Dive Review of Tulagi Dive/Mendana in
Solomon Islands/Honiara

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Tulagi Dive/Mendana: "Tulagi Dive April 2017--easy day diving before the liveaboard", Nov, 2017, by Alice Ribbens, MN, US ( Contributor 19 reports with 21 Helpful votes). Report 9963.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We arrived in Honiara a few days before getting on the Bilikiki and had arranged to do a couple of days of day diving with Tulagi Dive. The Bilikiki recommended the Mendana Hotel and Tulagi Dive (which is a 5 minute walk from the hotel). It took a few tries to contact Tulagi via email, but once I reached them, it was easy to arrange diving for our group of 6 prior to arrival. All of the diving we did with them was on wrecks. The first day we did 2 shore dives. The dives themselves were fine--easy shore entries, wrecks in pretty good condition, lots of fish (we are all REEF surveyors). However, the truck ride to the dive site was not all that pleasant (sitting in the back of the truck with lots of dive gear, bumpy roads, hot sun, etc.). For the second day, we asked if we could boat dive. We took the boat over to Tulagi Island and dove two wrecks over there (including the PBY Catalina, a WWII airplane). We had lunch at a cafe over there in between dives as part of the dive package. Dive briefings described the wrecks and approx. depths. The first wreck on the first day, we were told that the bottom of the wreck was around 100 ft and most people wanted to go to the bottom and usually had about 30 min dive time. We told the DM we were more interested in the marine life and were probably going to do a longer dive than that. The second day, Troy (who was then the DM/manager of Tulagi, but is now an owner) told us to watch our air in case we went into deco on the PBY Catalina, which is at 90+ feet. We spent time on the wreck, then worked our way shallow on the reef and mooring line. We did the same on the second dive. Troy is great--very experienced diver and instructor for both commercial and recreational diving. He was in the water with us both days, but he trusted us to basically run our own dives. (Talking to him afterwards, I'm sure he would have been more hands on if we were less experienced.) If you have a day or two before our after one of the liveaboards that leaves out of Honiara, diving with Tulagi is a great option! The dive shop has rinse buckets for all of your gear. They let us leave some stuff there overnight both between diving days and then to dry before we had to pack it up to meet up with the liveaboard. Neil and Yolande were the owners of Tulagi and who we were in touch with prior to arrival to make arrangements. They have since sold the business and moved away from the Solomons. Troy is now running the operation with help from additional DMs and staff.
Websites	Tulagi Dive Mendana
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Komodo, Raja Ampat, Philippines, Maldives, Palau, GBR, Fiji, British Columbia, Monterey, Hawaii, Bonaire, Turks & Caicos, Caymans, Honduras, Belize, Cozumel, Akumal, Sea of Cortez, Lake Superior, etc.
Closest Airport	Honiara	Getting There	From US via Brisbane (Virgin Australia) or via Fiji (Fiji Airways)
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	78-°F / 26-°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Told to watch our air and watch deco limits.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	I think there was a rinse bucket on the boat. Nothing available for shore diving.

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Dive Review of Tulagi Dive/Mendana in Solomon Islands/Honiara

Tulagi Dive/Mendana: "Tulagi Dive April 2017--easy day diving before the liveaboard", Nov, 2017,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Tulagi Dive/Mendana in
Solomon Islands/Honiara