June 27 - July 11, 2017

Bilikiki’s latest trip was the trip of independence! Onboard we celebrated Canada’s, the USA’s and the Solomon Islands's Independence Day! July must be a good month to become independent! I think it is when the British tend to take their holidays.

It was a pleasure to have two great groups of divers onboard for this 14 night trip. We were joined by Bilikiki regular group leaders Jack & Sue Drafahl and Nancy McGee. 

We were treated to some fabulous diving during our two week trip. Highlights included a hammerhead, silver tip and the usual grey and black tip reef sharks, stunning coral at Lologan and Mbulo Canyons and incredible schooling fish action at Mary Island with both jacks and barracudas putting on a show. Other critters spotted included cuttlefish, pipefish, pygmy seahorses, leaf scorpion fish, jawfish, orang-utan crabs, twin spot gobies and tons of great nudis, plus this trip some of us were lucky enough to see a harlequin shrimp as well! 

 In Marovo Lagoon we shopped till we dropped for wood carvings and people bought some stunning pieces. In the Russell Islands we enjoyed a fantastic display of singing and dancing by Karumolun village.

 It was a fun two weeks diving with a great bunch of people, it was a pleasure to meet you all and to dive with old friends again. Thank you to Tina and Oli and all of the Bilikiki crew for making our trip so enjoyable and showing us such fantastic dive sites.

Kellie Oldfield