Visale

There is a lovely beach in the backyard of a village just past a larger village called Visale. It is also the beach entry point for what is known as the Visale Submarine Dive, even though it is not actually Visale.


The villagers are Catholic, so if you visit on a Sunday, please respect their Sabbath and try not to be too intrusive.


They are very friendly and hospitable. The man in charge of taking care of visitors to their beach is named Anthony. He is from a village on the Weathercoast, which suffered violence for different reasons, but during the same period of time, as the the Ethnic Tensions. He married a woman from the village which owns the beach and they have a number of lovely children.


Before the Tensions, Anthony met an Australian man who catches and exports live fish for aquariums when Anthony was working as a driver in Honiara. The man asked Anthony to be his guide and gave him the opportunity to try scuba diving when they went to Western Province to obtain fish specimens. The man seemed to appreciate Anthony's dedication and willingness to try scuba diving, and took Anthony to Cairns where he undertook a PADI scuba diving course. This man returns to Honiara periodically and Anthony helps him on those occasions. Having said that though, I wouldn't expect Anthony to be a dive guide to the sub. Not only haven't I verified his diving qualifications, but Anthony does not have scuba diving equipment.


The village children are charming. On one visit to their beach the girls tried to teach my son (then five) to paddle a traditional wooden canoe. They eventually gave up after much instructing and laughter and took him for a ride in the canoe around the lagoon.



Sorry for the photo quality - it was a very overcast day.




Where is it and how do I get there?



Visale is west of Honiara. There is a large Catholic church and a school. To get to the small village where the beach and the submarine are, you keep driving until you pass the second white cross. Very close after the second white cross is a village with a large clearing on the right. There is usually also a sign attached to a tree saying "Sub Dive".

How long it takes to drive there depends on the condition of the road. When I first came here two years ago the road was incredibly potholed and the drive took two hours. Just after the road was mended and some new bridges were completed, the drive took 45 minutes. Allow about an hour these days. You can also get there with the operators of guided dives either by boat or in their vehicle.