The Worlds Most Sort After Dive Job
Currently we have one of the best most sort after dive jobs in the world! We are the onboard managers on the MV Bilikiki which is a world class liveaboard in the Solomon Islands. We live full time on the 110 foot boat, we manage a crew of 11 local Solomon Islanders who captain the boat, look after all the equipment, fill the tanks, clean the cabins and cook for the guest while Sam and I dive with the guest and we make sure everything runs smoothly and the guest are having a good time and happy. We take up to 20 guests at a time for trips of up to 7 nights to 14 nights.
We get to meet many famous underwater photographers and personalities and tons of interesting people. Every day we dive pristine dive sites, famous sites such as Leru Cut, Mary Island and Devil Highway. We see an amazing variety of marine life from pelagics, with schools of mantas, tons of sharks, turtles, schooling jacks and barracudas to tiny macro life like pygmy seahorses, ghost pipefish, nudis, cuttlefish, octopus, crocodile fish, plus loads more, all in 29-30 degree water. Local islanders paddle out in their dugout canoes to sell me fresh fruit and veg almost everyday, I visit villages where not much has changed in hundreds of years and everytime I step outside my cabin I am faced with the most amazingly clear blue water, palm trees and white sandy beaches. It honestly doesnt get much better.
Where did it all start?
I (Kellie) became a DM and AI with Peter Letts at Abyss Scuba Diving back in 2000 I worked at Abyss Scuba Diving and completed my instructor course and exams at the start of 2001. I worked at Abyss for 31/2 years before leaving to try working overseas. Sam also did his AI and OWSI training at Abyss Scuba Diving while working in the shop from 2002. The training and work experiences we both undertook at Abyss helped us both gain employment as a dive instructor all over the world
We have done a few other dive jobs on our way to the Bilikiki in the Solomon Islands. We worked in Utila, a small island off the coast of Honduras for 12 months teaching endless Openwater courses and overseeing a small backpackers hotel. We spent 3months teaching dive courses and working as dive guides in the Galapagos Islands. We spent a year running an eco lodge & dive operation in Vanuatu. They have all been amazing experiences, living in truly beautiful places, doing something we love. Both of us could not imagine doing anything else.