Christmas and New Years trip end of 2023!

Bilikiki is back from her last trip of the season! This last one has been 14 days of diving, snorkeling and many other festive things, since we got to celebrate Christmas and New Year's Eve onboard. We even got the chance to catch and release some nautilus thanks to Dr. Bruce Carlson & Marj Awai and the research they were doing. An experience of a lifetime!
The weather for this last trip has been simply AMAZING! The best we have had in our whole season! Fine and flat seas, beautiful sunny days and incredible visibility made the diving on those stunning coral reefs and Second World War sites even more incredible!
It seemed that all the fish life was present and from big to small all our favourite creatures decided to show up for our last trip! Special mention of the silver tip and leopard shark we got to see in the Western Province, the mobula rays and the eagle rays in the Russells, and the big schools of barracudas & jacks at Mary Island. That’s without forgetting the rivers of fusiliers and the schools of oceanic and redtoothed triggerfish everywhere...and spending almost an entire dive with a family of nine bumphead parrotfish. So many great experiences for our guests! And of course the macro life! WOW!!! Everything was there: glossodoris and nembrotha nudis, pygmy seahorses, robust ghost pipefish, ornates everywhere too, pygmy pipehorses, cockatoo waspfish, seahorses, hairy squat lobster, orangutan crabs, soft coral crabs, flounders, dart fishes, sand divers and so many others!
The carving markets, the village visits and the floating markets were, again, very special for our guests. Everyone is taking back beautiful memories of the Solomon Islands in their hearts! Another experience that will never be forgotten is Kavachi and its rumbling! It was loud this trip!
We would like to thank all our guests for choosing to spend their Christmas holidays with us, it was really nice to meet you all, to have you onboard and to start a new year with you!
A gigantic THANK YOU to our amazing crew for all their hard work this season, for taking such good care of all of us and for helping us with the snorkelers! (editors note: a big thank you to Pato and Fernando for all their hard work this season too - and all the trip reports!).
For now that's all, but Bilikiki will be back running trips in March, so, until we see you again...
Happy bubbles!
Pato&Fernando

Nautilus photos thanks to Pato & Fernando (Our Bubbles)
group onboard the Bilikiki in the Solomon Islands

looking at the nautilus.

Nautilus

Posted by Sam and Kellie on January 02, 2024

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Jonathan Rose

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Joanna O'Shea

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Reed Nescher

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Lauren Thomas

"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

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Alex Davids

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

Brett Lobwein

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Fred Catella

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Stephanie Loubat

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Pearl Corker

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Thane Kreiner

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Karen Doby