
Here are several of my favorite reefscapes from our dive at Golden Wall.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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August 7, 2023:
Anemone Point:
My life has been busier than normal lately, so I have stepped away from posting online for the past few weeks.
Now that things are settling down, I can return to posting images from last October’s Solomon Islands dive trip aboard Bilikiki.
Our ninth dive day began with an early morning dive at a site called Anemone Point, located adjacent to Minjanga Island in Marovo Lagoon.
Anemone Point comprises a wall and submerged point, which we dove in excellent visibility of over 100′, and mild to moderate current.
Presumably related to local currents, the reef on one side of the point was quite healthy, and sported many colorful gorgonian soft corals.
Unfortunately, however, the reef on the other side of the point was in poor shape, and the reef top, located at about 20′ depth, was barren and dead.
It was somewhat disheartening!
In any case, here are a few of my favorite reefscapes from the healthy side of Anemone Point.
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July 13, 2023:
My Cuttlefish Teacher:
We rounded out our eighth Solomon Islands dive day with a night dive at Mbulo Canyons.
It ended up being quite a memorable dive for me!
At the beginning of the dive, I had a very brief encounter with a Broadclub Cuttlefish.
About twenty minutes later, however, I came across a second Broadclub Cuttlefish, with which I had an amazing 30 minute encounter!
This Cuttlefish utilized illumination from the spotting light mounted on my camera housing to enhance its hunting!
Numerous times I directed the light on potential prey, which the Cuttlefish would subsequently successfully capture with its two lightning fast feeding tentacles, a very high percentage of the time.
I would then wait for the Cuttlefish to ingest the prey, and we would move on together to the next potential target.
So it went for half an hour!
I don’t know if this highly intelligent Broadclub Cuttlefish had learned this behavior from a previous experience with another diver, or just figured it out on the spur of the moment.
I have had many encounters with Broadclub Cuttlefish in my 35 years of diving.
However, this was only the second time that I have had a prolonged interactive encounter like this!
Interestingly, my previous similar encounter was 10 years ago during a night dive at White Beach, a Solomon Islands dive site in the Russell Islands Group!
Perhaps Solomon Islands Broadclub Cuttlefish are particularly intelligent! LOL!
In any case, here are several of my favorite images from this terrific night dive at Mbulo Canyons.
The initial photo depicts the first Broadclub Cuttlefish that I briefly encountered.
All of the other shots are of the second Broadclub Cuttlefish, with which I shared this magical experience.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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July 10, 2023:
Mbulo Canyons:
Our fourth dive of the day was a late afternoon dive at Mbulo Canyons, an attractive, healthy, shallow hard coral garden located adjacent to Mbulo Island.
For me, the highlight of the dive occurred towards its end, with a twenty minute encounter with a very mellow Hawksbill Turtle, preoccupied with searching for its dinner!
Prior to that, I was mainly concentrating on creating fish portraits.
Here are several of my favorite images from this dive at Mbulo Canyons:
Four photos of the friendly Hawksbill Turtle; Orange-Lined Triggerfish; Eastern Triangular Butterflyfish; Bird Wrasse (Intermediate Phase); Latticed Butterflyfish; Spot-Nape Butterflyfish being cleaned by a Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse (Intermediate Phase); and a pair of Two-Spot Snappers.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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July 8, 2023:
Mbulo Caves Reprise:
We returned to the iconic Mbulo Caves for the third dive of our eighth Solomon Islands dive day.
It was sunny, and once again the natural light inside the caves was magical!
Here are a few of my favorite images from this dive at Mbulo Caves.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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June 22, 2023:
Lagoon Point:
Following our dive at Kicha Island, and once again aboard Bilikiki, we cruised back to Mbulo Island to dive a site called Lagoon Point.
This site is topographically interesting, comprising a hard coral wall, which is connected via a short swim through to a shallow lagoon on the island side of the wall.
Unfortunately, however, large portions of the reef at Lagoon Point are dead and reduced to coral rubble, with other portions algae-covered and apparently dying.
I found this somewhat depressing.
Nonetheless, scattered beautiful spots of the reef remain!
Here are a handful of my favorite images from our dive at Lagoon Point:
Two Reefscapes inside the lagoon; a Green Sea Turtle cruising the wall; and two Reefscapes along the wall.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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June 21, 2023:
Back To Kicha Island:
To begin our eighth Solomon Islands dive day, we returned to Kicha Island for an early morning dive.
Here are three of my favorite reefscapes from this dive.
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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June 19, 2023:
Male Male:
We rounded out our seventh Solomon Islands dive day with a relaxing dusk dive at a Marovo Lagoon dive site named Male Male, comprising a hard coral wall and sloping reef.
Mindful of the fading ambient light, I dove Male Male as a macro dive, and concentrated on fish portraits.
Here are several of my favorite images from this dive:
Redbreasted Wrasse; Freckled Hawkfish; two shots of an Orange-Finned Anemonefish; Purple Anthias; Regal Angelfish; Saddled Butterflyfish; Tailspot Squirrelfish; and a Spotfin Lionfish.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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June 18, 2023:
Back To The Solomon Islands: Mbulo Caves
After the brief “Backyard Interlude,” now continuing on with images from the Solomon Islands:
We dove Mbulo Caves, another iconic Solomon Islands dive site, for the third dive of our seventh dive day.
Mbulo Caves is a series of shallow caverns adjacent to Mbulo Island, located at the eastern end of Marovo Lagoon.
On a sunny day, openings in the ceilings of the caverns are penetrated by brilliant shafts of sunlight.
Luckily, this was the case during our dive, making for a truly magical experience, ideal for wide angle photography!
Here are several of my favorite images from our dive at Mbulo Caves:
Five photographs inside the caves, with Pato, one of Bilikiki’s two superb cruise directors, graciously modeling in the fiifth shot; Giant Tridacna Clam on the adjacent reef; and two reefscapes outside the caves.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
