Trip report: W+Central province (Marovo, Tetepare, Munda, Florida islands)

Hi. We are a couple who just spend 20 days (March 2010) backpacking in the Solomons as a part of our RTW trip. This is definitely a great and interesting country with terrific diving, though quite expensive as a budget traveler. The country is safe and there are few tourists. So here are a few comments about our experiences:

Central Province

Honiara
Stay at Chester Guesthouse (as everybody writes). This is a clean and safe place with friendly staff and cooking facilities for 200S$ pr. room. This is also a good place to meet some local people from the Solomons and it is very central in town, so you can easily walk around. We felt safe walking around in town during day time.

We stayed the two first nights at King Solomon Hotel (approx. 1000 S$/night excl. breakfast) to see how safe Honiara felt. At King Solomon you get private room with TV and Aircon but not much service, and we didn’t feel that was worth the extra 800 S$ pr. night. In addition there was a lot of construction work.

Go to the SIVB (tourist information opposite the main square) - they were very helpful with information about accommodation and getting around in the Solomons. They even went to our hotel to tell us that the boat from Maravagi had arrived. That’s very good service!

Also visit the market!

Maravagi Resort (Florida Islands)
This is a nice place with white sand and simple bungalows with sea view. Good snorkeling outside the door on the house reef and it is interesting to visit the local village. They often have Australian surfers on full packages incl. meals and accommodation.

Meals are large but expensive (someone warned about this in a previous post). I think they have a meal package with breakfast; lunch and dinner for 50 AUD/day (excl. drinks) however it may be cheaper to choose individual meals (we paid 35-40 AUD/day/person). They typically have three options for lunch or dinner, but beware that prices vary for the individual dishes (e.g. between 10-20 AUD), but there are no prices on the black board. Payment cash only – not necessarily with the best exchange rate between AUD and SBD.

Western Province/Marovo Lagoon

Vuana Guesthouse (Peava Village) – Solomon Dive Adventures
Solomon Dive Adventures has a small simple hut (Vuana guesthouse) with two rooms and shared facilities available for guests. Very good and individual diving (we were the only two divers together with the local dive masters). Dives are 60 US$ each and full equipment will be ~30US$ per day. You get to meet the local kids as they run a kindergarten here and the food is very good.

Wilderness Lodge told us they were under renovation until May 2010, but from the outside it looked nice.

Charapoana Island Eco-Lodge
A very nice and simple place with very good service and food; the most beautiful lodge we have seen in the Solomons with a lot of nice details. The village people who run the place are very nice and good hosts. There is no electricity and running water, but the mangrove toilet and outdoor “showers” (buckets) are pretty cool! You can see black-tip, squids and turtles from the jetty or while snorkeling; and there is a manta ray cleaning station close to. Small white sandy beach. Accommodation approx. 170S$ p.p., three meals approx. 130S$ p.p.

Diving with Uepi MAY be possible, but if you are not staying at their resort you are not really welcome - they may tolerate you. That said; diving was excellent! Casual divers pay 10 AUD more pr dive (78 AUD/tank) and approx 14 AUD pr equipment item (e.g. BCD, Regs, Computer) – or approx 200 AUD for two dives excl. Custom fees (10-35 AUD).

They told us some options are only available for in-house guests, e.g. their daytrip with four dives on two tanks or hiring kite boarding equipment. Beware; you are not allowed to snorkel across the Charapoana channel and snorkel on their corals.

Tetepare
The Island was pretty bad hit by the earthquake and tsunami in January, the jetty, kitchen/eating area at the beach and hammocks at the beach have been ripped away and are not yet rebuilt (April 2010, we heard they got funding to do this), hence there are limited options for “hanging out” at the moment. Their office and houses for sleeping are on a hill and have not been damaged.

Some monitoring activities are seasonal. We enjoyed going with the rangers to register coconut crabs and would have loved to see leather backs, but this wasn’t the season. Snorkeling is excellent – plenty of black tips, very large fish on shallow water and the dugongs!

With transfer this is a quite expensive place to visit. Price 350 S$ pr. person pr. night, incl. meals, but transfer from Munda or Seghe cost 1600 S$ pr. boat.

