The M/V Bilikiki and Staff

The Bilikiki and its sister ship, the Spirit, are the premiere (and only!) liveaboard dive vessels in the Solomon Islands. They are converted fishing vessels and are both large and comfortable, hosting a maximum of twenty divers and thirteen crew. The dive deck is enormous, and there are both wet and dry camera facilities, including E-6 processing, light tables, and battery charging areas. The majority of dives are done from two comfortable aluminum "tinnies," but occasionally the Bilikiki will moor or anchor at a dive sight, allowing open-deck diving off of the swim step.

Click on any image to see all Bilikiki boat and crew photos!
The M/V Bilikiki	Large, comfortable cabins
Excellent camera facilities	Large dive deck

A typical dive day aboard the Bilikiki:
8:00 Dive 1 - 11:00 Dive 2 - 12:15 Lunch - 14:00 Dive 3 - 17:00 Dive 4 - 19:00 Dinner - 20:30 Dive 5

Village visits are interspersed occasionally, and the dive schedule becomes more compressed on these days.

Aside from the fantastic diving opportunities, what makes the Bilikiki special is her crew. Managers and dive guides Monty Sheppard and Michelle Gaut are fun, professional, and knowledgeable, and the staff of eleven soft-spoken locals ("the boys") are by far the best crew I've ever encountered. Everyone was friendly and competent, and no need was left unaccounted for. If one of the staff saw you doing anything more than once, he might simply anticipate your actions for the rest of the trip and do it for you.

The tinnie drivers were amazing as well. The familiar whine of the tinnie accompanies you on every dive, and there is always one boat accompanying divers' bubbles, while the the other ferries those who have surfaced back to the boat. During one dive, I wandered off into the blue in a huge school of barracuda; normally, I would have surfaced after five or ten minutes of leaving a dive site, but I could hear that one of the tinnies had split off and was following me, above.

I have another anecdote to share about the quality of the crew: After surfacing from a dive on the swim step, I was told excitedly by Monty that he had found a sea cucumber under the boat hosting two Periclimenes imperator commensal shrimp. I mentioned to him that I would need to change lenses before going back to photograph them, which was overheard by a couple of staff members on the dive deck. By the time I had stepped foot back onto the boat, my camera had been rinsed in fresh water, dried thoroughly, and set in a safe location where I could open it up to make the lens change (!).

Also worth mentioning is an unusual phenomenon called "Bilikiki belly." The food on board is so good that you might find yourself gaining a couple kilos upon leaving the Solomon Islands. There is always food available in the galley: popcorn and freshly-baked cookies after the first dive, lunch after the second dive, fruit after the third dive, and a snack platter followed by dinner after the fourth dive. I never even thought about eating anything after the fifth dive of the day (the night dive), but I'm sure something would have been available had I been craving something.

The managers of the Bilikiki: Craig "Monty" Sheppard and Michelle Gaut
The crew: Frank, Peter, Andrew, Norman, Tim, Michael, Wilson, Max, John V, Ben, John Lee

The Bilikiki, its crew, and its routine makes diving absolutely enjoyable. I don't have a single complaint about my experience on board.

To book a trip aboard the Bilikiki or Uepi Island Resort, you can contact the Bilikiki directly or book through Jenny at Reef & Rainforest, who handled all of my travel and accomodations to and from Honiara and Seghe (the island you have to fly to for a transfer to Uepi Island).