Aore Adventure Sports & Lodge

Night dive just began in search of the famous flashligh fish on the Coolidge

Something a little different, we also have crystal clear fresh water blue holes to dive in Santo

Solomon airlines are running a special for flights 2.5 hrs direct Brisbane to Santo

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need to wear my sunnys at night😎

don't remember seeing that on my pizza last night,
new neighbors for the next 10 days, and we are taking them diving during their stay
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_John_L._Canley

on the 16th of October 2025 , which would have been his 80th birthday we took my great mate and a Santo legend for his eternal dive on the SS President Coolidge Tony Lewis lived and breathed the Coolidge for over 27yrs RIP mate

"Pamwe Chete"

83years ago on this day the SS President Coolidge came to lie on the bottom after striking mines RIP

A close-up of the Turtle Bay Corsair which is likely ditched by 2nd Lt. Thomas Tomlinson of VMF-214 on 15 July 1943. This Corsair is therefore likely a very early F4U-1 "Birdcage" machine with BuNo. 02683. Sealark Exploration examines and studies as many reported aircraft sites in the Pacific as possible, and occasionally an MIA site is discovered, then all the effort is worth it. By surveying and studying numerous WWII aircraft archaeological sites in the Pacific, the Sealark Team has gained much detailed, interpretive, knowledge of WWII aircraft sites. The circular damage at the right, behind the cockpit, indicates a piece of clear plexiglas- which covers the rear-view tunnel. Corsair pilots in the Solomons with combat experience, recommended widening the seat head armour. This blocked off the rear vision tunnels, so they were later plated over with aluminium, rather then plexiglas. The recommendation was implemented on the production line with the 668th (BuNo. 17415) F4U-1 Corsair. Sealark uses details such as this to narrow down which Corsair a site might be. The original Vought-Sikorsky (VS) pinched armor plate was Part No. VS-13888. The newer, wider one was VS-24232. The wider plates were sent to the South Pacific to retro-fit in the field too. Note the missing instrument panel. When Sealark divers first saw this on submerged Corsair sites, it was immediately assumed that the panel had been souvenired. However, diving on newly discovered Corsairs, has revealed the instrument panels were also missing. It has been subsequently learnt that the panels were made of magnesium alloy to save precious aluminium and have been preferentially corroded away by galvanic corrosion. The heavy instruments fall out first, backwards, and become buried in silt and marine debris in the notoriously deep bottom of the Corsair, which has no cockpit floor! Note the phenol-plastic radio mast in front of the cockpit is missing on this site. It could have been snapped off in modern times by a careless boat anchoring and chain. If this F4U-1 is BuNo. 02683, then this plane would have had the short (33.25-inch) mast which started manufacturing implementation on the 155th Corsair (BuNo. 02307). [Photo by Ewan Stevenson on 26 July 2022].

If you are a scuba diver, you can dive the Turtle Bay Corsair with enthusiastic dive operator Paul White and two his helpful dive guides Kingsley Garea-Mera and John Varegale on the Aore Adventure Sports & Lodge private jetty. Paul has a great lodge to rent just meters from jetty, so diving is super easy. That's Paul's dive boat "Full Boar" with twin 150 HP 4-stroke engines.... efficient and comfortable. Other dive sites just minutes away include the 22,000 ton liner President Coolidge, the destroyer USS Tucker (DD-374) and various aircraft wrecks. There is also stunning fish & coral. The water is warm and clear. Aore Island is pretty and relaxing. Well worth it. Paul takes good care of you. GPS of the jetty 15º 32.165'S, 167° 10.957'E. [Photo by Ewan Stevenson on 19 July 2022].

this was the PBY Catalina we first found and dived in 2022, its had 3 separate missions to search for remains🇺🇸🇻🇺