Solomon Islands
Kennedy Island
The coral speck where a shipwrecked JFK carved a rescue plea into a coconut shell.
The island is barely a hundred metres across — a ring of coconut palms on a coral platform in the Blackett Strait, surrounded by water so blue it looks manufactured. This is where a young lieutenant named John F. Kennedy swam ashore after a Japanese destroyer split his patrol torpedo boat in two, and carved a rescue message into a coconut shell.
Kennedy Island — known locally as Plum Pudding Island or Kasolo — sits in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands near Ghizo. In August 1943, PT-109 was rammed and sunk in the strait, and Kennedy led his surviving crew to this uninhabited speck. Two local scouts, Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana, carried his coconut-shell message to an Allied base, triggering the rescue. The coconut later sat on JFK's Oval Office desk. The island remains uninhabited, its reef healthy and its palms unchanged. Boat trips depart from Ghizo, combining the historical site with some of the finest snorkelling in the Western Province.
Solo
Stand on a coral speck where a future president nearly died, then snorkel a pristine reef in near-total solitude. The scale — a tiny island, a vast strait, a turning point in history — hits differently alone.
Couple
A short boat ride from Ghizo delivers a private island beach with a remarkable story. Pack a picnic, snorkel the reef, and have a piece of WWII history entirely to yourselves.
Family
The JFK survival story captivates older children, and the shallow reef around the island is calm enough for young snorkellers. History brought to life in a setting that makes it unforgettable.
Friends
Charter a boat from Ghizo, dive the nearby strait where PT-109 went down, and spend the afternoon on the island itself. The combination of WWII history and world-class reef makes a day that covers all bases.
- After PT-109 was rammed and sunk on 2 August 1943, Kennedy and ten survivors swam roughly four kilometres to reach this island — the coconut shell he carved his rescue message into is now held at the JFK Presidential Library in Boston.
- The surrounding reef was never commercially fished during or after the war; underwater visibility here typically exceeds 25 metres through water largely undisturbed since the 1940s.
- The island takes about twenty minutes by speedboat from Ghizo — a short excursion that can be combined with a morning snorkel and an afternoon back at the lodge.
- Local guides from Ghizo tell the full PT-109 story on the crossing, including the role Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana played in carrying Kennedy's coconut message to the Australian coastwatcher.
Tuna sashimi sliced dockside at Ghizo before the boat trip out to the island.
Kokoda — raw reef fish cured in lime juice and coconut cream — eaten with cassava chips.
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