As most of you already know, Steve Shindell and I were invited to join Bruce Carlson and his other 15 invited guests to go diving in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Islands">Solomon Islands</a> for two weeks this month. It was kindof a perk for running the club, although we still had to foot our own bill. We got back two days ago, and so I'm getting around to writing up about it now.
[B]Getting There:[/B]
We were gone Oct 1-18 - about a day and a half was spent for travel there and again back - about 26 hours of actual flying time and ~32hrs of travel time. We went from ATL->LAX->Fiji->Vanuatu->Honiara. Honiara is the capital of the Solomons and happened to also be where our boat left from.
[B]Pre-diving:[/B]
We had two days before the boat showed up, so did some sightseeing the first day. The main island is Guadalcanal, the site of the [IMG]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guadalcanal_Campaign">first US offensive</a> against Japan in the Pacific (the island was in our trade routes to Austrailia and New Zeleand); it was also one of the few places that could support an airfield in the south Pacific, and thus was a major strategic area for the war. Over WW2 30 ships are at the bottom of the bay. US lost 7,000 men; Japan 30,000.
The second day we did some shore diving at [IMG]http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g294140-d447291/Honiara:Solomon-Islands:Bonegi.I.And.Ii.html">Bonegi I and II</a>, the site of two Japanese transport ships right off the coast, and considered one of the best shore diving spots in the world. I was only doing a test run with my camera housing (no camera in it), so no pictures from me. But we saw acropora colonies all over the ship, anenomes, nudibranchs, sponges, and soft corals galore. I was blown away, and later realized that it was one of the better dives that we did.
[B]The Spirit of Solomons:[/B]
Finally on the third day, we boarded our boat, the [IMG]http://www.bilikiki.com/ship.php">Spirit of Solomons</a>, and was our home for the next 11 days and nights. The 125' boat had private rooms and wasn't luxurious, but was more than adequate and very clean. The crew were attentive right away and continued to take care incredible care of us until we left - we never had to lift a tank, rinse our camera gear, or do anything - it was all taken care of for us. There was a [IMG]http://www.bilikiki.com/gallery.php?iphotoid=85">sun deck</a> (good for a equatorial sunburn), [IMG]http://www.bilikiki.com/gallery.php?iphotoid=102">open dining deck</a>, [IMG]http://www.bilikiki.com/gallery.php?iphotoid=100">deck for dive</a> and [IMG]http://www.bilikiki.com/gallery.php?iphotoid=91">camera gear</a>, and a parlor room for working on our computers in the dry. Rooms were very small, but I ended up spending only about 5 minutes a day in the room aside from actually sleeping.
The boat was too big to get the divers close, so we were taken to and from the dive sites in smaller, basic, boats called "tinnies" specifically setup for diving. We'd pull into a bay, load up on the tinnies, drop in the water, and when you came up, they picked you up. The group was all advanced divers, and so there was no hassle of having to be with the group or dive master, going in a certain direction, staying above a certain depth, or even being with a buddy - you were expected to be responsible. And it was great - I could spend a full hour on one subject to take a picture and no one would hassle me; just laugh at my efforts when I came back up. :)
[B]The Diving Schedule:[/B]
Most dives were shallow for a number of reasons. The nice coral needs light, so unless there's a lot of fish or something else, there's not much reason to go below about 40-50'. I made a bounce dive to 196' at one point just to do it, and it was more of the same- sponges and sea fans, but not much fish life (although plenty of nitrogen narcosis effect!). The first dive was scheduled as the deep dive - usually 110' or shallower, and then by the end of the day, it was a 30' or less dive. We were breathing nitrox (blend of 32% oxygen, 68% nitrogen), which helped keep down the nitrogen loading on so many dives.
We could do 4-5 dives per day, weather and area permitting, and very, very rarely did we dive the same spot twice. The schedule was almost the same every day:
7am - breakfast
8am - dive 1
11am - dive 2
1pm - lunch
3pm - dive 3
5pm - dive 4
7pm - dinner and slideshow
8pm - dive 5
10pm - bed
Now, if you haven't dived before, realize that 4-5 dives of 1-1:30hrs each is some seriously intense diving, especially if you keep it up for 11 days. Steve did almost every dive. I got some middle ear infection and sat out a day or so.
[B]The Diving:[/B]
Ok- so the part you've been waiting for - what did we see? It was incredible. I realized quickly that no amount of picture taking with my camera would ever do it justice. Acropora that would make you cry. Bright blues, pinks, greens, yellows, reds - you name it, and it was there and au naturale. Rarely would you find a piece that was smaller than 2' diameter. Most established montipora and table acropora was bigger than I was while floating over it.
We also saw a bunch of other things that are only found in that part of the world: pygmy seahorses (measured in lengths of grains of rice - usually 2-3), crocodile fish, ribbon eels, ghost pipe fish, bumphead parrotfish, mandrin fish and countless other fish. Some people saw the huge swirling mass of barracuda, manta ray breaching, and some other rare events. We heard volcanoes erupting underwater, saw some really cool underwater terrain features and just some all around amazing stuff.
[B]My Pictures:[/B]
I also realized on this trip that my point and shoot with underwater light was woefully inadequate for good shots. I mean poster-size, hang-on-the-wall, dang-that's-awesome pictures. My camera excels at taking pictures of the very small (remember those rice-size seahorses?), but the shutter lag is so bad that fish are almost impossible. My pictures would be like going to Hawai'i and taking pictures of leaves and having them be representative of the area.
So, I apologize in advance for the I'm-not-worthy pictures. Maybe next time...
