Solomon Islands Kayak & Dive Liveaboard Expedition

Overview

Tucked away in the South Pacific between Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands are the kind of place that feels straight out of a dream—crystal-clear waters, lush jungles, and some of the most vibrant coral reefs on the planet. This remote island chain made up of six big islands and nearly a thousand smaller ones, is home to an insane amount of marine life—over 485 coral species and 1,000 species of fish. Throw in WWII wrecks, hidden waterfalls, and empty white-sand beaches, and you’ve got an adventure just waiting to happen.

Hop aboard the Solomons Master for an 11-day journey with SSV, where your liveaboard becomes your home base for kayaking, snorkeling, diving, and exploring. Paddle through glassy lagoons, snorkel or dive reefs teeming with life, and check out WWII relics scattered across the islands. On land, trek through the jungle to find secret waterfalls and visit remote villages where the ‘Kastom’ way of life is still alive and well.

This trip is all about getting off the beaten path and diving deep—literally and figuratively—into everything the Solomons have to offer. Days are packed with epic adventures, and nights are spent unwinding on the liveaboard with great food, good company, and unbeatable views. If you’re looking for a trip that blends exploration, culture, and some of the best diving and kayaking in the world, this is it.

At a Glance
  • Dates: October
  • Duration: 11 days
  • Accommodation: Liveaboard
  • Difficulty: Beginner - Intermediate

Upcoming Trips

Upcoming Trips
<span style="color: #000000;"><b>2025</b></span>
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October 14th to 24th <BR>

Gallery

What's Unique About This Adventure?

Highlights
<p style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.75; padding-bottom: 28px; margin-bottom: 0; color: #51526e !important;"><span style="color: #333333;">Here’s what makes this adventure exceptional:</span></p>

<span style="color: #000000;"><b>World-Class Reefs and Marine Biodiversity</b></span>
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Paddle, snorkel, and dive among some of the most vibrant coral reefs on the planet. With over 485 coral species and 1,000 species of fish, the Solomon Islands offer underwater encounters you’ll never forget.

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<span style="color: #000000;"><b>Hidden Beaches and Tropical Waterfalls</b></span>
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Kayak to secluded beaches, trek through lush forests, and discover secret waterfalls tucked deep in the jungle. Each day brings new, untouched corners of this remote paradise to explore.
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<span style="color: #000000;"><b>A Blend of Adventure and Comfort</b></span>
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Spend your days adventuring in remote locations and return each evening to the comforts of the Solomons Master liveaboard. Enjoy gourmet meals, unwind in your cozy cabin, and prepare for another day of discovery.
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<span style="color: #000000;"><b>Cultural Connections</b></span>
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Visit traditional villages where life is guided by ‘Kastom’—a deep respect for ancestral traditions. Interact with locals paddling dugout canoes and gain a unique glimpse into island life that few travelers get to experience.

What's Included

What's Included
<li>Transfers between Honiara Airport or local hotel to the embarkation/disembarkation point</li>
<li>10 nights on board Solomons Master in double/twin share cabins</li>
<li>All meals from dinner on Day 1 to breakfast on Day 11</li>
<li>Unlimited drinking water, tea, coffee, fruit juice and soft drinks</li>
<li>Cabin linen including bath towels</li>
<li>Double and single expedition kayaks, paddles, life jackets and safety equipment</li>
<li>Daily kayaking and land excursions</li>
<li>For divers-up to three dives per day, 11 litre (AL80) cylinder with air fills plus weights, weight belt and SMB</li>

What's Not Included

What's Not Included
<li>Any flights, both international and domestic (the flight from Munda to Honiara is not included)</li>
<li>Meals and accommodation pre and post liveaboard trip</li>
<li>Single cabin supplements</li>
<li>Snorkel equipment. Bring your own to save on rental charges</li>
<li>Dive gear rental</li>
<li>Marine Kastom Fees US$250.00 per person, payable on board</li>
<li>Alcoholic beverages</li>
<li>Travel insurance</li>
<li>Items of a personal nature such as WIFI and laundry</li>
<li>Tips on board for crew and service personnel.</li>

Location

Itinerary

DAY 1 - Arrive to Honiara

For those flying in today, you will be met on arrival and transferred to the Coral Sea Resort, Honiara. You are welcome to relax at the resort or leave your luggage there if you’d like to venture into town.

