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F-4F Wildcat
There is a sunken Wildcat in shallow water just off Lambete. It is in very good overall condition with all parts there including the vertical tail which is only a few feet under water. The ammo hatch covers are even open and there, even as recently as 1998. There is also a Nell twin engine bomber in about 25 feet of water but that requires scuba gear to see due to the cloudiness of the water. There are several other planes in the water nearby such as a Dauntless dive bomber.Solomon Sea Divers
Runs an excellent dive operation here and I have had the pleasure of Dave Cooke's company on several occasions. I have been out on one of their dive trips on the local reefs and they were kind enough to divert to some of the local war wrecks. This area still has lots of evidence of the major base that it became. It gives the feeling of once having been a much larger installation and that the current town is simply a small afterthought. It is dwarfed by the size of the runway and attendant taxiways. Apparently there used to be aircraft stacked 4-6 deep in places in the 60's and 70's but they have all been cleared away now. However not everything is gone. I found a .50 cal shell casing by simply kicking the ground while walking by the store!Seghe
We were only here for a brief overnight. We arrived late and didn't get much done. I did find that the local store was actually in the back of someone's house and was open at any time! Kind of a tropical 7-11 without the video games. Of interest here is the old airstrip. It is a large grass field that gets very flooded but it is still useable even then. This is where Donald Kennedy of the Coast watchers operated from. He was one of the more warlike of that organization as he had his
own militia and sailboat that he used to attack any barge or Japanese patrol that came within his area. He also rescued a good many allied pilots and did other work as well.P-38 Lightning Wreckage
At the end of the runway about 50' from shore is a Lockheed P-38 Lightning in about 15' of water. It is in beautiful shape and is totally intact. According to local lore it was doing a ground attack across the lagoon and was hit by ground fire. One engine caught fire but it made it back to base and landed close to shore. The pilot swam ashore and survived. The plane is intact including propellors, canopy framing etc. It immediately impresses you with the size of it. When you are only 15' above a plane with a 45' wingspan it takes a minute or two to go from tip to tip! It does not have a lot of growth on it but it is white in appearance now.Marova Lagoon
Located on the north east side of New Georgia. This is truly a gorgeous place and is well deserving of it's reputation as one of the most beautiful lagoons on earth. It took a three hour boat trip to get to the lodge on the outer rim of the lagoon where we were going to stay. Local boat traffic passed us regularly and we had flying fish jumping around us at times. Grass huts on stilts were on the shore in villages and separately. The lodge was lovely with a breakfast house with it's own kitchen facilities and a porch that looked out over the open ocean.
Enoghai / Bairoko
This is an area on the north coast of New Georgia Island. It was major objective of the campaign after the initial capture of the airfield was accomplished. The Japanese used it as a place to run supplies to and as a jumping off point to send troops down the trails to the fighting to the south. Currently there is a a few Japanese guns still there. There is also a sunken freighter in the inlet at Bairoko. Not being a diver myself I did not get to see it at close quarters. The whole area was liberated in late july 1943 by the Marine Raiders after a series of battles that lasted several weeks.Kundi
These guns are part of an American battery of, I believe, 40mm anti-aircraft guns. They are now in the yards of some of the local people and seem to have been incorporated into their gardens!
