From Sydney to Vanuatu, Solomon Island and finally back to Brisbane

Hi Everyone here

I'm going to plan a trip with my friends to go to Vanuatu and Solomon Islands.
Our departure day should be at 16 Dec 2012 and Must return to Sydney at 11 Jan 2013.
I know it's wet season in these pacific islands. But is that really matter? We focus on diving the most actually.

I check the price of ticket.
Sydney-Santo AU$380 16 or 18 Dec 2012 by Air Vanuatu
Port Vila - Honiara - AU$230 25 Dec or 1 Jan by Air Vanuatu (Operate by Air Pacific)
Honiara - Brisbane - AU$270 11 Jan by Fly Solomon
Brisbane to Sydney (whatever,)

I think they are quite reasonable in this period (Christmas)

But I haven't ticket it yet, just have to many concerns in my mind.

Vanuatu is ok since the tourism industry there is at certain stage well-developed, however, in SI, we have totally no idea.

I don't know how many days I should spend in Vanuatu and How many days in SI.
But the funny thing is that the flight is running on a weekly basis, so only fly is on 25 Dec and 1 Jan (From Port Vila to Honiara).
So which one I should select?

Will the accommodation very expensive during this period? Do I need to plan all the itinerary day by day?

By the way, I am a Chinese Passport Holder and I check the Immigration Division of SI and they said that I need a approval letter before landing.
Has anyone here is not holding some "developed country" passport and successfully get the VOA in Honiara Airport?

That's all the questions and it's a open discussion, so feel free to post anything here.

Cheers,
Tong

Accommodation prices do not change much in Solomon Islands. However, the Christmas New Year period is very busy for all but high end accommodation, due to local summer holidays.
If you are looking at diving, investigate options in the Western province, where there are now a number of resorts catering to divers. Or look at a liveaboard boat, like Bilikiki.
However, it will be important to organise your internal transport and accommodation, especially in Honiara, well in advance.
The problem with Chinese citizens and Visas in Honiara is the fact that many local Chinese traders bring in relatives on visitors visas, then give them jobs the locals should be doing. Organise your Visa in advance, and with resort accommodation and flights out of the country, you should have no problem.

Hi Ozziegiraffe

Thanks for your advice.
We have roughly 10-11 days in Solomon and we don't want to go so far away.
I know western province is much more interesting, but we only have limited time and January is wet season, we are probably not going to take the risk that been stuck in some islands. After research, I found that I want to do some dives around Honiara and visit some places in the Guadalcanal. And move to Talaghi and do some dives there and go bk to Honiara and fly bk to Australia.

I check your wikispaces and as you suggest, there are couples of dive operator in Honiara, but it since only the first one is the dive shop (although I don't have their website and any rate yet), and bilikiki is good just too high end for us...

Honiara
Coastwatchers Watersports Ltd. Rove - Diving, WWII & Honiara Tours: coastwatchers@solomon.com.sb
Bilikiki liveaboard dive cruises: http://www.bilikiki.com/
Solomon Watersports - King Solomon Hotel: http://www.kingsolomonhotel.info/
Invader Charters - Honiara Hotel: http://www.honiarahotel.com.sb/

But other two, are they running a dive shop as well? I could't find any useful information on their website .

For the Tagalhi diving, I know that one and it's quite famous and operate by an Aussie man.

For the accommodation in Honiara, we are probably going to stay at United Church Guesthouse or Chester Guest House. They are quite affordable for us and the reputation is not bad as well.

It seems that you have quite a lot knowledge about Solomon Island, please give me more information and advice. Thank you.

I am not a diver, so cannot advise on dive companies. Also look at St Agnes for accommodation in Honiara, which has en-suite rooms for about $55 AUD a night, and is close to Chester.
However, for any of the Church Rest Houses, you need to book well in advance for December and January, as they are very popular with locals coming and going from study overseas.
Personally, I have spent very little time in Western Province, as I am interested in culture, and prefer the middle and eastern Solomons, where there is less Western influence.

Hi

I am a diver and I have been to solomon Islands for a dive trip but I have not been to vanuatu yet. I know from friends that the best scuba diving in Vanuatu is up in Santo where there is the SS President Coolidge wreck. Some of my dive friends have said it it the best wreck that they have ever dived.

As for Solomon Islands I didn't dive near Honiara at all and honestly I was glad we didn't stay there longer than 1 night (before we flew home) as Honiara didn't seem very nice. We went straight from Honiara airport to Sege airport. We were picked up from here by a boat from the resort we were staying at. We stayed at Upei Island resort which caters especially to divers and snorkelers. Upei is a small island in the Marovo Lagoon. The lagoon is on one side of the island and there is a deep wall to the other side of the island. The resort is great but also very remote. Also the food (included in the price to stay there) was awesome including lobster/ crayfish and crab claws every night.

The dives at Upei were amazing and ranged from wall dives to Japanese WWII wrecks (we dived 2 big WWII freighters, fishing vessel wreck and a seaplane). There were also lots of swim throughs and some small caves areas. There are lots of sharks (black tip reefs, white tip reefs and whalers mostly) around and you can snorkel or dive with them from the welcome jetty. The marine life was excellent and I saw sharks, rays, eels, lion fish, cuttlefish, pigmy seahorse and heaps of other macro life and pelagics. I highly recommend you consider going here as it is a divers paradise.

Also I noticed you said you are planning on going during the wet season. We went in April to Solomon Islands and it only rained once but it rained hard. The rain itself isn't too much of a problem as it is usually hot and humid when it rains but this does cause other issues. Nothing dries in high humidity so if you are taking your own dive gear be aware that you might not get it fully dry before you have to fly. Same goes for towels and clothes. Also rain usually washes sediment from the land and rivers into the ocean and coastal areas which will affect the visibility greatly on your dives. I always have found that diving after rain or during rain you lose at least 10 meters of visibility (so you get 5 to 10 meters visibility at best instead of the 20+ that you can get on rain free days). Something to keep in mind if you are going mainly for the diving.

Hi melbdiver

Thanks so much!! Obviously I leave this forum for long time and luckily that I see your response now.

Thanks again for the response.

I didn't go to Solomon at last, and we went to Vanuatu. Diving the SS Coolidge is the best experience I've had. Very relaxing and easy deep dive. Perfect on land and underwater setup (the 3-7 m deco stop is like artificial and perfect for decompression).

Contact me if you need further information about the vanuatu dive.

www.facebook.com/tongzheng316

Cheers

Tong