Holiday Season Trip December 18 -January 1

December 18-January 1, 2018/19
This was the last trip of the season before Bilikiki goes off for her annual two months of maintenance! Joining us for Christmas and New Year there was a lot of repeat guests but also a few new ones that are now part of the big Bilikiki family.

The diving was at its brilliant best starting with delightful dives into the coral gardens and scenery of the Russell Islands. We continued with Mary Island and its big schools of barracudas and jacks, sharks and of course all the little stuff too: longnose filefish, zebra dartfish, two tone dartfish, decorated dartfish, porcelain crabs, peacock-tail shrimps and of of course our favourite anemone fish, Megatron! Who wished you all happy new year BTW!

We spent Christmas in the Marovo Lagoon area, diving both WW2 plane and ship wrecks, amazing reefs, passages and some really looooong Christmas day dives at the amazing Kicha and Mbulo!  There was pelagic marine life all over the place... with sharks (grey reefs, white tips, nurse sharks, black tips and silver tips), jacks, barracudas, midnight snappers, turtles, spadefish, cuttlefish, thousands of pyramid butterflyfish and palette surgeon fish.
And to finish our festive trip we spent a few more days around the Russells and the Floridas where apart from the big fish we could also enjoy the magic of the great macro life: short nose pipefishes, peacock flounders, demon stingers, electric clams, ribbon eels, robust ghost pipefish, soft coral crabs, soft coral cowries, bob tail squids, spearing and peacock mantis shrimps along with many others wonderful things!

In between all this diving we found extra time to visit some villages and our guests were impressed with the artistic work of the amazing carvers! We even squeezed in some traditional dancing and a panpipe show! The floating veggie markets along side the Bilikiki were a real hit too!

We would really like to thank our guests for this amazing trip and for all the fun they brought to it! It was really a blessing to spend Christmas with you and super fun to dance away New Year's Eve!

... and finally we would like to thank our crew for all the hard work they have done this season. They are incredible, reliable, professional, friendly and just amazing! It has been a real pleasure to work with you this year!

We look forward to seeing everyone again later in 2019 but until then, happy bubbles to everyone and Happy New Year!

Pato and Fernando 

Group Photo

Little Fish by Allison Vitsky Sallmon

Above photo and top manta ray photo by Allison Vitsky Sallmon
The amazing Bilikiki crew


Above photo by Robin Flowers

Posted by Sam and Kellie on January 02, 2019

What our guests say

"Second time and still finding new sights to see! Wonderful trip well worth the effort....."

Reed Nescher

"My bucket list trip. Outstanding crew and service. Superb diving. Stable and comfortable vessel and accommodations. The chefs do a marvellous job, eve... Read More"

Fred Catella

"If I could rate them 6 stars I would!!! Amazing boat, crew, food and diving."

Brett Lobwein

"Just got back from a 10 day trip on Bilikiki with Tina and Oli. The whole Bilikiki team made our trip a memorable one, despite the temperamental weath... Read More"

Jonathan Rose

"I can't think of a better way to spend 12 days than on board Bilikiki. It is absolutely spectacular diving amongst healthy corals, colorful fishes, st... Read More"

Karen Doby

"Bilikiki is much more than a great dive boat with a fantastic crew sailing the remote Solomon Islands and discovering new and beautiful dive sites; it... Read More"

Thane Kreiner

"I have just returned from a 10 night stay on board the Bilikiki. It was my first trip on the Bilikiki however friends we were with have been 3 or 4 ti... Read More"

Pearl Corker

"I have been on many Bilikiki trips over the past eight years, and I will keep going back again and again. I’ve dived in more than 15 countries and h... Read More"

Joanna O'Shea

"I had an amazing 10 nights onboard the Bilikiki! The dive sites were so diverse and so beautiful, we had some amazing encounters with wildlife, the cr... Read More"

Lauren Thomas

"I did my 1000th dive on my second trip on the Bilikiki. Last time was in 2005 and then I thought it was the best liveaboard I had been on. It still is... Read More"

Alex Davids

"Always a great time on the Bilikiki. Spectacular diving, excellent food and an amazing crew. One of the best laid out boats I've been diving on."

Mike Aitken

"Just really, really, really enjoyed our trip!!! We really fell in love with Pato and Fernando. They did an excellent job guiding us! The crew is as go... Read More"

Darlene Myers