Solomon Islands Diving

After the recently launched Solomon Island Aggressor logged 295 nautical miles charting 30 new scuba-diving sites, it became clear that the starring attraction of the Solomons’s remote Western Province is…bait balls. These roiling masses of grunts, jacks, and mackerel are frenzied fish parties crashed by assorted billfish, devilfish, dogfish tuna, bumphead wrasses, and reef sharks, all fearless in the presence of the rare diver.


The 107-foot Aggressor, a 16-passenger yacht based in the Solomons just four months a year, aims to ensure that humans feel as relaxed as the fish. The nine-member crew includes a chef with a penchant for gourmet twists on regional cuisine (the cassava with marinated steak is delicious). Carpeted staterooms have private baths, air conditioning, and queen-sized beds or twin lofts. There’s a photo center, video library, six-person hot tub, GPS system with Loran C, and safety equipment with integrated nitrox and oxygen capabilities.
July through November, the Aggressor makes seven-day sojourns that explore the geothermal hot spot of Vella Lavella Island, 629 square kilometers of forest, fumaroles, and dormant volcanoes with a coast inhabited by porpoises, sharks, rays, bait balls aplenty, and vast populations of clownfish, cowries, and soft coral. Also on the itinerary are visits with the islanders; a look at topside World War II sites in Guadalcana’s capital city of Honiara; and a stay in Gizo in the New Georgias, renowned for radical walls, wrecks, and offshore Plum Pudding Island, where a marooned John F. Kennedy and his IPT-109 crew spent ten long days.


Weekly charters are $2,695 per person (experienced divers only), double occupancy, including meals, diving, three hotel nights, a two-tank Gizo dive, and a tour of Honiara. Contact 800.344.5662.

Sea Kayaking in Fiji

In the remote villages of Fiji, some of the locals mark important events by spending the evenings drinking kava, a mildly narcotic brew made from the dried root of the pepperlike yagona plant. A suitable occasion, for instance, might be your arrival by sea kayak. On Vanua Levu, Fiji’s second-largest island, Eco Divers-Tours will lead you on a five-day kayak expedition along an indented coast to remote villages still unacquainted with conveniences like electricity. The kayaking in Savusavu Bay is grand: On short open-water passages you might divert your course to get a closer look at a spouting pilot whale. Or on the Nasekawa River you could exchange greetings with a farmer who is amazed that you have come from such a faraway place—i.e., Savusavu town, about six miles distant.


But the best reason to make the trip is the opportunity to spend the night in the villages and experience the true Fijian lifestyle and hospitality. You’ll stay in the villagers’ homes, eat their food (taro, cassava, corned beef, raw fish, or just about anything else marinated in coconut cream), and sleep on pandanus mats on the floor. If you’re lucky, you will sit up with them well into the night drinking kava prepared from the yagona root you presented as a gift upon your arrival. After enough bowls full of the chalky-tasting liquid have been passed around, you might learn from your hosts that the lower you are to the ground, the longer you will live. That trees have eyes to see and ears to hear. And that it is far better to spend money on a child’s education than on electricity.
The five-day trip is around $760-1,025 per person for groups of two to ten, including all meals, hotel accommodations for the first and last night, and kayaks; call 011.679.850122.

Loloata Island Resort, Papua New Guinea

Diving Papua New Guinea needn’t entail a sweaty wait for a connecting flight to some cost-a-small-fortune remote corner of the island country. Some of PNG’s best macro diving lies within a half hour of its gateway, Port Moresby’s international airport. The reefs at Loloata Island Resort in Bootless Bay, 12 miles southeast of town, are virtually untouched—chalice choral flaunt ten-foot spreads at a depth of just five feet.


