When's the best time to charter in the Solomon Islands?

April to November, with the core of the season — May to October — carried by steady south-east trades and the calmest seas of the year. December to March is the Pacific cyclone season; the Solomons' low latitude softens the risk that hits Fiji and Vanuatu harder, but doesn't remove it.

Where do superyachts berth in the Solomon Islands?

Nowhere, strictly speaking — there is no yacht marina in the country. Honiara's Point Cruz international wharf has two deep commercial berths, to 150 metres LOA (length overall), available by arrangement with the harbourmaster when cargo and cruise traffic allow; everywhere else, Marovo Lagoon, Gizo and Kennedy Island included, is anchor-and-tender, agent-supported.

What's the nearest airport?

Honiara International (HIR), still known locally by its wartime name, Henderson Field. Munda (MUA) and Gizo (GZO) serve the Western Province; none of the three has a dedicated FBO (fixed-base operator, a private terminal for business aircraft).

What's the signature experience?

Kennedy Island, fifteen minutes by tender from Gizo — the islet where a young PT-109 captain named John F. Kennedy swam his crew ashore in August 1943, and where two Solomon Islander scouts carried his message, carved into a coconut shell, thirteen miles to the coastwatcher who arranged their rescue.

The Pacific & Australasia

The Solomon Islands

Q: What's the protocol for visiting a kastom village or reef?

Go with a guide, and ask permission before landing, diving or photographing anyone. A reef or kastom (customary law) fee, commonly around US$5 a head per dive and payable to whichever village holds the ground, is the norm through much of Marovo Lagoon; snorkelling and anchoring are free throughout. Dress modestly and let your agent arrange the introduction.

A wartime seafloor named for its own wreckage, a lagoon walled by the world's largest double barrier reef, and kastom law that still opens the gate ashore — an anchorage-led expedition water with almost no marina to speak of.

The Solomon Islands split into two runs that rarely fit into one week. Around Guadalcanal and Honiara, the story is the Pacific War: Iron Bottom Sound, named by Allied sailors for the more than fifty warships still lying on its floor, and the shore-accessible wrecks at Bonegi a short run west. A long day's passage further on, the New Georgia group holds Marovo Lagoon, commonly named the world's largest saltwater lagoon, walled by a double barrier reef and governed, reef by reef, under kastom — the customary law and clan authority that still decides who may anchor, dive or come ashore. Gizo anchors the western end, with Kennedy Island a short tender ride off its harbour. There is almost no marina anywhere in the country; a charter here runs on anchorages, tenders and a local agent, not berths. The season runs April to November, the core of it — May to October — carried by the south-east trades.

“Four Allied heavy cruisers went down in a single night off Savo Island — the action that gave Iron Bottom Sound its name.”

Signature anchorages

Two very different runs, a long day's passage apart — the wartime waters around Guadalcanal, and the reef-and-kastom world of the New Georgia group.

Honiara — Point CruzThe country's main port of entry and its only approach to anything like a wharf: two deep commercial berths — 10.5m alongside for 110m LOA (length overall), and 11.5m for 150m LOA — at the international wharf, shared with cargo and cruise traffic. Point Cruz Yacht Club, running since 1964, keeps a dinghy landing, showers and free temporary membership for visiting crews; yachts themselves anchor off.
Iron Bottom Sound & the Bonegi coastThe strait between Guadalcanal, Savo Island and the Florida Islands, at the southern end of what sailors called The Slot (New Georgia Sound's wartime nickname) — named Iron Bottom Sound for the more than fifty warships sunk here across five battles in 1942–43. No real shelter; anchor off Bonegi Creek in settled weather for the two beached wrecks, Kinugawa Maru and Hirokawa Maru, both shore dives.
Tulagi & the Florida Islands (Nggela)A deep, reef-fringed natural harbour an hour from Honiara — good holding, real shelter, and the former capital of the whole protectorate until the war moved it to Honiara. Wreck and reef diving both, worked out of Tulagi Dive.
Marovo LagoonRoughly 700 square kilometres of water behind a double barrier reef in the New Georgia group, commonly named the world's largest saltwater lagoon. Excellent shelter once through a reef pass; holding is patchy coral and sand, so pick your spot with care. No marina — Uepi Island Resort, on the lagoon's ocean-facing rim, keeps the area's only established moorings.
GizoWestern Province's capital and a port of entry, rebuilt since the magnitude-8.1 earthquake and tsunami of 2007. A small-boat wharf and open roadstead rather than a marina; an agent handles clearance and local knowledge.
Kennedy IslandKasolo Island, about 1.2 hectares and uninhabited, fifteen minutes by tender from Gizo — where Lieutenant John F. Kennedy swam PT-109's survivors ashore in August 1943. A settled-weather stop only, no facilities; good snorkelling on the fringing reef.

