Solomon Islands
Ghizo Island
A 140-metre Japanese transport lies just seven metres down, a tank still in her holds.
By mid-morning the boats are in and tuna is being filleted on the wharf. Gizo runs on its waterfront: the market, the dive boats, and the ferries that stitch the Western Province together.
Gizo is the Western Province's main town, and its airport sits on the neighbouring island of Nusatupe, so every arrival finishes with a boat transfer. An active dive centre works from the town itself, running reef days and wartime wreck dives. Its signature wreck is the Toa Maru, a Japanese transport sunk in 1943, twenty minutes out by boat: 140 metres of ship on her starboard side, her shallowest plates seven metres down, a coral garden growing across the hull and a tank still in her holds. Kennedy Island lies a short speedboat run out. Alongside all of that the town keeps an ordinary provincial life, with shops, a market and places to eat that the outer islands simply do not have.
Solo
Gizo is the Western Province's base town: the dive centre, the lodges and the waterfront market all sit within a short walk of the wharf.
Couple
Small enough to walk end to end after dinner, with the reef and Kennedy Island both a short boat ride out.
Family
The town has real shops and a choice of food, which after a week in the outer islands is the thing that makes a family trip workable.
Friends
A base with a dive centre, boats for hire and somewhere to sit in the evening is the practical answer to a group who each want a different day.
- The Toa Maru rests from seven to 37 metres, so the wreck rewards snorkellers and divers alike.
- An active dive centre runs diving and snorkelling from the town itself.
- Reefs, wartime history and ordinary provincial-town life sit within a few minutes of each other.
- Every arrival finishes by boat from the airport island, and Kennedy Island is a short run out.
Take the short boat ride to Fatboys for same-day fish served above the reef edge.
In Gizo town, browse the waterfront market first; its fruit and fresh catch make the best island picnic.
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Península Valdés
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Right whales breach in sheltered gulfs where orcas hunt sea lions in the surf.
Bocas del Toro
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Over-water bungalows on a Caribbean archipelago where sloths drift through mangrove canopies.
Ilha Grande
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Ruins of a maximum-security prison dissolving into Atlantic Forest on a World Heritage island.
Nendo
Solomon Islands
Money made from red feathers came from here, and the memory of it has not gone.
Savo Island
Solomon Islands
Megapodes bury their eggs in black sand that an active volcano keeps warm from below.
Mount Popomanaseu
Solomon Islands
The country's highest ground, 2,335 metres up through Guadalcanal forest with no trail infrastructure.