February 20, 2024:
Solomon Islanders:
The Solomon Islanders are lovely and friendly people!
Wherever we went, we were warmly welcomed!
Here is a very small sample of the individuals that we met along the way.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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February 19, 2024:
Mary Island Birding:
On our Solomon Islands cruise, during the day that we spent at Mary Island, in between dives I attempted some long distance birding from the stern of Bilikiki.
Due to their poor quality, I have deleted most of the avian photos that I took that day.
However, I did get a few decent shots of birds that I don’t normally get to see!
Here are several of my favorite images from my impromptu birding efforts at Mary Island:
Two photos of Blyth’s Hornbills; two shots of Nankeen Night Herons; a couple of images of a Brahminy Kite; two photos of an Island-Imperial Pigeon; and a shot of a perched Pied Goshawk.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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February 17, 2024:
Maravaghi Bay (Part 2):
The final forty minutes of my dive at Maravaghi Bay provided a special treat!
I enjoyed a prolonged encounter with three confident and photogenic Broadclub Cuttlefish, accompanying them as they cruised and hunted on the reef!
It was quite remarkable to watch them rapidly and repeatedly change their external body colors and textures in order to blend in with adjacent specific features of the reef!
What an amazing superpower!
This encounter was a terrific conclusion to an excellent Solomon Islands dive trip aboard Bilikiki!
Here is a small collection of some of my favorite images of these intriguing Cephalopods.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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February 15, 2024:
Maravaghi Bay (Part 1):
The final dive of our Solomon Islands cruise aboard Bilikiki was at a Florida Islands Group dive site called Maravaghi Bay.
This shallow site features a gently sloping sandy slope, dotted with scattered small coral bommies.
Maravaghi Bay was a memorable long dive for me, lasting two hours and five minutes, and was a fitting end to an excellent cruise!
During the initial two thirds of the dive, I encountered three different species of anemonefish, which I’ll feature in today’s post:
Three photos of Spinecheek Anemonefish; a pair of True Clown Anemonefish; and a Tomato Anemonefish.
I have also included one shot each of a Juvenile Pinnate Spadefish and a Gold-Speckled Shrimpgoby.
(The final forty minutes of the dive provided a special treat, which I’ll cover in my next post!)
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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February 14, 2024:
Tanavula West:
Tanavula West, a nearby sloping hard coral reef, was the site for our second dive of the day.
Once again the visibility was great and the current was mild, though the reef itself was not as healthy as that at Tanavula East.
I continued with macro photography, and here are a handful of my favorite images from this dive at Tanavula West:
Juvenile Pinnate Spadefish; Nudibranch (Nembrotha cristata); Orange-Lined Triggerfish; Trumpetfish (Golden Variation); and a pair of Clark’s Anemonefish.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great Valentine’s day!
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February 13, 2024:
Tanavula East:
Bilikiki sailed back to the Florida Islands Group for the thirteenth, and final, dive day of our Solomon Islands cruise.
Tanavula East, a healthy sloping hard coral reef was the site for our first dive of the day, with great visibility and a mild current.
Here are a few of my favorite images from this enjoyable early morning dive:
Blue-Girdled Angelfish; Clark’s Anemonefish; Painted Spiny Lobster; Raccoon Butterflyfish; Threadfin Anthias; and a Bicolor Angelfish.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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February 12, 2024:
White Beach (Part 3):
After spending the beginning of our second dive at White Beach in the shallows, I explored the reef slope for the remainder of the dive.
The star of this portion of the dive was a Bluespotted Ribbontail Ray hunting on the reef, oblivious to my presence.
Here are several of my favorite images from the reef slope:
Five photos of the Bluespotted Ribbontail Ray; Pajama Cardinalfish; Redfin Butterflyfish; Redstriped Cardinalfish; and two shots of Eight-Banded Butterflyfish.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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February 11, 2024:
White Beach (Part 2):
Our second dive at White Beach was a dusk/night dive.
I spent the first part of the dive up in the shallows, peering into the mangrove roots.
In particular, I was hoping to encounter and photograph Banded Archerfish.
I was not disappointed!
They fairly frequently swam by through the mangrove roots.
Banded Archerfish are so-named because of their amazing ability to shoot jets of water from their upturned mouths, in order to knock insect prey out of the mangrove branches and into the water to be consumed.
Apparently, they can hit targets up to ten feet away!
Amazing!
As you will notice in most of these photos, an interesting phenomenon that often occurs when photographing very near the water’s surface is the creation of mirror image artifacts.
This is due to the ocean surface serving as a reflective “mirror.”
Very cool!
Here are several of my favorite images from the shallows at White Beach:
Four photos of Banded Archerfish; Estuarine Halfbeak; three shots of Orbicular Cardinalfish; and a juvenile Barracuda.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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February 10, 2024:
White Beach (Part 1):
White Beach, an interesting dive site in the Russell Islands Group, was the location for the third and fourth dives of our twelth Solomon Islands dive day.
It is a “semi-muck” site, sloping down from mangroves in the shallows.
Near the dive site, during World War II, was an “R & R” Base for Allied Forces.
At the war’s conclusion, rather than shipping it back home, military equipment from this base was dumped into the ocean at what is now the White Beach dive site.
This included landing crafts, trucks, jeeps, pontoons, etc.
Over the decades that have passed since the war, this debris has been slowly incorporated into the reef.
During our first dive at White Beach, I concentrated on photographing some of this discarded equipment.
Here are a few of my favorite images from the dive.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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February 9, 2024:
Karumolun Garden:
We remained in the Russell Islands Group for our twelth Solomon Islands diving day.
Our first dive was at Karumolun Point.
Subsequently, we dove Karumolun Garden, a dive site comprising a wall and a shallow, predominantly hard coral reef.
Here are a handful of my favorite reefscapes from this second dive.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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February 8, 2024:
Karumolun Reef:
We wrapped up our eleventh day of Solomon Islands diving with an enjoyable dusk dive at Karumolun Reef, a lovely shallow hard coral garden located in the Russell Islands Group.
Here are a few of my favorite fish portraits from this dive:
Arc-Eye Hawkfish; Longnose Butterflyfish; Damselfish; a pair of Blue-Girdled Angelfish; Twospot Wrasse; a pair of Ornate Butterflyfish; and a Regal Angelfish.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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February 7, 2024:
Rainbow Reef:
Our eleventh day of Solomon Islands diving began with two dives at Rainbow Reef, a seamount located in the Russell Islands Group.
Here are a few of my favorite images from these dives:
Crocodile Flathead; and three reefscapes.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
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February 6, 2024:
Solomon Islands: Kokoana East:
I’m so far behind in reviewing my images from the past year plus, that I really don’t know where to begin.
I think that my first project will be to circle back to my Solomon Islands trip from the Autumn of 2022, and plow through the images that I have not yet reviewed.
Along the way, I’ll post a small representative sample of what I come across.
So here goes!
Returning to the tenth day of Solomon Islands diving, the final dive of the day was a dusk dive at a site called Kokoana East.
This dive site is located at Mattu Island in Marovo Lagoon, and comprises a wall and sloping reef.
Here are a few fish portraits from this dive:
A pair of Pink Anemonefish; Royal Dottyback; Spotfin Lionfish; Scythe Filefish; Squarespot Anthias; and a Giant Moray Eel.
Enjoy!
Stay safe, and have a great day!