The wrecks of Iron Bottom Sound

More than fifty ships lost across five battles in 1942–43 — most far too deep for recreational diving, with two well-known exceptions close to Honiara.

Shore dive

Kinugawa Maru, Bonegi 2

Beached deliberately before dawn on 15 November 1942 to land her troops ahead of the coming fight. Her bow and engine block break the surface today; a maximum depth of 28m, with shallow swim-throughs around 8m in the section divers call the cathedral.

Shore dive

Hirokawa Maru, Bonegi 1

A 154-metre transport, one of eleven Japanese ships attacked on the run into Guadalcanal on 14 November 1942. She lies on her port side close offshore, bow in about 5m and stern falling to 60m — the deeper of the two Bonegi wrecks.

Wreck & reef · Tulagi

Tulagi's war relics

An hour from Honiara: the corvette HMNZS Moa, a Catalina flying boat, Wildcat fighters at 40m, three Japanese Kawanishi seaplanes, and the detached bow of the cruiser USS Minneapolis, blown off at the Battle of Tassafaronga. Twin Tunnels Reef, a pinnacle rising from 60m to 12m, is the area's best hard coral.

Technical only

The sound itself

USS Atalanta lies at 131m, USS Aaron Ward at 70m — two of the sound's major warships, both well beyond recreational limits. Four Allied heavy cruisers, Astoria, Quincy, Vincennes and Canberra, went down in a single night at the Battle of Savo Island; the Japanese heavy cruiser Kinugasa and the battleship Kirishima lie among the losses on the other side.

The campaign, ashore

Guadalcanal's land war, and the PT-109 story that put a future president on a Solomon Islands reef.

Museum

Vilu War Museum

An open-air collection west of Honiara, gathered from the battlefield by Fred Kona from 1975 and still run by his family — American fighter wreckage, a Japanese Zero's engine, tanks and anti-aircraft guns under a garden canopy.

Battlefield · 1942

Bloody Ridge

Edson's Ridge to give it its formal name — a narrow coral spine south of the old airfield where US Marines held the line in September 1942, the fight that kept Henderson Field in Allied hands.

Memorial

Skyline Ridge

The American War Memorial stands above Honiara with a clear view down over the town and out across Iron Bottom Sound itself — the campaign's two theatres, ashore and offshore, in a single sightline.

History · 1943

Kennedy Island

PT-109 was rammed and sunk by the destroyer Amagiri in Blackett Strait on the night of 1–2 August 1943. Kennedy towed an injured crewman ashore by the strap of his lifejacket, gripped in his teeth; two Solomon Islander scouts, Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana, later carried his message — carved into a coconut shell — thirteen miles to the coastwatcher (an Allied scout tracking Japanese movements from a hidden island post) who arranged the rescue.

A week, sketched

Day 1

Honiara

Embark at the Point Cruz anchorage and clear in with an agent's help — health, customs, immigration and biosecurity, in that order. Ashore for Vilu War Museum and the American War Memorial on Skyline Ridge, looking straight out over Iron Bottom Sound.

Day 2

Iron Bottom Sound & Bonegi

A short run west to anchor off Bonegi Creek for the two shore-dive wrecks, Kinugawa Maru and Hirokawa Maru, then back toward Honiara for the night.

Day 3

Tulagi & the Florida Islands

East across the sound to Tulagi's sheltered harbour, the former colonial capital, for a wreck-and-reef diving day around HMNZS Moa, the Catalina and Twin Tunnels Reef.

