Cathy Church Photo Tour
May 1 through May 15, 2001
Bilikiki Live Aboard – Solomon Islands
Still Photos
Solomons Movies
Executive Summary – The trip was wonderful. Cathy, Herb and the Bilikiki staff were absolutely fantastic. The diving was as wonderful as we had hoped. We had a magnificent time, except for the trip there and back. There will be more to come as we write it, but we are currently very tired, as you can well imagine.
Day One and Two- The Journey
As we sat the Sakana Lounge of Japan Airlines with no Internet access (who ARE these people with no Internet access anyway?), in LA, there was only one thing I can say about the American Airlines flight from DC to LAX. Pleasant. Very pleasant in fact. We were lucky enough to be upgraded to First Class of a three class aircraft (a 767) and had DC power at our seats, portable DVD players and DVDs provided by the airline, and excellent service as well as good airline food. (Wait, did I say "good" along with airline food? ME?). The strangest thing I've found so far, however, was that the DVD player refused to play the DVDs that we had brought along with us. Something about regional codes. There really ought to be a law against telling people what they can do with their own property (i.e. once you have purchased a license to use a DVD, that license should be worldwide and should belong to YOU, not the country you happen to be in.)
Anyway, as we pulled in, we saw the Air Pacific 747-200 that we were going to ride to Fiji. The plan was to stay overnight in Fiji and then off to the Solomons. Despite supposedly wanting dive tourism, the rumor was that Solomon Air would charge us billions of dollars in overweight charges due to our bringing all the camera gear and the rest of the scuba equipment. Contrary to popular belief, I only brought TWO pair of shoes this time, trying to keep weight down. The nice man at the Qantas counter told us we could upgrade on the Air Pacific flight for a mere $500.00 each. Believe it or not, that was a bargain. We did it. The upgrade in hand, it was off to the JAL lounge that is shared by many airlines, including Qantas and Air Pacific. So, where was the Internet access? Even more importantly, where were the electrical outlets? It soon became obvious that there WERE no outlets that didn't already have lamps in them. As more businesspeople arrived, the lights were all becoming unplugged in favor of laptops and cell phone chargers, making for a rather interesting glow.
More passengers arrived while waiting for the later Qantas flights leaving here in the evening. Each one complained about the lack of food in the lounge. As time went on, more and more people arrived, including people with children. And not just any children. Loud and annoying children. So much for a business lounge. Soon, there were no seats left and people were sitting in the hallway outside the lounge. Children were jumping rope, running over each other and other people, and it quickly became an unhappy place to be. Unfortunately, LAX doesn't give you anywhere else to go in the international terminal. Hopefully that will change sometime soon.
After the requisite 6+ hour layover, it was time to board the Air Pacific 747-200. Our purser, Horatio and our flight attendants were magnificent. The Captain let me come up and nose around the cockpit and yap about flying for awhile, which was fun. Luckily, the seats reclined enough to get some sleep. The food was excellent, the wine was pretty good, and the service was also excellent. Nice airline to fly. The 10 1/2 hours went by relatively quickly and before we knew it, we were in Nadi, Fiji. By this time I had no idea what time it was, what day it was, or even really where I was exactly (being a typically geographically challenged American). Likely most people on the plane were in the same state.
After a painless transit through immigration, we ran into Cliff, our trip leader, and the other members of our group. While we were waiting for our luggage, we were told that Solomon Air changed our plans yet again and the latest iteration was to spend one day in Fiji, and another day in Australia somewhere before flying back to the Solomons to board the Bilikiki live aboard floating dive palace :-). This was not the first time that Solomon Air had changed our plans. They had changed our departure days and connecting flights at least 3 times since booking the trip. Likely, that would have been 5 or more times if we hadn't been part of a group represented by a large travel agency. Of course, every change meant a change in hotel reservations and connecting flights. Very complicated. Unfortunately, there was nothing we could really do about this, except go with the flow. After a painless transit through customs we were loaded onto a bus and taken to the Fiji Mocambo hotel where they had nicely taken care of letting us check in even though it was ungodly early in the morning (about 5am. The sun wasn't up yet.) The only problem was that our first room was flooded. Our second room's AC didn't work. But the third one was just right :).
After a long winter's nap, we found that Solomon Air was indeed going to send us to Brisbane, Australia in the middle of the night. We were going to stay there for two days essentially, then take a late flight in the middle of the night (I sense a theme coming on :)) to the Solomons. They would put us up, and give us some money for lunches, etc. Very inconvenient, but I guess that's life. After loading up the millions of pounds of luggage for 13 of us, we were taken to our lovely new hotel, the Airport 85. Our immediate impression of the facilities was YUCK. Our impression proved correct as we found that most of the outlets didn't work right, the shower sprayed to the ceiling, causing a rain shower after you turn the water off, etc. etc. The people who run the place, however, were wonderful. They were accommodating, friendly, and had a pretty good restaurant where I had some great pud thai.
