---
title: "Solomon Islands travel guide: Iron Bottom Sound, Marovo Lagoon and when to go | Wimup"
description: "Solomon Islands on Wimup: how Honiara, the Western Province lagoons, Malaita and Rennell fit together, what the permit, kastom fees and current advice ask of you, the months worth booking and the food to order."
url: https://wimup.com/country/solomon-islands
type: Country guide
updated: 2026-10-05
publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com)
---

# Solomon Islands, the lagoons and the wrecks of Iron Bottom Sound

An archipelago east of Papua New Guinea where the turning point of the Pacific war was fought, and where its ships still lie in the water off the capital. Solomon Islands is wreck dives in **Iron Bottom Sound**, the reef-enclosed **Marovo Lagoon**, shell money made by hand on Malaita, and a raised coral atoll holding the largest lake in the insular Pacific.

## Quick answer

Give **Honiara** two or three days: the Central Market, the Vouza memorial, and dives on the Japanese transports in **Iron Bottom Sound**. Then go west. The **Western Province** is the core: **Munda** on Roviana Lagoon, **Gizo** near Kennedy Island, **Marovo Lagoon** behind its double barrier reef, **Tetepare** off Rendova. For custom, cross to **Auki** and **Langa Langa Lagoon** on Malaita. **East Rennell** takes planning. Expect kastom fees, and read the Honiara advice before booking. Ten days covers Honiara and one lagoon.

## Quick facts

- **Best months:** Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep
- **Ideal length:** 10–14 days
- **Budget per day:** Set by flights and boats between islands
- **Language:** Pijin & English
- **Getting around:** Domestic flights, boats and a road only within an island

- **720,956** People
- **28,896 km²** Area
- **9** Provinces

Solomon Islands is an archipelago east of Papua New Guinea, and the 2019 census counted 720,956 people across it, most of them along the coast and only about one in five in a town. The land is steep and forested (the CIA World Factbook puts forest at nine tenths of it), so the country is read by island and by lagoon rather than by road. The Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña named the group in 1568 after King Solomon, on the mistaken belief that it held great riches. Britain declared a protectorate over the southern islands in 1893 and took the northern ones from Germany in 1899, and independence came on 7 July 1978, which is the national holiday. Honiara, on Guadalcanal, is the capital and the place a trip begins. The census counted 129,569 people inside its boundary, and the name comes from nagho ni ara, the place of the east wind. It is a working port rather than a resort town: the Central Market is the largest produce and fish market in the country and sells shell money beside the fruit, and the water in front of the town is the reason divers come. Iron Bottom Sound, between Guadalcanal, Savo and the Florida Islands, was called Savo Sound until the Allies renamed it for the dozens of ships and aircraft sunk there. Five major naval battles were fought in it between August and December 1942, inside the Guadalcanal campaign that ran from August 1942 to February 1943 and turned the Pacific war, and Japanese transports still lie off Guadalcanal's north coast at depths recreational divers reach. The same history carries a hazard: United States travel advice names Hell's Point, the ridges behind Honiara, Tulagi, the Russell Islands and the New Georgia group as places where unexploded wartime ordnance remains, so anything metal in the ground or on a beach stays where it is. The Western Province is where a longer trip goes. Munda sits on Roviana Lagoon, and a short boat ride out, Skull Island keeps a coral-rock shrine holding the skulls of Roviana chiefs and warriors from the headhunting era. Noro, the second-largest town in the country, is the tuna town: SolTuna has canned there since 1973, when the plant opened as Solomon Taiyo, and its tins reach every village. Gizo, the provincial capital, is fifteen minutes by boat from Kennedy Island, the islet John F. Kennedy and the crew of PT-109 swam to after a Japanese destroyer cut their boat in two in Blackett Strait on 2 August 1943. Marovo Lagoon, around New Georgia, Vangunu and Gatokae, covers some 700 square kilometres behind a double barrier reef, with about 20,000 people living on its shores and the airfield at Seghe as the way in. Off Rendova, Tetepare is the largest uninhabited island in the South Pacific, managed by the Tetepare Descendants' Association since 2000 and one of the few places the leatherback turtle nests. Malaita is the most populous province, with 172,740 people at the census, and the island where custom money still settles a marriage. Auki has been its administrative centre since 1909, and on Langa Langa Lagoon beside it the saltwater people live on artificial islands built up on sandbars and make shell money from four kinds of shell in a ten-step process. Far to the south, East Rennell covers the southern third of Rennell, one of the largest raised coral atolls on earth, and Lake Tegano, its old lagoon, is the largest lake in the insular Pacific. UNESCO inscribed it in 1998 and moved it to the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2013 because of logging. Four practical things shape a visit. Solomon Islands Pijin is the language of daily life; English is official but, on the Factbook's estimate, spoken by only one or two per cent of people, alongside some 120 indigenous languages. Land and reef belong to communities under custom, so a beach, a waterfall or a dive site often carries a kastom fee paid to the landowners, and asking first is the rule. A visitor's permit is issued on arrival for up to 90 days in any twelve months, against a passport valid for six months beyond departure and an onward ticket. And the calendar is simple: May to October is the dry season under the southeast trade winds, June to September is the best of it and August the driest month, while November to April brings the rain and the cyclone risk. Australia's Smartraveller advises normal safety precautions for the country and a high degree of caution in Honiara, where protests turned into riots in 2006 and again in November 2021.