Bruce Carlson brought his HDTV underwater gear, complete with tripod, and made a bunch of videos. He'll be making a video that will be a much better feel for the trip than my pictures will show.
[B]Getting There:[/B]
We were gone Oct 1-18 - about a day and a half was spent for travel there and again back - about 26 hours of actual flying time and ~32hrs of travel time. We went from ATL->LAX->Fiji->Vanuatu->Honiara. Honiara is the capital of the Solomons and happened to also be where our boat left from.
[B]Pre-diving:[/B]
We had two days before the boat showed up, so did some sightseeing the first day. The main island is Guadalcanal, the site of the [IMG]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guadalcanal_Campaign">first US offensive</a> against Japan in the Pacific (the island was in our trade routes to Austrailia and New Zeleand); it was also one of the few places that could support an airfield in the south Pacific, and thus was a major strategic area for the war. Over WW2 30 ships are at the bottom of the bay. US lost 7,000 men; Japan 30,000.
The second day we did some shore diving at [IMG]http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g294140-d447291/Honiara:Solomon-Islands:Bonegi.I.And.Ii.html">Bonegi I and II</a>, the site of two Japanese transport ships right off the coast, and considered one of the best shore diving spots in the world. I was only doing a test run with my camera housing (no camera in it), so no pictures from me. But we saw acropora colonies all over the ship, anenomes, nudibranchs, sponges, and soft corals galore. I was blown away, and later realized that it was one of the better dives that we did.
[B]The Spirit of Solomons:[/B]
Finally on the third day, we boarded our boat, the [IMG]http://www.bilikiki.com/ship.php">Spirit of Solomons</a>, and was our home for the next 11 days and nights. The 125' boat had private rooms and wasn't luxurious, but was more than adequate and very clean. The crew were attentive right away and continued to take care incredible care of us until we left - we never had to lift a tank, rinse our camera gear, or do anything - it was all taken care of for us. There was a [IMG]http://www.bilikiki.com/gallery.php?iphotoid=85">sun deck</a> (good for a equatorial sunburn), [IMG]http://www.bilikiki.com/gallery.php?iphotoid=102">open dining deck</a>, [IMG]http://www.bilikiki.com/gallery.php?iphotoid=100">deck for dive</a> and [IMG]http://www.bilikiki.com/gallery.php?iphotoid=91">camera gear</a>, and a parlor room for working on our computers in the dry. Rooms were very small, but I ended up spending only about 5 minutes a day in the room aside from actually sleeping.
The boat was too big to get the divers close, so we were taken to and from the dive sites in smaller, basic, boats called "tinnies" specifically setup for diving. We'd pull into a bay, load up on the tinnies, drop in the water, and when you came up, they picked you up. The group was all advanced divers, and so there was no hassle of having to be with the group or dive master, going in a certain direction, staying above a certain depth, or even being with a buddy - you were expected to be responsible. And it was great - I could spend a full hour on one subject to take a picture and no one would hassle me; just laugh at my efforts when I came back up. :)
[B]The Diving Schedule:[/B]
Most dives were shallow for a number of reasons. The nice coral needs light, so unless there's a lot of fish or something else, there's not much reason to go below about 40-50'. I made a bounce dive to 196' at one point just to do it, and it was more of the same- sponges and sea fans, but not much fish life (although plenty of nitrogen narcosis effect!). The first dive was scheduled as the deep dive - usually 110' or shallower, and then by the end of the day, it was a 30' or less dive. We were breathing nitrox (blend of 32% oxygen, 68% nitrogen), which helped keep down the nitrogen loading on so many dives.
We could do 4-5 dives per day, weather and area permitting, and very, very rarely did we dive the same spot twice. The schedule was almost the same every day:
7am - breakfast
8am - dive 1
11am - dive 2
1pm - lunch
3pm - dive 3
5pm - dive 4
7pm - dinner and slideshow
8pm - dive 5
10pm - bed
Now, if you haven't dived before, realize that 4-5 dives of 1-1:30hrs each is some seriously intense diving, especially if you keep it up for 11 days. Steve did almost every dive. I got some middle ear infection and sat out a day or so.
[B]The Diving:[/B]
Ok- so the part you've been waiting for - what did we see? It was incredible. I realized quickly that no amount of picture taking with my camera would ever do it justice. Acropora that would make you cry. Bright blues, pinks, greens, yellows, reds - you name it, and it was there and au naturale. Rarely would you find a piece that was smaller than 2' diameter. Most established montipora and table acropora was bigger than I was while floating over it.
We also saw a bunch of other things that are only found in that part of the world: pygmy seahorses (measured in lengths of grains of rice - usually 2-3), crocodile fish, ribbon eels, ghost pipe fish, bumphead parrotfish, mandrin fish and countless other fish. Some people saw the huge swirling mass of barracuda, manta ray breaching, and some other rare events. We heard volcanoes erupting underwater, saw some really cool underwater terrain features and just some all around amazing stuff.
[B]My Pictures:[/B]
I also realized on this trip that my point and shoot with underwater light was woefully inadequate for good shots. I mean poster-size, hang-on-the-wall, dang-that's-awesome pictures. My camera excels at taking pictures of the very small (remember those rice-size seahorses?), but the shutter lag is so bad that fish are almost impossible. My pictures would be like going to Hawai'i and taking pictures of leaves and having them be representative of the area.
So, I apologize in advance for the I'm-not-worthy pictures. Maybe next time...
Bruce Carlson brought his HDTV underwater gear, complete with tripod, and made a bunch of videos. He'll be making a video that will be a much better feel for the trip than my pictures will show.