A 15-minute van ride gets you to a barbed-wire gate, and a ten-minute ferry ride lands you on uninhabited Loloata Island and its sleepy, 1960s chicken farm turned resort. Its waters shelter vast stands of hard coral and sea whips, along with pygmy sea horses, mantis shrimp, pipefish, and lots of mollusks—of the 43 known species of allied cowrie, 39 are found here.
The resort has 17 beachfront bungalows on stilts, each with colonial-style furniture, private baths, and veranda with ocean view. On-site you’ll find a modest restaurant and bar, as well as an ad hoc zoo with kangaroos, wallabies, and several kinds of native birds. The resort’s dive operation provides equipment, PADI instruction, and a ten-person dive boat. More than 30 sites lie within easy reach: End Bommie is known for its scorpionfish; Lion Island for black coral; and A-20 Havoc for its sunken bomber. New sites include Dianne’s Reef, inside the main barrier reef packed with soft corals, and Nadine’s Passage, a narrow gully through the barrier reef thick with gorgonian fans, pink sea whips, and pygmy sea horses. Bring your own computer and camera gear.


Double rooms are $200 per night, including airport transfers and meals. Call 011.675.325.8590.

Three Versions of Vanuatu

If you’re looking for the prototypical fantasy island plus a wild hit of traditional culture, Vanuatu could be it. Just a seaplane’s hop from Fiji, this South Pacific archipelago is home to an eerie Titanicky dive wreck, locals who have bungee jumped for centuries, and a religious cult that anxiously awaits the return of appliance-bearing American soldiers. Known as the New Hebrides until 1980, Vanuatu’s 83 islands have 185,000 residents who speak 115 different languages. Little has changed in their fascinating home since Allied forces (and James Michener) passed through in the ’40s.


On the surprisingly cosmopolitan island of Efate, book one of 70 elevated bungalows, each with air conditioning, marble bathrooms, and balcony, at the beachside Iririki Island Resort (doubles $240-$290; 011.67.8.23388). On-site activities include snorkeling, canoeing, kayaking, and windsurfing.
When the jet lag has eased, take the one-hour plane ride to Espiritu Santo Island, the country’s largest, and hook up with Santo Dive Tours (one-tank dive, $20; 011.67.8.36822). Here you’ll explore the 654-foot luxury liner turned WWII troop ship President Coolidge, one of the world’s largest easily assessible wrecks and one of the finest dives around. The almost fully intact ship, at rest in 60 to 230 feet of water, is littered with the personal effects of 5,000 American troops and crew. When you come up for air, stay in one of 17 hexagonal, thatched-roof fares at the six-acre Bougainville Resort. It feels like an old estate villa, surrounded by tropical gardens teeming with orchids, hibiscus, and frangipani (doubles $75; 011.67.8.36257).


On Tanna Island, you can almost touch the edge of 1,184-foot Mount Yasur, a volcano so reliably active you’ll want to wear running shoes. Locals belive that it’s the originator of the universe—or a spiritual home after death. Go at night, when the sound effects and fireworks are even more dramatic. Arrange for a guide on this 40-minute (one way) hike at the Tanna Beach Resort (doubles $49-$61 per person; 011.67.8.68626), which has nine thatched-roof bungalows with private baths.


If that’s not enough excitement, attend services at a church of Jon Frum, a cargo cult that emerged after American planes dropped luxuries onto the island during World War II. Members pray for refrigerators and radios to again drop from the sky and display the Red Cross insignia liberally.


Fall visitors may catch the three- to five-day Nekowiar Ceremony with its famous Toka Dance, an alliance-making event between villages consisting of feasting, face-painting, and dancing, which takes place between August and November. Even if VCRs aren’t falling from the sky, it’s nice to know that tradition is alive and well in Bali Hai.

Sailing in the Whitsunday Islands, Australia

Divers may extol the Whitsundays as an ideal base for scuba trips to the Great Barrier Reef, but in their deep-sea tunnel vision, they’re ignoring some of the finest sailing on the planet. Reliable winds and hundreds of protected bays among this tight jumble of 74 mostly uninhabited islands make it a perfect place to ride the waves.


Sixty-six of the archipelago’s islands have been designated national parkland, replete with faw sandstone bluffs and lush pine, acadia, and eucalyptus forest. The other islands host developed resorts, lending a dash of gentility to this bushland environment just of the edge of Queenstown. The Hayman Island Resort spa is worth a stop. For an elegant dinner, dock at the Hamilton Island Resort, where the Outrigger Room serves excellent seafood. For a more casual meal, toss back some fish and chips at Harpoon Harry’s, overlooking the marina in town.
Another scenic destination is Whitsunday’s southern chain, including Pentecost, Saw, and Thomas Islands, where you can grill coral trout or bluefin tuna on the back of your boat in perfect seclusion.