Day 4

Passage west

An overnight passage of some 210 nautical miles to the Western Province, Guadalcanal's wartime waters giving way by morning to the reef country of the New Georgia group.

Day 5

Marovo Lagoon

In through a pass in the double barrier reef for a day among the islands and villages of the world's largest saltwater lagoon — a kastom reef fee, commonly around US$5 a head per dive, payable to whichever village holds the ground; snorkelling and anchoring are free throughout.

Day 6

Gizo & Kennedy Island

On to Gizo, Western Province's capital, then a short tender out to Kennedy Island for the PT-109 story and an afternoon on the fringing reef.

Day 7

Disembark

A last morning at anchor off Gizo before disembarking; onward connections run through Munda or Gizo's own airstrip, both routing back via Honiara — most charters here run one-way rather than doubling back across open water.

SeasonApril – November

Water temp27–30°C year-round

Prevailing windSE trades, May–Oct

BerthingNo marina — Honiara wharf or anchor

Honiara–Gizo leg~210nm, one overnight

Pair with

The Pacific & AustralasiaVanuatu The Pacific & AustralasiaPalau The Pacific & AustralasiaFiji

Read on: WAKE — the magazine · the guides · the glossary

When to go

April to November. The core of the season, May to October, is carried by steady south-east trades and the calmest seas of the year, with April and November as milder shoulder months either side. December to March is the wet season and the Pacific's cyclone window; the Solomons' low latitude spares them the worst of what reaches Fiji and Vanuatu further south, but one or two systems still form or pass through most years, risk peaking January to March. Diving runs year-round, at its best October–November and April–June; January–February brings the heaviest rain and the poorest visibility.

Anchorages

Honiara — Point Cruz
Iron Bottom Sound & the Bonegi coast
Tulagi & the Florida Islands
Marovo Lagoon
Gizo
Kennedy Island

Nearest airports

Honiara International (HIR), still known locally by its wartime name, Henderson Field, after the airstrip both sides fought to hold in 1942 — the main gateway, with domestic connections on to the Western Province. Munda (MUA) and Gizo (GZO) serve Marovo Lagoon and Gizo itself, the latter on the small island of Nusatupe, a short boat transfer from town. None of the three has a dedicated FBO (fixed-base operator, a private terminal for business aircraft); handling runs through the airport authority or a local agent.

Marinas & berthing

There is no yacht marina in the Solomon Islands. Honiara's Point Cruz international wharf has two deep commercial berths — 10.5m alongside to 110m LOA, and 11.5m to 150m LOA — that can in principle take a large yacht by arrangement with the harbourmaster when cargo and cruise traffic allow; most craft simply anchor off, where Point Cruz Yacht Club offers visiting crews free temporary membership, a dinghy landing and showers, but no fuel dock or haul-out. Diesel is available in Honiara and at Noro, a deep-water cannery port in the Western Province and the country's other real bunkering stop; repairs can also be found at Tulagi. Everywhere else — Marovo Lagoon, Gizo, Kennedy Island — is anchor-and-tender country with no berthing at all; Uepi Island Resort's moorings, on Marovo's ocean-facing rim, are as close as the lagoon comes to a formal option. A local agent is standard practice for clearance and provisioning throughout.

Permits & notes

Clear in at one of four ports of entry — Honiara, Noro, Gizo or Lata — flying the yellow quarantine flag and going ashore nowhere until health, customs, immigration and biosecurity have all been aboard; biosecurity inspects fresh produce and other organic material, and food is fine as long as it stays on the boat. Sewage and bilge discharge are both prohibited in Solomon Islands waters. UK, EU, US and most Commonwealth passport-holders typically enter visa-free — Europeans for up to 90 days, most others 45 — though crew flying in or out separately from the yacht should apply for a visitor's permit in advance. Ashore and on the water, kastom still governs who may land or dive where; a reef or kastom fee, commonly around US$5 a head per dive and payable to whichever village holds the ground, is the norm through much of Marovo Lagoon, though snorkelling and anchoring are free throughout. Ask at each anchorage, dress modestly, and go with a guide.

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