## Know before you go

- **Population:** 720,956
- **Area:** 28,896 km²
- **Density:** 25 / km²
- **Capital:** Honiara
- **Major cities:** Honiara, Noro, Auki, Gizo, Munda
- **Tourism board:** Official site
- **Currency:** Solomon Islands dollar (SBD) The national currency, at about 8.4 to the US dollar across 2023 and 2024 on the CIA World Factbook’s figures.
- **Language:** Pijin, English and some 120 more Pijin is the common language. English is official but spoken by one or two per cent, beside some 120 local languages. Honiara’s hotels and dive shops use English; elsewhere, Pijin helps.
- **Calling code:** +677
- **Power:** 230V · Type I
- **Emergency:** Police 999 · Fire 988 · Ambulance 111
- **Time zone:** UTC+11 · no daylight saving
- **Visa:** Visitor’s permit on arrival US and most Commonwealth and EU citizens get a visitor’s permit on arrival, up to 90 days in twelve months. Bring a passport valid six months past departure, an onward ticket and proof of funds.
- **Travel advisory:** More care in Honiara Smartraveller advises normal precautions nationally and a high degree of caution in Honiara, where protests became riots in 2006 and November 2021. Petty and serious crime occur. Check before booking.
- **Wartime ordnance:** Leave it where it lies Unexploded Second World War ordnance remains at Hell’s Point, behind Honiara, in the New Georgia group, Tulagi and the Russells, and washes up after storms. Touch nothing metal; report it.
- **Kastom fees:** Ask first, then pay the landowner Communities own land and reef under custom, including the water off a village. Beaches, falls like Tenaru and moorings can carry a fee. Some dive operators pay it; on your own, ask first.
- **Health:** Malaria and dengue US advice describes mosquito-borne diseases, malaria and dengue among them, as widespread. See a travel clinic about malaria before you fly, and insure for medical evacuation.
- **In the water:** Get local advice first Smartraveller notes that sharks and crocodiles are common. Ask locally before swimming anywhere you do not know.
- **Getting around:** Planes and boats between islands The Factbook counts 36 airports and airstrips, with ports at Honiara, Noro, Gizo, Tulagi, Yandina and Ringgi Cove. Fly or sail between islands; roads stay within one. Seghe serves Marovo.