Munda
Stayed at Agnes lodge (only option?) in their new wing (385 SBD/room/night – notice they add 10% tax on their price list rates).

Dive Munda seems like a very well run dive shop (well maintained and best equipment among the places we have been in the Solomons) with friendly people. We had great diving with picnic on a white sandy beach. Dives are 75 AUD each and equipment 30 AUD a day.

NB: The bakery (behind the police station) has the best bread in the Solomons.

Transportation

Honiara
Taxi to/from the airport in Honiara is 70 S$.

To/around Western Province
Due to the cyclone Ului the Pelican Express wasn’t going to the Western province (someone recently wrote it is under repair; we got the impression that it is operating again and only was cancelled due to bad weather?). Solomon Express wasn’t operating. We had a lot of transportation around Marovo Lagoon in open boats which adds considerably to the costs (1200-1600 SBD/boat for two hour transfers; fuel is expensive here!).

From Solomons to PNG
We tried to apply for Visa at the PNG High Commission to go “over land” from Solomons to PNG (via Bougainville), but were told that we could not do this unless we had our own yacht (we considered this a while, but figured out that buying a yacht was slightly above our budget ;-)). The High Commision said the only option for entering PNG from Solomons was via Port Moresby (going from PNG to The Solomons is another case)

In summary a great and safe country to visit with few tourist, bring staka money! Go visit!

Good report - thanks. For accommodation in Honiara, between King Sol and Chester, St Agnes, just up the road from Chester, offers rooms with en suites, from $300SBD, depending on size. Like Chester, there are communal kitchens, one in each wing. There are also 2 downstairs rooms with their own kitchenette.
A bit out of town, but on a bus route, is the Raintree, which is one of the few places in Honiara where you can get real cappuccinos, as well as offering guest house accommodation and Pizza, etc.

A couple of additions as of July 2, 2010: Chester House has almost finished their new rooms: self-contained, with shower, toilet, kitchen, and air conditioning, I was told; the price had not yet been determinied. Everyone I've met who has tried to stay at Chester House without having made a reservation, including me, was unable to find an available room. "St. Agnes Mothers Union Transit Centre," also known under variations of that name, are currently charging S$250 for their standard rooms with shower/toilet; the air con, 4-bed room with shower/toilet costs S$400, I was told. They, too, seem to be fully booked most days. Quality Inn, almost across the street from Mothers, is advertising rooms for S$250, but I don't know what's included or what they're like.

OG, if you don't already know, Honiara, Auki, and Gizo are to be sites of the 11th Pacific Arts Festival - 2012, if I've got that name right; dates not yet determined. They are predicting 4,000 to 5,000 participants and visitors for this quadrennial event.

And just to confirm: Express Pelican is doing the route Honiara-Gizo for S$500 to Gizo, S$550 business class (board an hour or more before 7 a.m. departure, I was told, or jostle with crowds); and Solomon Express is not -- concerns about their engine, I was told. (Solomon Express still does the Honiara-Auki run on Tuesdays for S$140, then continues to the south of Malaita, as does Express Pelican, but only to Auki, on Friday, also for S$140. The Discovery 360 runs Honiara-Auki daily except Saturday and twice on Friday for S$195, but is not currently running to Gizo) There is also a slower and a bit cheaper boat doing the Honiara-Gizo run: the Bikoi; one of the fares is S$360 to Gizo, but I've just heard this morning that there are other levels of fares. (I think it is Bikoi I; Bikoi II being a freighter, and Bikoi III, another passenger ship, is on order, I was told.) Both leave Honiaro toward Gizo on Sunday morning. There is supposed to be yet another boat, run by Wing or Wing's Shipping, doing that route, but I was told that vessel is currently being serviced. There are also mostly unscheduled freighters taking some passengers doing the route; Solfish 002 is leaving tomorrow afternoon, for example.

And a belated Much Thanks! to Lazlo for his advice in an earlier posting to get an earlier edition of LP's Solomon Islands.

I would not choose Quality Inn unless I had no alternative. I have had friends who stayed there (locals) but it has a bit of a seedy reputation.
You would be better looking at the United Church or SSEC Rest Houses (although they may also be full like Chester and St Agnes).