Australian spring (our fall) brings fine tropical weather, with generally steady, moderate breezes and warm water for windsurfing and snorkeling. On land, you can lounge on the coral-lined white-sand beaches that surround Daydream, South Molle, and Hook Islands. From your beach towel you may spot wallabies, goats, goannas, and other Australian fauna separated from the mainland when the Ice Age carved these “drowned-mountain” islands. Underwater, the array is equally dramatic, whith anemones, barramundi, octopi, white sharks, manta rays, and turtles frequently passing before your mask.


You can easily arrange day trips from the Hamilton docks or hire a seaplane to deliver you from the back of your sailboat. Most Australian charter companies provide twice-daily radio checks, which include weather updates and reassurance for the less-experienced sailor.


Australian Bareboat Charters (011.61.7.4946.9381) and Sail Whitsunday Yacht Charters (011.61.7..4946.7070) can arrange excursions. A 40-foot bareboat yacht runs $244-$462 per night (five-night minimum); add $99 per night for a skipper. for more information on yacht charters, check www.whitsunday.net.au.

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The islands of the South Pacific may be mere specks of land in a vast expanse of open sea, but their attendant myths are larger than life—the Saran Wrap-clear lagoons, atolls ringed by teeming reefs, impenetrable jungle edging crescents of white sand. Set apart in their own tropical time warp, these isles are one of those rare cases where the reality actually matches the fantasy: In the Solomons you’ll find dive sites so plentiful and so rarely (if ever) explored that no one has bothered to name them; in Palau, the first kayak trips have barely begun along the nation’s island-clogged waterways; in Fiji, new sports-oriented resorts cater to divers, sailors, surfers, and assorted utopia-seekers. Pick your dot on the map, then follow our lead to the ultimate in island escapes.

Palau

Palau, in Micronesia, claims fame as one of the world’s finest dive spots—and as the world’s newest nation. The former U.N. Trust Territory marked its first year of independence in 1995. Roughly translated, this means more hotels will be paving Palauan shores and tropical forests in the very near future, so the time to visit is now. Most people go to Palau to dive their brains out; they don’t come away disappointed. The 300-plus-island nation sits 800 miles southwest of Guam and about 700 miles east of the Philippines, at the meeting point of three major ocean currents that nurture a feeding frenzy of marine life. Dive on Palau’s extensive barrier reef, and you might see 1,000-pound clams, anemones the size of basketballs, and fish of all kinds, from manta rays and whale sharks to surfboard-size wrasses. The largest island is 153-square-mile Babeldaob, the only place big enough for the international airport’s runways. But the minute island-capital of Koror, two miles southwest, supports more than two-thirds of Palau’s 15,000 population with its well-planned road system and central location. Koror links up to Babeldaob, Arakabesan, Ngercheu, Malakal, and several other islands via causeways and bridges that have all but replaced interisland commuting on outboards or canoes.