## When to visit

- **Jan**: Wet season and the heart of the cyclone risk, which runs highest from December to February
- **Feb**: The wettest month in Honiara. Northwesterly winds bring heat and heavy rain
- **Mar**: Still the wet season, with heavy rain and the cyclone season running on
- **Apr**: The rain eases as the southeast trade winds set in, though the cyclone season lasts to the end of the month
- **May** (good): The dry season opens. Rainfall drops and the humidity starts to ease
- **Jun** (best): Dry, cooler sea breezes, and the start of the clearest water of the year for the wrecks
- **Jul** (best): Mid dry season and Independence Day on 7 July. The trade winds can gust past 30 knots on open crossings
- **Aug** (best): The driest month of the year and the middle of the best window
- **Sep** (best): Still dry and clear, the last full month of the best window
- **Oct** (good): The last dry-season month. Visibility for wreck diving holds through October
- **Nov**: The wet season and the cyclone season both begin
- **Dec**: Hot and wet, and the first of the three months when cyclone risk is highest

## Fun fact

Between five and ten per cent of Solomon Islanders are naturally blond, and Europe has nothing to do with it. A Stanford team traced the colour to a variant of one gene, TYRP1, that islanders carry and Europeans do not, published in Science in May 2012. Same hair, two unrelated genetic causes.

## Stereotypes, sorted out

- **Myth:** The blond hair must come from European sailors. **Reality:** It does not. A Stanford study published in Science in May 2012 traced the blond hair of five to ten per cent of islanders to a TYRP1 gene variant that Europeans do not carry. The colour matches northern Europe. The genetics are separate, and local.
- **Myth:** It is a war museum and nothing else. **Reality:** The wrecks earn the attention: the water off Guadalcanal took dozens of ships in 1942. The stronger case is lagoons and custom. Marovo covers some 700 square kilometres behind a double barrier reef, Langa Langa still makes shell money, and East Rennell holds the insular Pacific's largest lake.
- **Myth:** It is too unsafe to visit. **Reality:** Smartraveller asks for normal precautions nationwide and a high degree of caution in Honiara, where protests became riots in 2006 and November 2021. Crime is the everyday risk, sharks and crocodiles are common, and wartime ordnance still turns up. Read the advice before booking.
- **Myth:** English will get you everywhere. **Reality:** English is official but, on the CIA World Factbook’s estimate, spoken by only one or two per cent of people. Pijin is the common tongue, beside some 120 indigenous languages. English works in Honiara’s hotels and dive shops; in a village, a few words of Pijin go further.

- Ask before you walk onto a beach, swim at a waterfall or anchor over a reef. Land and water belong to communities under custom, and a kastom fee to the landowners is normal.
- Pijin opens doors that English does not. English is official, but only one or two per cent of people speak it.
- Shell money is currency before it is craft. On Malaita it still settles bride price, so treat a string on a market table accordingly.
- Leave old metal alone. Wartime shells still wash up on beaches after storms; report them and do not touch them.
- Take local advice before swimming anywhere unfamiliar. Sharks and crocodiles are common.
- Betel nut, chewed with lime and a pepper pod, is part of daily life and piled on the market tables in Honiara.
- More than nine in ten people are Christian, across the Church of Melanesia, the South Sea Evangelical Church, the Catholic Church and others, so plan village visits around services.

## Names behind Solomon Islands

- **Jacob Vouza**: Coastwatcher bayoneted and left for dead in 1942, who crawled back to warn the Marines.
- **Peter Kenilorea**: First prime minister, who led the islands to independence on 7 July 1978.
- **Manasseh Sogavare**: Four-time prime minister. The 2021 Honiara riots began with a petition for his removal.
- **Biuku Gasa**: Scout who found Kennedy’s PT-109 crew in 1943 and suggested the coconut-husk message.
- **Eroni Kumana**: Gasa’s partner in the PT-109 rescue, who carried the coconut message to Rendova.
- **Jeremiah Manele**: Prime minister since 2 May 2024, chosen by parliament after that April’s election.
- **David Tiva Kapu**: Governor-General since 7 July 2024, the King’s representative in the islands.
- **John F. Kennedy**: Future US president whose PT-109 sank in 1943. He swam to Kasolo, now Kennedy Island.
- **Álvaro de Mendaña**: Spanish navigator who arrived in 1568 and named the islands for King Solomon’s riches.