We decided to take a walk since we had arrived so early. We were in search of lunch. After about two miles, we found lunch at a wharf restaurant which wasn't bad at all. We were told by the person there that if we walked about 10 more minutes, we would find shopping. We started walking. 10 minutes passed, 20, 40, one hour and still not much. We found ourselves walking about 6 miles that day, finally found shopping, and picked up a few things. We did NOT walk 6 miles back. Taxis were our friends.
Day Three - we think
By this time, we were not terribly sure what day it really was. However, we did know that it was a good time to go to the koala sanctuary and check things out. We took a pleasant boat ride out there, listening to all of the scoop on the Brisbane river, then got to see, feel, and hold the koalas. We also got to feed the kangaroos, scritch the cockatoos, and otherwise cause difficulty. It was fascinating and fun. On the way back, we stopped at shopping again.
While shopping, we decided that it would be a fun thing if we bought a video camera. We asked the Australian salesperson whether or not a Australian camera would work in the US, and whether we'd have any problems. He told us that everything was compatible. This is foreshadowing, by the way :).
Once we made it to Brisbane airport for our 2 am flight, we found that even though Solomon Air had caused us so much difficulty, canceling flights and causing us significant hassles, they were hell bent on charging us for overweight luggage. Excess luggage charges are certainly not a great way to encourage divers and photographers to visit your islands. We wound up paying about 350.00 US in order to get on the very late airplane and finally get to the boat.
After an uneventful flight and long customs line, we were met by Monty, one of the managers of the Bilikiki boat. He shuttled us off to the ship and deposited us and our junk into our rooms. Surprisingly, the rooms were large enough to move around in. The ship was clean, the people were wonderful, and we snuggled up into bed so we could sleep through the passage to the first dive sites in the morning.
Day Four - 5/3 - DIVING FINALLY!
Our first divesite was called Karamolun. It was most amazing to see the beautiful soft corals and the very colorful fish. There were a few species that were pretty much the same as home, but most things were prettier, with much brighter colors. It was a wonderful introduction to the South Pacific.
On the second divesite, we went to Mirror Point, where we saw our first "anemone fish." These are the classic orange and white fish that hang out in beautiful anemones. We saw some beautiful crabs, more corals, and more fish. It was great.
They fed us well on the Bilikiki. Breakfast was hot food, oatmeal, cereal, fruit etc. After the morning dives we got cookies and popcorn. Lunch was usually fish or chicken with some creative salads. Dinner was usually soups and meats of some sort, along with veggies and salads. Deserts were also quite nice.
The next 10 days
The diving was wonderful. We saw some beautiful schooling fish, a few sharks, anemone fish, nudibranchs, crabs, and just about anything else you might want to meet. The colors were magnificent. There was evidence of coral bleaching due to the warm waters (about 86 degrees on average) which was very sad to see, but there wasn't as much as there might have been.
We also experienced underwater volcanic eruptions that vibrated through your whole body. They were pretty loud under there too. That was really cool. Some of the stranger things we saw were crocodile fish, and stone fish. The stone fish apparently can sting you with venom that will kill you within 30 minutes. Needless to say, we stayed far away from it. We saw some very nice cuttlefish, lots of shrimp, many anemone fish and some very nice clownfish. More photos and movies are going up as we scan them.
One of the strangest things we saw close to the last morning we were there, was a salt water crocodile about 100 yards away. We didn't dive that site. The crocodiles are far more dangerous than sharks, or so they say.
5/14 - Going Home
The morning of 5/14 we pulled into Honiara and set up at the dock. Depressing is one word that can easily describe the surroundings. I suppose that it may have been typical for a third world seaport, but it really was dark, dirty, dingy and uncomfortable. We spent the day on the Bilikiki, said our goodbyes, settled up our accounts, and napped as much as possible.
The Bilikiki crew were absolutely fabulous. They fed us, entertained us, and took good care of us while we were sitting around waiting for our Solomon Air flight that was scheduled to leave at 3 am. Of special note was a 19 year old named John who gave me a canoe paddle to bring back to my daughter. He was very sweet. We will miss him. Everyone else was fabulous too.
Anyway, we slept in our cabins on the Bilikiki until midnight, then got up, showered, and packed our remaining things to get us ready for the flight. The bus was scheduled to show up at 1 AM to take us to the airport. 1 AM came and went. No bus. 1:30, no bus. Monty, Michelle and Michael decided to get us taxis and get us to the airport so that we wouldn't miss the flight. Given that Solomon Air had changed our schedule at least 4x since we had boarded the boat, it would be a good thing not to miss this one, and our ongoing connections home. Herb was sent to the airport to begin luggage and check in stuff for the group. Everyone else followed. They hand checked all of the luggage, since the one x-ray machine was broken. What a surprise :). Solomon Air had been having serious problems due to the "tensions."
The Fiji flight was uneventful. Next leg was to Brisbane where we waited for 6 hours before our flight to LA. The 10 hour LA flight wasn't bad either. LAX to IAD was on American Airlines, and they were magnificent, including hunting me down on the shuttle to give me something I'd left behind. Wonderful.
So, the Bilikiki was absolutely fantastic. The diving was wonderful. If they can deal with getting there and back in a better way, we'd certainly go back.