Discover the Solomon Islands' Top Dive Sites | Liveaboard Dive Trip Highlights

G'day folks and welcome to part 7 of my 100 reasons to visit the Solomon Islands series. This time we are exploring some of the most beautiful seascapes you are likely to encounter. Whether it's a specific dive site, a reef or a habitat, I'll show you some of my favourite places to visit. Coming in at 61, Barracuda Point on Mary Island. One of the rare dive sites in the world named after something you will actually see on the dive. Barracuda Point is very well named. This spot regularly has the biggest school of barracuda I have ever seen. Throw in schooling trevally or jacks and great visibility and you've got yourself a cracking dive site. At 62, the Russell Islands Shallows. This is more a loose group than a location. The Russells are a collection of around 50 islands surrounding the main island of Pavuvu. There are a bunch of WWII sites and deep walls but the quality of the shallow coral gardens fringing all those islands means you finish every dive on a high. Number 63, Under the Boat, Mary Island. This is one of a handful of sites where the ship can tie stern to land and park basically right on top of the reef without anchor damage. You can come and go as you please with an open dive deck, no bottom time limits, just step off into pristine coral gardens and explore the bommies and swim throughs. 64, Maravagi Shallows at Mangalonga Island is a protected bay where we can finish the Devils Highway Manta Dive which I'll show in a later episode. But this small bay is a worthy site on its own. It's glassy calm and offers great critters among beautiful seagrass making it one of my favourite spots to jump in and explore. We've even found Blue Ring Octopus here in the rubble. 65, Marnie Point Coral Gardens on Marnie Island are on the edge of the Russell Group and has the perfect combination of currents and protection, bringing in clear water and providing calm seas to create some of the most beautiful and diverse hard coral gardens you'll find anywhere. 66, Mirror Pond Gardens, also on Marnie Island, another great example of Solomon Islands shallow coral reefs. I'll show you inside Mirror Pond on a later episode, but when you leave the pond you cross stunning hard coral gardens and its beautiful residents on your way to the wall and drop off. 67, Mary Island is an uninhabited volcanic island covered in lush rainforest and isolated midway between the Russells and New Georgia. Being too rugged and isolated for people, it is absolutely stacked with fish and healthy coral gardens. Even at depth, hard corals thrive in Mary's remoteness and remarkable visibility. From the schooling barracudas and jacks at Barracuda Point, dramatic hard coral formations guide you back to the calm bay our ship ties up to. 68, Penguin Reef is an isolated patch reef that pops up vertically from the depths and features beautifully coloured sheer walls. Dripping with colourful sponges, fans and soft corals, the walls are patrolled by large pelagics like this dog-toothed tuna. 69, Red Whip Walls with Golden Damsels. These are common sights in the Solomons. Wherever you find current swept walls, you'll find these beautiful black coral relatives. The whips share the vertical space with giant fans, which golden damsels use as egg-laying sites. If you're looking for some colour in your underwater images, you'll love shooting these guys. 70, Keecha Island is a little island just off the southeast tip of the New Georgia group. The reef is bathed by clean ocean currents, perfect for corals and as fishy as it gets. Schools of batfish come to hang and be cleaned, schooling fish like barracudas and fusiliers are common as dirt, and if you're lucky, herds of bumphead parrotfish might even make an appearance. Well that's it for this one, subscribe or follow for 30 more daily reasons to visit the Solomon Islands with me in 2024.