NEW… Diving the Solomon Islands

Diving the Solomon Islands… Remote, rugged, and astonishingly rich in marine life, the Solomon Islands remain one of the last truly wild frontiers of the Indo-Pacific. Here, far from the well-worn tourist circuits, you’ll find an underwater world that feels untouched — a place where pristine coral gardens, dramatic drop-offs, and WWII wrecks lie scattered across an archipelago of more than 900 islands.

Situated on the eastern edge of the Coral Triangle, the Solomon Islands hold some of the richest marine ecosystems on the planet. Expect everything from hard-coral plateaus and soft-coral walls to schooling jacks, barracuda, reef sharks, and the occasional pelagic visitor sweeping in from deep water.

Layered over this is a legacy from World War II now resting on the seafloor — iconic wrecks, downed aircraft, and entire ships preserved by warm tropical waters. Nowhere else in the Indo-Pacific delivers quite the same balance of thriving reefs and dramatic wartime relics.

But, perhaps one of the Solomon Islands’ true luxuries is space. The reefs are healthy, the dive sites are uncrowded, and the sense of adventure is ever-present. This is diving as it used to be — intimate, personal, and often astonishingly beautiful.

The Solomon Islands’ reefs remain healthy thanks to low tourist pressure and community-based stewardship. Visitors have opportunities to experience local Melanesian culture — a vital dimension of any trip here — and to support locally-run resorts and dive operations that contribute directly to conservation and sustainable practices.

Last year I spent a total of six weeks in the Solomons and dived all the main locations, plus trips on both the liveaboards that operate there – all for a series of articles for Scuba Diver magazine. I have now collated all that information in to a Guide to Diving the Solomon Islands.

NEW… Blackwater Diving in Anilao

Blackwater diving is truly one of the most unique, almost otherworldly experiences you can have underwater. It’s not a night dive in the traditional sense, which are typically conducted in sheltered and relatively shallow locations with no current. Instead, blackwater diving takes place far from shore, in open oceans or large bays, over deep water, often hundreds of metres deep. What makes this experience so unique is that it opens a brief but extraordinary window into a realm few people even know exists.

Every night, billions of planktonic organisms and juvenile pelagic creatures ascend towards the surface in what scientists call the diel vertical migration (DVM). The DVM is the largest mass movement of life on Earth. Those organisms and creatures rise up, under the cover of darkness, to feed in the nutrient-rich upper layers, then retreat back into the depths with the dawn.

Blackwater diving first gained popularity in the USA, initially in Hawaii and then in Florida. In the Asia-Pacific, Anilao in the Philippines has become the place for blackwater diving and in February 2024 I made my first trip there. It took some getting used to but by the third night I had got my head around it and was truly hooked, as the underwater photography potential of the encounters that are possible is truly amazing!

One year later I went back for a second round… It’s not for everyone as it challenges both your comfort zone and your perception. But if you are looking to capture different images, you really do need to try it. I documented what I learned on both trips to Anilao in articles that were published in X-Ray magazine and you can read more on this link to Blackwater Diving – Truly Unique.