For those already in Honiara, but not already staying at the resort, please make your way to the Coral Sea Resort by 5pm to meet your kayak guide for the group trip briefing. At 6pm, the group will embark the liveaboard, the Solomons Master. On boarding, you’ll meet the captain and crew who will conduct boat and safety briefings. Then it’s time to relax over a delicious dinner and settle into your comfortable cabins. The boat sets course for the Russel Islands, located northwest of Guadalcanal.

D / ON LIVEABOARD

DAY 2 - Hai Island

Wake up to the Russell Islands! This small archipelago is made up of two islands, Pavuvu and Mbanika, as well as several islets. The islands are partially covered in coconut plantations and have a copra and oil factory on Mbanika.

After breakfast on board, your guide will conduct a safety briefing and gear fitting before the first kayak outing. Today’s highlight will be exploring White Beach on Hai Island, a small cove edged in mangroves that has an interesting history. Paddlers will notice pillars emerging from the water and several large rectangular-shaped wrecks.

White Beach was the code name for the military base set up by the Americans during WWII. The military built a small supply base near the local village and six large wharves where ships could come into the calm waters and resupply with food, ammunition and other required supplies. At the end of the war, rather than pack up the supplies and ship them back home, the military pushed them into the water and onto the nearby reef. The pillars and metal boxes are all that is left of the original pier, however diver’s will discover a surprising array of trucks, jeeps and bulldozers on the site. Despite the chaos underneath, the water is clear and teeming with fish life.

In this area, divers and paddler’s may observe archerfish hunting at the surface and spitting streams of water into the jungle canopy. They use this technique to bring down small mosquitos and other bugs to feed.

After a full day of exploration, we return to the boat for leisure time.

B • L • D / ON LIVEABOARD

DAY 3 & 4 - Exploring the Russell Islands

We’ll explore the Russell Islands, kayaking from one small island to the next, discovering remote white-sandy beaches fringed by coconut trees. We’ll always carry our snorkel gear for encounters with the most amazing colourful reef life imaginable, accessed by either a swim from the beach or slipping into the water from our kayaks.

Divers are spoilt for choice, with pristine reefs, stunning walls, pinnacles, caverns, caves and chasms alive with fish life including rays, reef sharks, barracuda and trevally.

Highlights while exploring the Russell Islands include Leru Cut on Leru Island. The cut is a five metre wide crevice splitting a coral wall, with dramatic, vertical walls on both sides. The walls begin at the sandy bottom and extend 15 metres upwards until they break the surface and continue ascending into the jungle. Kayakers can explore the passage (or even snorkel) while divers can experience an ethereal light as they descend in crystal clear water with sunlight gently filtering down to the sandy bottom.

Divers can descend between the walls and follow the gap in the coral for about 100 meters, then surface in a small lagoon with dense tropical rainforest overhead. Outside of Leru Cut is a fabulous wall teeming with fish life which will delight snorkellers and divers alike.

We hope to visit Karamulon Island and meet the villagers for a glimpse of island life and culture. If we’re lucky, we’ll be treated to a magnificent display of dance and song. A village visit can leave a strong impression as many communities have no electricity, no internet, no running water supply, no shops and jungle pathways instead of roads. Most Solomon Islanders still observe their traditional ways of life, centred around fishing and farming of fresh produce. You can experience this when visiting a local village—or when the local village decides to visit us in their dugouts!

Divers can experience Karamulon Point where the chief of the island has banned all fishing and collecting, creating a local marine protected area. It’s the perfect location to observe white-tip and black-tip reef sharks, trevally, barracuda and the occasional eagle ray making a fly-by. In the shallows, be wary of nesting titan triggerfish while you search the coral garden for nudibranchs and other small creatures.

Typically, we enjoy a morning outing, be it kayaking and snorkelling or diving. Then we meet up again on the boat for lunch and relaxation before locating to another area for the afternoon activity.

B • L • D / ON LIVEABOARD

DAY 5 - Mary Island

West of the Russell Islands is Mary Island, the local name being Mborokua. The island is an extinct volcano, covered in forest, uninhabited and remote. Depending on the conditions, the boat can moor off the island and we’ll spend the day exploring above and beneath the water.