## Must-try Solomon Islands food

- **Motu**: The earth oven: root crops sealed between hot stones under banana leaves.
- **Cassava pudding**: Grated cassava and sweet potato bound with coconut milk. The favourite pudding.
- **Slippery cabbage**: A leafy green cooked in fresh coconut milk with ginger and salt.
- **Taro**: The root islanders love most, and usually the first thing into the motu.
- **Sweet potato**: The everyday starch and a top crop, boiled, roasted or cooked in the motu.
- **Breadfruit**: A seasonal staple, roasted whole over coals or boiled, served beside almost any main.
- **Reef fish**: The staple meat, sold raw or grilled at Honiara’s Central Market, the biggest fish outlet.
- **SolTuna tinned tuna**: Canned at Noro since 1973. The tins reach every village in the country.
- **Ngali nuts**: Canarium nuts, in season from August, roasted in leaves with hot stones. Cheap at market.
- **Betel nut**: Chewed with lime and a pepper pod, and piled in mounds on Honiara’s market tables.
- **Solbrew**: The local beer, brewed in Solomon Islands and sold as a lager and in a few other styles.

## FAQs

### Do you need a visa for Solomon Islands?

Most visitors do not arrange one in advance. Citizens of the United States and of most Commonwealth and European Union countries receive a visitor’s permit on arrival, valid for up to 90 days in any twelve-month period, in one stay or several. Immigration expects a passport valid for at least six months beyond your departure date with blank pages, a return or onward ticket, and evidence that you can support yourself. A further three months is possible only where special circumstances justify it. If your passport is not in those groups, check the Immigration Division’s list before you book.

### Is Solomon Islands safe to visit?

Australia’s Smartraveller advises normal safety precautions for the country as a whole and a high degree of caution in Honiara. The Honiara caution has a history behind it: protests in the capital turned into riots in 2006, when Chinatown was burned, and again in November 2021, and demonstrations still gather around parliamentary sittings. Petty crime, break-ins, robbery and sexual assault occur. Two hazards are particular to the islands. Unexploded wartime ordnance remains around Hell’s Point, the ridges behind Honiara, Tulagi, the Russell Islands and the New Georgia group, and sharks and crocodiles are common, so take local advice before swimming. Malaria and dengue are widespread. Read your own foreign ministry before booking and again before you fly.

### When is the best time to visit Solomon Islands?

June to September. The dry season runs from May to October under the southeast trade winds, humidity drops, and water clarity for the wrecks is at its best from June to October. August is the driest month. May and October are good shoulder months. November to April is the wet season and the cyclone season, with the highest risk from December to February and February the wettest month in Honiara. The trade winds that make the dry season comfortable can gust past 30 knots, which is worth knowing before a long open-water crossing.

### Can you dive the wrecks of Iron Bottom Sound?

Yes, and it is the reason many divers come. The water between Guadalcanal, Savo and the Florida Islands took more than fifty vessels during the Guadalcanal campaign, and Japanese transports including the Hirokawa Maru and Kinugawa Maru, along with the submarine I-1, lie off Guadalcanal’s north coast at depths from about twenty to sixty-two metres. Dive operators work from Honiara. Visibility is best from June to October, and a kastom fee to the community that owns the water is part of diving here.

### What is a kastom fee, and when do you pay it?

It is the payment a community charges for using land or water it owns under custom, and in Solomon Islands that can apply to beaches, waterfalls, reefs and lagoons. A village owns the water off its shore, and chiefs collect marine kastom fees from boats and divers who use it. Close to Honiara, a beach or a waterfall such as Tenaru can carry one. Some dive operators collect it and pass it on to the villages. Travelling independently, ask permission before walking in, and pay the fee as asked.

## Related countries

- [Australia](https://wimup.com/country/australia.md)
- [New Zealand](https://wimup.com/country/new-zealand.md)
- [All of Oceania](https://wimup.com/oceania)

Part of [Oceania](https://wimup.com/oceania.md)

## Sources

- [Tourism board](https://www.visitsolomons.com.sb/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Visa](https://immigration.gov.sb/visitor-visa-tourist/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Travel advisory](https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/pacific/solomon-islands?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Wartime ordnance](https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/SolomonIslands.html?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.