Palau’s fabled dive sites, like Blue Corner and the Ngemelis Wall (with visibility up to 150 feet), are at the southern end of the barrier reef, about an hour’s boat ride south of Koror. Hefty hawksbills lumber among the sea fans and tree corals of Ngemelis Wall, named “the world’s best wall dive” by Jacques Cousteau. The even more popular Blue Corner teems with reef sharks and schooling barracuda. As a new nation, Palau is starting to establish conservation programs for the dive industry, but dive boats still line up to anchor at these sites like planes landing at LAX. Some locals claim that Peliliu’s wrecks, about 45 minutes southwest by boat from Koror, are the best dives; others prefer the geologic formations of Siaes Tunnel, Blue Holes, and Chandelier Cave, all within an hour of Koror. You’re best off simply asking your divemaster to take you to sites offering optimum conditions and the fewest people.
If you want to learn the names of all the marine life, book your dives and snorkeling trips through Fish ‘N Fins (two-tank dives, $100, including lunch; 011-680-488-2637) at Palau Marina Hotel on Koror. Owner Francis Toribiong, the godfather of Palau diving, knows every olaumeyas and kesebekuu (sea anemone and moray eel). Or dive with Dexter Temengil at Palau Diving Center on Koror (two dives, $110; 680-488-2978), who’ll also take you to Jellyfish Lake ($40 per person), a short boat-ride away on Eil Malk Island. The marine lake is off-limits to divers (there are noxious bacterial gases at depths below 50 feet), but you’ll never get near the stuff snorkeling. Getting there is half the fun: you trek up a rocky cliff, dodging poisonous trees oozing black sap, then slip into ten inches of bug-covered silt and snake your way through a stand of slimy mangrove roots. Somewhere between the mangroves and the lake’s opposite shore, you’ll encounter the nonstinging Mastigias—first one, then ten, until, by the thousands, they’re rubbing up against you like purring kittens.
To log some quality topside time, spend at least an afternoon sea kayaking. The oft-photographed Rock Islands—those little green knobs scattered south of Koror—are minor players in the diving scene, but they’re prime waters for paddlers: you skim along beneath limestone ledges while Palauan bush warblers serenade you from the pandanus above, and plate corals and sponges whiz past below. ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Kayaking of Palau on Koror (rentals, $50-$70; one-day tours, $80; 680-488-1694) outfits day trips and guide-optional camping excursions geared for snorkeling, caving, birding, hiking, and diving. Hikers and fly-fishers should contact Lazarrenna Yosinao at Palau Island ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøs (day trips, $80; 680-488-1843) for a no-holds-barred trek to Babeldaob’s Ngatpang Waterfall, a mix of four-wheel-drive off-roading, jungle hiking, birding, and freshwater minicasting.
Favored divers’ digs include the laid-back bungalows at Carp Island Resort on Ngercheu, (doubles, $70-$100; 680-488-2978) and the 50-room Hotel Nikko Palau (doubles, $130-$170; 800-645-5687). On a gentle slope overlooking the Rock Islands next to ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Kayaking, it makes for a handy paddlers’ retreat. Arakabesan’s Sunrise Villa (doubles, $125; 680-488-4590) has 23 spacious rooms with refrigerators and outstanding views of the Rock Islands. Nearby, the full-service Palau Pacific Resort on Koror’s only beach (doubles, $225-$270; 800-327-8585) appeals to those who seek five-star frills like Jacuzzis and princely all-you-can-eat buffets. If you prefer a live-aboard dive boat, there are several. Book the Palau Aggressor II, a 16-passenger catamaran, through Live/Dive Pacific (seven-day package, $2,225; 800-344-5662). The Sun Dancer (one-week package, $2,000-$2,200; call Peter Hughes Diving, 800-932-6237), with eight posh double cabins, cruises the length of Palau’s reef. The smaller Ocean Hunter (one-week package, $2,000-$2,225; call See & Sea Travel, 800-348-9778) is a 60-foot yacht with three double cabins.
Getting There and Around:

Continental Micronesia (800-231-0856) flies from Los Angeles and San Francisco for around $1,750, with stopovers in Honolulu and Guam. In Koror, rent a car from Toyota Rent-A-Car ($75 per day; 011-680-488-2133).

The Solomon Islands

A dive briefing goes something like this: “We know this is a wall. The current will take you to a reef. We’re not sure what’s there. Have fun!” Whoopie! You drop down into warm blue water with 100-foot visibility, drift along, see a bunch of reef sharks and giant sea fans, whole families of parrotfish, crinoids in every color combo, a hammerhead, a weird ray, and a Spanish dancer. You surface with a fat grin on your face, look around, and then it hits you—except for the divers you’re with and a kid paddling by in a dugout canoe, there’s nobody around—not another boat for as far as you can see (the dive site doesn’t even have a name).
In decades past, only diehard wreck divers made the long haul to the Solomon Islands, 1,300 miles northeast of Australia. Iron Bottom Sound off the main island of Guadalcanal got its name from the sheer numbers of World War II warships, submarines, and fighter planes that haunt its depths. There was no dive operation on Guadalcanal until 1982, no live-aboard until 1988. Even today, sport diving remains in its infancy, despite numerous fringing reefs alive with uncounted coral and fish species (and at least five species of toothy sharks). Of the 922 islands in the archipelago, groups like the Russells and the Floridas opened their reefs to divers only within the past ten years, and the vast majority have yet to be explored.