Paddlers will set off and aim to circumnavigate the island. Coming ashore, we can explore the virgin rainforest, alive with birds, including hornbills and monarch flycatchers. While snorkelling, highlights include colourful Maori wrasse, bump head parrotfish and giant clams.

Divers will be treated to a stunning amount of hard corals and the schools of fish are amazing here, especially when joined by sharks and turtles. On another dive site, the coral gardens are alive with sea life, often including schools of ghost pipefish. Occasionally, there have been reports of whale sightings near Mary island.

Later in the afternoon, we start the overnight journey northwest to the New Georgia Islands in Western Province and Marovo Lagoon.

B • L • D / ON LIVEABOARD

DAY 6, 7 & 8 - Marovo Lagoon

Marovo Lagoon is a double barrier reef and, at more than 100 kilometres in length, is the largest saltwater lagoon in the world. The lagoon curls around Vangunu and Gatukai islands with hundreds of islets and reefs scattered throughout. The people speak the Marovo language and live mainly by subsistence agriculture and fishing. The men from Marovo Lagoon are known to be skilled carvers, creating and designing beautiful wooded carvings made from ebony, hardwood and kerosene wood.

Our time at Marovo is largely spent exploring the lagoon, where, at times, sharks, dolphins and turtles often swim under our kayaks. The snorkelling here is varied with hard corals and plenty of tropical fish both inside and outside the lagoon. Mbulo Island, located near the southeastern aspect of Marovo Lagoon, is surrounded by spectacular diving on all sides with six unique dive sites and possibly the best hard coral in the world. A gently sloping wall covered in fields of hard and soft corals invites divers for a lazy drift along the bottom.

We take time out from the water to visit villages, meet skilled carvers, stroll around food markets and interact with the local kids.

B • L • D / ON LIVEABOARD

DAY 9 & 10 - Rendova Island

Continuing our adventure, we may pull into Wickham Harbour. The island has a long and rich history as the home to one of the original families of missionaries in the Solomons (their descendants still reside here). Additionally the area was one of the last in the country where cannibalism existed and was host to the Japanese forces during WWII.

There are various possible dive sites around the island which offer something for everyone, including colourful soft corals, huge sea fans, sharks, rays and several Japanese WWII wrecks with schools of groupers. Wickham Island is known for macro diving, with pygmy seahorses, cuttlefish, crocodile fish, snake eels and many different species of anemone fish to be seen.

One of our last stops on our adventure is Rendova Island. This roughly rectangular island boasts verdant hills cloaking a slumbering volcano, pristine beaches lapped by turquoise waters and coral reefs teeming with vibrant life.

History buffs will find intrigue in Rendova's WWII legacy. The 1943 landings marked a pivotal moment in the Pacific campaign, leaving behind remnants of bunkers and airstrips now covered by jungle. Dive into the crystal-clear waters and discover sunken wrecks, testaments to past battles.

We can trek through lush rainforests alive with birdsong to hidden waterfalls cascading into secluded pools. Kayak through mangroves alive with exotic creatures, or snorkel alongside colourful fish amidst coral gardens.

Situated off the west coast of Rendova Island is the pristine Haipe reefs. Vast areas of hard corals along the reef tops play host to schools of small, colourful fish and provide a feeding ground for large numbers of bumphead parrotfish. Turtles are often seen here while deeper down for divers, soft corals, fans and sea whips are a stunning backdrop for encounters with grey reef sharks and the occasional visit from silvertip or hammerhead sharks.

On our last full day, we cruise to Munda, enjoying a celebration dinner on board.

B • L • D / ON LIVEABOARD

DAY 11 - Farewell

After breakfast and farewelling the crew, we disembark in Munda at 9am for a transfer to the airport. If staying in Munda, the group hotel is the Agnes Gateway Hotel.

B/ END OF TRIP ARRANGEMENTS

Meet Your Guide

Company
This tour is offered by <b>Southern Sea Ventures</b>.
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Southern Sea Ventures is a globally renowned sea kayaking company based in Hobart Tasmania. specialising in high quality, guided multi-day sea kayaking trips to remote and iconic destinations around the world.
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Southern Sea Ventures was established in 1988 and has grown from running a single tour on Hinchinbrook Island to offering a current total of 25 different trips around the world. Born of the spirit of adventure and exploration, we are constantly seeking new trips and destinations. Our guides’ expertise ensures safe and comfortable adventure whether you choose a ship or yacht-based expedition, a hotel-based kayak adventure or a kayak/camping trip.

