diving solomons: live aboard or resort?

Has anyone been on a liveaboard in the Solomons? How was it? Where is the best place to dive (Morovo? Gizo?). Can you stay anywhere on Gizo and dive? Is Fat Boy well hooked up to the dive companies? Any advice on diving in the Solomons?

Thanks!

Nick

Since no-one else has replied....I'd love to do a live-aboard trip, but I think I'd have to win the lottery.
There would be much cheaper diving options, especially if you stay in Honiara or Gizo, and do day dives, rather than one of the resorts.

I just returned from a trip to the Solomons with my brother, and we went diving in Gizo, Marovo Lagoon, and Guadalcanal. Marovo was the best BY FAR. There was amazing shark action--we must have seen dozens of sharks on every dive, including blacktips, whitetips, gray whalers, and hammerheads. It was really incredible. We also saw a dolphin on one dive! And the reefs were very healthy. Diving in Marovo was really spectacular. However, staying in Marovo is very expensive. Usually we're budget travelers, but we heard so many good reviews about Uepi that we decided to spring for it. It was worth every penny!

The diving in Gizo was not great. There is quite a bit of tsunami damage, despite what guidebooks and Dive Gizo may tell you. There may still be lots of fish, but to me it's just not the same without wonderful coral. And seeing broken up dead coral isn't exactly wonderful. However, the Toa Maru is a fantastic wreck that I highly recommend if you do decide to go to Gizo. And yes, Dive Gizo can pick you up from Fatboys, or you can stay in the town. We stayed in the town and it was fine, but Fatboys looked a lot nicer (our dive boat picked up some people from there one day).

I heard from other travelers that the diving in Munda was significantly better than in Gizo, though I did not go there myself (I didn't have the time, unfortunately). Munda is supposed to have a nice combination of reefs and wrecks. There also seems to be more topside activities in the Munda area, especially if you're interested in World War II history. If you're in the Fatboys/liveaboard spending range, I've heard that Zipolo Habu Resort on Lola Island is very nice. I think that Dive Munda can pick you up from there.

If you're interested in wrecks, Guadalcanal is the place to go. There are literally hundreds of wrecks in Iron Bottom Sound, and you can easily base yourself in Honiara. However, I was very unhappy with Coastwatchers, the dive company we chose. I rented a BCD, but the inflator was broken. In fact, Coastwatchers didn't have any BCDs in my size with a working inflator. So this made me nervous and not trusting of all their dive equipment--if the inflator is broken, what kind of shape is more important equipment like a regulator in? Additionally, the air tasted bad, sort of oily. Clearly the filter on the compressor needed to be replaced. But the divemaster insisted that everything was perfectly fine (I'm trained as a divemaster myself. I know that bad-tasting air is not fine). The whole operation just seemed unprofessional. Unfortunately we only had enough time for one day of diving in Guadalcanal, otherwise we would tried again with a different company.

If you can afford it, I've heard that the Bilikiki liveaboard is spectacular. I would have loved to do it! You should seriously consider it.

Go to Solomon Islands Visitors bureau website, and navigate to accommodation then Western Province then Marovo. There are now a number of economical "ecolodges" available - apparently one is opposite Uepi, and can arroange diving there, without the huge cost.