A trip to the Solomons usually begins at Henderson Field Airport in Honiara on Guadalcanal, the most developed and the largest island at 2,965 square miles. Honiara, the nation’s capital, is a Quonset-hutted town (populated by about a tenth of the Solomons’ 300,000 citizens) surrounded by humid jungle and thatch-roofed villages. While not the most picturesque choice, a stay in Honiara makes good sense if climbing into the cockpit of a sunken B-17 bomber sounds like your idea of fun.
The Kitano Mendana (doubles, $75-$125; 011-677-20071) heads the list of Honiara’s hotels, not so much because of its Sheraton-style amenities, but because of its dearth of in-room mosquitoes. You can snorkel on Mendana Reef right in front of the resort (about a 20-minute swim in shallow water), and on-site Island Dive Services (one dive, $45; 677-22103) will take you to wrecks like the B-17 bomber with intact controls and machine guns. Or do the bushwalk-wade-swim to nearby Mataniko, a waterfall next to a stalagmite-filled cave swarming with bats and swallows.
But to really get away, head straight to Uepi, a tiny single-resort island and prime scuba spot off New Georgia in Western Province. Reached from Honiara via a 70-minute flight on Solomon Airlines (round-trip, $125; 677-20031), Uepi Island Resort (doubles, $100-$135, meals included; 011-61-77-75-1323) specializes in diving, boardsailing, and scenic beaches. The bungalow-style hotel overlooks coral-lined Marovo Lagoon, the world’s longest at 68 miles. Notable dives include the coral extravaganza at Landoro Gardens (more than 500 species, including gorgonian fans and comb coral) and the drift dive (about $40 per dive) among Maori wrasses at Uepi Point. Canoes are available at the resort for the trip up the Kolo River to several small villages, where you can watch weavers and wood carvers at work.
For birders, there’s Rennell Island, 130 miles south of Guadalcanal in Central Province. Its 427 square miles shelter shrikebills, fantails, pygmy ibises, and cormorants that feed on tilapia and giant eels. The birds congregate in Te’Nggano, the largest freshwater lake in the Pacific outside of New Zealand. Now under consideration as a World Heritage nature reserve (as is Marovo Lagoon), the area has no lodging facilities. To camp, you’ll need a village chief’s permission, best secured by a guide found through the Solomon Islands Tourist Authority on Honiara (677-22442).
For a closer encounter with the Solomons, consider a live-aboard dive boat. Bilikiki Cruises in Honiara operates the only two live-aboards in the Solomons (all-inclusive weekly rates, $1,750-$2,225; 800-663-5363). Both make seven- to 14-day runs to Marovo Lagoon, the Russells, and the Floridas. The 125-foot Spirit of Solomons takes up to 26 divers; the 125-foot Bilikiki, an old ferry turned luxury cruiser, holds up to 20 divers. With advance request, either boat can stow away boardsailing, canoeing, and fishing gear.
Getting There and Around:

For connecting flights from Fiji to Honiara (via Vanuatu) in the Solomons (there’s no direct service from the U.S.), book the $485 round-trip Discover Pacific Pass on Solomon Airlines (call Air Promotions Systems, 800-677-4277). The Discover Solomons Pass gets you four domestic flights for $250. Avis rents cars in Honiara ($307-$450 per week); Budget charges $253.

Fiji

In Fiji, choose your island according to your sport, then expect to empty your wallet. The ultimate Fijian idyll won’t come cheap, but the good news is that Fijian hotels tend to treat all travelers like royalty, no matter how wild-eyed or grungy.
The 330-island archipelago (population 785,000) lies 1,148 miles north of New Zealand. Of the three largest islands, 4,010-square-mile Viti Levu has the capital of Suva, the Nadi International Airport, and the bulk of the population. Legendary surfing awaits at tiny Tavarua off its western coast, while Vanua Levu (3,000 square miles), Taveuni (166 square miles), and smaller islands in the north have the least-traveled beaches and the best snorkeling and diving.