The Liveaboard

The Boat
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<h5><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Solomon Master</strong></span></h5>
<p>The steel-hulled Solomons Master boasts eight double occupancy cabins, providing comfortable accommodation for up to 16 guests, with a choice of classic, premium or superior cabins. Each cabin contains an en-suite bathroom and individually controlled air-conditioning. </p>
<p>The main deck houses a spacious indoor dining room as well as a camera station complete with numerous charging points and storage space. The indoor lounge and bar area is equipped with a plasma screen, ideal for photo viewing. There’s a shaded relaxation area and a large sundeck to soak up the stunning views. The dive deck is large and spacious with individual set-up stations, under-bench storage and a platform at the rear of the boat. </p>
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Accommodation

Cabin Types
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<h5><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Classic Twin Cabins (x3)</strong></span></h5>
Located on the lower deck of the vessel, each cabin benefits from en-suite bathroom facilities and individually controlled air-conditioning.
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<h5><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Premium Twin/Double Cabins (x3)</strong></span></h5>
Situated on the main deck of the vessel, these spacious cabins benefit from flexible twin or double accommodation along with en-suite facilities and ample storage.
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<h5><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Superior Double Cabin (x1)</strong></span></h5>
Situated on the upper deck of the vessel, this spacious cabin offers fabulous views along with en-suite facilities and ample storage.
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Rates, Share and Sole Use Policy

Rates, Share and Sole Use Policy
<b>Rates</b>
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The price of the tour is $7,125.00 USD per person (classic twin cabin share), $7,625.00 USD per person (premium twin/double cabin share), and $8,325.00 USD per person (superior double cabin share).
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<b>Single Travelers</b>
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If single travelers are happy to share a cabin, we can try and match people up. However, if this is not possible, you can either get a refund or pay for the whole cabin (two spots).
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Payment Terms

Deposits
A non-refundable deposit of 30% is required to secure your booking and may be paid by major credit card (no credit card fees applied). The remaining balance is due 90 days before the tour starts.

Upon receipt of your reservation deposit, you will receive a preparatory package with a receipt denoting your deposit paid and balance due date, trip confirmation, detailed itinerary, medical and liability release forms, trip insurance requirements, equipment list and other pre-trip information.
Final Payments
Balances are due 90 days prior to departure. Balances may be paid by credit card (no credit card fees applied).

Cancellations

Cancellations
All requests for cancellation must be received in writing to Adventure Fix GO.
<BR><BR>

Cancellations received <b> more than 90 days prior to the trip departure date </b> means a loss of your deposit (30% of the trip cost). However, your deposit may be transferred towards a different trip run by SSV for a fee of $250, in applicable trip currency (AU/NZ/US/EU). Transfers are only valid on trips scheduled to commence within 18 months of your original departure date and you are permitted one transfer only. In addition, any increase in trip costs as a result of your transferring to an alternative trip or departure date will be payable by you.
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If cancellation takes place <b>less than 90 days prior to trip departure </b>, you will be required to pay the full cost of the trip. There is no refund for arriving late or leaving a trip early.
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We strongly recommend that you obtain adequate trip cancellation insurance.

Booking Terms

Booking Terms
Please read carefully the <a href="https://adventurefixgo.com/terms/" target="_blank"><u>Terms of Service for Adventure Fix GO</u></a>. This trip is operated by Southern Sea Ventures and you additionally travel under <a href="https://adventurefixgo.com/terms-southern-sea-ventures/" target="_blank"><u>their terms and conditions</u></a>.

Reviews

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5
2 reviews
  • Paul D

    Excellent trip, Well organised , great guides, Wonderful experience. The local were very friendly and helpful

  • Karen B.

    Spectacular experience, our guides knowledge was excellent, activities were fabulous. The Islands were stunning, kayaking was not too hard and the snorkelling spots were amazing. A very memorable holiday, would do it again.

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Adventure Cruises | Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands Kayak & Dive Liveaboard Expedition

Listing Image

Season:

October

Difficulty:

Beginner - Intermediate

Duration:

11 Days


From $7,125.00 USD