The Solomon Islands, east of Papua New Guinea, are rich in cultural diversity. Melanesians, Polynesians, Asians, Micronesians and the odd Westerner all call the Solomons home. With ancient customs still widely practiced in thousands of small villages, local life is an often-unexpected bonus for visitors.

The Solomons, an independent nation since 1978, consist of nearly 1000 islands. The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal. Guadalcanal lies in the Coral Sea, east of the southern tip of New Guinea. It is the largest island of the nation of Solomon Islands.
With a total population of 300 000 there are very few cities and most people still live a very basic life in the villages. Tourism is only starting to discover this precious part of the Pacific. The Solomon Islands where declared as World Heritage in 1998, to protect this area of natural beauty and diversity.Only since the early 1990's the country started opening to tourism. Today, tourism is becoming an increasingly important economic factor. Apart from War veterans, it is predominantly divers who travel to the Solomons.

Second World War came to the Solomons like a nightmare, there was fierce fighting between the Americans and the Japanese in the Solomon Islands campaign of 1942–45, including the Battle of Guadalcanal. Despite its long, often bloody history, most historical interest in the Solomons surrounds its pivotal role as a strategic site in the Pacific in WWII. The historic naval battles between Japanese and allied soldiers are well documented. Little is known about the impact of 20th century warfare on the local population.

The numbers of WWII naval wrecks in the waters of Iron Bottom Sound are testament to the ferocity and destructive power of battle. Unfortunately most of them are too deep to access for recreational divers

Climate
You can expect a very warm and humid climate all year round. The rainy season spans from December until April. Air temperatures are from 28 C to 32 C (82-90 F). Water temperature is between 23 C (July/August) and 27C (December/January) (72-82 F). The best time for travelling is between July and December.

Activities
As with many Pacific islands, the greatest attraction for visitors to the Solomon Islands is diving. A combination of spectacular, untouched coral reefs and abundant tropical marine life makes diving and snorkelling attractive options. Visibility is commonly as good as 30m (100 ft).

Other popular outdoor activities could keep you busy for months. There's bushwalking, canoeing, mountain and volcano climbing, swimming, surfing, fishing, shell-collecting and bird-watching.

Diving
The walls, reefs, pinnacles and coral gardens of Solomon Islands support an amazing variety and quantity of sea creatures. While pelagics have been declining here in recent years, the variety of the seascape is breathtakingly beautiful. Brilliant soft and hard corals, huge sea fans, plenty of caverns and swim-throughs into and outside of island lagoons -some surfacing in freshwater pools- provide ever-changing backgrounds to enchanting as well as dramatic dive experiences.

The variety of species is staggering. Within a small space, anemone fish, angel fish, butterfly fish, humphead parrot fish and other reef dwellers can be seen individually or in schools, while just a short distance away schools of barracuda, big-eye trevally and other pelagics cruise in the blue waters. Popular with underwater photographers and those with a keen eye for the small and unusual critters are "muck dives". Mantis shrimp, ghost pipefish, and pygmy seahorses are only a few examples.

The 28° -30°C (82°-85°F) water temperatures, along with stable weather patterns contribute to excellent diving all year round. The dryer months are from March to December.

Wrecks
The Solomon Islands were the location of some of the most violent fighting during WWII; therefore, plane and shipwrecks of all sizes can be found everywhere in shallow waters as well as in the deep trench of Iron Bottom Sound between Honiara and the former capital Tulagi. Bear in mind, the wrecks in Iron Bottom Sound waters are too deep for recreational divers and liveaboard vessels in the Solomons are not offering dives on those wrecks. There are a few small WWII wrecks here and there in very shallow waters as artificial reefscapes, which might be dived during your liveaboard cruise. None of the more famous wrecks in Iron Bottom Sound, like the Aaron Ward, or the Toa Maru in Gizo are featured on liveaboard ships standard itineraries.

• Guadalcanal
• Uepi