Honiara Solomon IslandsCruise Port Guide

Honiara is the capital of the Solomon Islands, a Melanesian archipelago nation of some 900 islands east of Papua New Guinea, and one of the Pacific's most historically charged cruise destinations. The city occupies the northwestern coast of Guadalcanal — the island whose name became synonymous in August–December 1942 with one of the most pivotal and savage campaigns of the Pacific War. The Guadalcanal Campaign, in which American and Japanese forces fought for control of Henderson Field in months of brutal jungle and naval warfare, cost over 36,000 total military casualties and the lives of thousands of civilians. The waters surrounding Guadalcanal are nicknamed 'Iron Bottom Sound' — an area roughly 48 km wide and 64 km long where the wrecks of more than 50 warships and 600 aircraft lie on the seabed, sunk in a series of fierce naval engagements whose fury was unmatched anywhere in the Pacific theatre.

Today Honiara is a small, genuine Pacific capital — dusty, energetic, short on polish, but rich in authentic Melanesian life. The bustling Central Market is one of the Pacific's most colorful, where women from outlying islands arrive by boat with produce, shell money (a traditional currency still used in ceremonies and bride price transactions), woven mats, and fresh root vegetables. The National Museum holds important collections of traditional shell money, Guadalcanal artifacts, and WWII memorabilia. The skull shrines at villages outside Honiara — collections of ancestral skulls maintained as spiritual focal points — are a uniquely Melanesian cultural practice still observed in some communities. The giant tuna fishing industry, centered on Honiara's commercial cannery, is one of the Solomon Islands' primary economic pillars, and fishing boats crowd the harbor.

For divers and WWII history enthusiasts, Honiara is extraordinary. The Bonegi I and Bonegi II Japanese transport ship wrecks lie in shallow water off a beach just 10 km from the city, their hulls encrusted in coral and accessible to snorkelers as well as scuba divers. The Vilu War Museum displays a haunting collection of American and Japanese aircraft, artillery pieces, and military vehicles rusting in the bush. Bloody Ridge (Edson's Ridge), the scene of Marine Colonel 'Red Mike' Edson's desperate defensive stand against Japanese forces in September 1942, is a quiet, grass-covered hill today that belies its history.