Cabbage Garden (Russell Islands)

HMNZS Moa

Japanese Transport Wrecks (Tulagi Harbour)

Leru Cut (Russell Islands)

Manta Point (Russell Islands)

Mary Island (Russell Islands)

The Cave (Russell Islands)

USS Aaron Ward

USS Kanawha

Yandina Reefs

The Florida and Russell Islands are largely resort- and liveaboard-based, so meals centre on the freshest local catch prepared simply with coconut, lime and garden vegetables. Tulagi has a handful of small cafes and market stalls selling cassava, bananas and fried reef fish, while liveaboards serve an international buffet built around tuna, mahi-mahi and the day's lobster or crab. Coconut and taro are ever-present, and a fresh pawpaw breakfast is a daily treat.

Russell Islands Resort

Tulagi Hotel

Bilikiki Liveaboard

Solomons Master Liveaboard

Florida Island Guesthouse

The Tulagi and Florida Islands group, part of Central Province, is the Solomon Islands' other great wreck-and-macro theatre, a short hop across Iron Bottom Sound from Honiara yet a world apart in atmosphere. Tulagi was the wartime capital, and its harbour and the surrounding passages are littered with Allied and Japanese wrecks from the 1942–43 fighting, from the deep USS Aaron Ward destroyer to the shallow HMNZS Moa corvette. Just south, the Russell Islands deliver the archipelago's most iconic scenery: the cathedral-like Leru Cut, the air-pocket Cave, the cabbage-coral gardens of Cabbage Garden and the manta cleaning stations of Manta Point. Current-swept walls at Mary Island and Yandina hold barracuda tornadoes, dogtooth tuna and silvertip sharks. The blend of intact wartime steel, luminous soft coral and reliable pelagic action makes this region a favourite of both liveaboards and land-based divers.

Tulagi & Florida Islands

Most divers reach Tulagi and the Florida Islands by liveaboard from Honiara, or by a short domestic flight plus boat transfer. Tulagi has a small airstrip and regular water-taxi and dive-operator connections, while the Russell Islands are typically accessed by liveaboard or by boat from Gizo and Munda to the west.

Dive Sites in Tulagi & Florida Islands