Of course, the only rationale surfers need to part with a year’s savings is a 25-second ride in a 15-foot tube—which is why Tavarua attracts even the most penurious of the breed. Reached from Nadi via a 45-minute drive plus half an hour in an outboard, the 30-acre island sits amid razor-sharp reefs, outside of which loom screaming left breaks accessible only by boat. Tavarua Island Resort (doubles, $150 per person, including lodging, meals, and transportation; 805-686-4551) caters to a maximum of 24 surfers with rustic bures (thatch-roofed huts), communal toilets, a family-style restaurant, and those all-important first-aid stations. Bring booties, boards, and your strongest leash, and prepare to meet a sea snake in its natural habitat. Glassiest conditions occur November to February.
You can also scuba dive off Tavarua, but if diving’s your main passion, book yourself into Cousteau Fiji Island Resort (doubles, $375-$475, including breakfast and all activities except diving; 800-268-7832) on Vanua Levu, Jean-Michel and partners’ new playground on Savusavu Bay where it meets the Koro Sea. The PADI dive and water-sports operation offers a full-on photo lab, along with crafts from sailboats to kayaks. On occasion, the reefmeister himself leads dives or even rainforest hikes to misting waterfalls.
If the resort’s 20 plush bures, each with floor-to-ceiling windows and well-stocked minibars, sound a tad decadent, do it in the name of science: Project Ocean Search, Jean-Michel’s biannual resort program on reef ecology, includes lectures, field trips, and underwater shooting with a Nikonos V ($6,200, all-inclusive with round-trip airfare from Los Angeles; 805-899-8899).
Divers who want to try their luck at saltwater fly-fishing should check out Matagi Island, a horseshoe-shaped sliver six miles from Taveuni’s northeast coast. Its eponymous 240-acre resort (doubles, $200-$340; 800-362-8244) houses guests in ten bures, or in a treehouse 30 feet off the ground. Mornings, two dive boats (two-tank dive, $85 per person) run to coral-covered drop-offs like Purple Wall and Golden Dream. Afternoons, you can fool around with Hobie Cats and sailboards or test the resort’s handmade flies on king mackerel and dogtooth tuna.
If you’d rather dive day and night, bunk on the resort’s Matagi Princess II, with air-conditioned staterooms and hot showers (seven nights, all-inclusive with round-trip airfare from Los Angeles, $3,500; 800-362-8244). The 12-passenger, 85-foot live-aboard cruises from Matagi to sites in the Somosomo Strait and the Ringgolds brimming with soft corals and tiger cowries.
Sailors can charter a bareboat through The Moorings (50-foot Beneteau, $590-$690 per day; 800-535-7289); a typical ten-day sail from its base on Malololailai Island ten miles west of Nadi includes a stop on Sawa-i-Lau to swim in the caves, a visit with Naviti Island’s female chief to trade for shells and carvings made by villagers, and an exploration of the freshwater pools and beachside waterfalls on Waya Island.
Finally, there’s the hell-you-only-live-once choice—a sojourn on 800-acre Kaimbu in north Fiji’s Lau group, where you can either ensconce yourself in a palace of a bure with 25-foot ceilings and 220-degree views or drop a slightly larger fortune and have the run of the island. Kaimbu Island Resort (all-inclusive doubles, $1,200 per night; entire island, $3,500; 800-473-0332) takes up to six guests and fronts the proverbial blue lagoon.
Getting There and Around:

Three airlines make the 11-hour trip from Los Angeles to Nadi International Airport: Qantas (800-227-4500), with nonstops on Tuesdays and Thursdays; Air Pacific (800-227-4446), with a Saturday nonstop; and Air New Zealand (800-262-1234), with four weekly departures via Honolulu. Round-trip airfares range from $1,100 to $1,500; the minimum stay is usually a week. Sunflower Airlines (011-679-723-016-408) flies from Nadi to most of Fiji’s smaller islands ($40-$110 one way). For car rental, call Avis ($309-$412 weekly; 800-331-1212) or Budget ($312; 800-527-0700)

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