Things to Do in Russell Islands

Snorkel the Mbanika coral gardens

Slipping in off the white strip east of Yandina, you drop straight onto lettuce corals the size of dining tables and purple sea fans that shudder with the wake of passing dugouts. Tiny clownfish nip at your mask while parrotfish crunch coral somewhere below, the sound like distant breakfast cereal.

Track WWII relics on Pavuvu

A sweaty 30-minute scramble from the old airstrip lands you beside a vine-choked amtrac, its treads still sharp enough to snag your shorts. The jungle hums with cicadas and the sweet rot of fallen cacao, and when the clouds slide off you can see the ghost rectangle of the former runway through the undergrowth.

Paddle the mangrove tunnel at Pavuvu Narrows

At high tide you can push a borrowed kayak into a cathedral of mangrove roots so dense the daylight turns green and the only sound is drip, drip from nipa fronds. Baby reef sharks sometimes flick past your paddle, sending up curls of tannin-brown water that smell of brewed tea leaves.

Fish the outer drop-off with hand-line

Local lads run 15-hp skiffs to the edge where the pastel lagoon suddenly plunges into indigo. You feel the line zip out and the bamboo stick bends like a drawn bow. When a yellowfin slaps the deck the whole boat smells of iron and ocean blood, and someone always starts singing an old reggae chorus off-key.

Share kastom stories at Nafinuqa village

Old Charlie keeps the shell-money strands in a biscuit tin. When he lifts them out they clack like porcelain wind chimes. Smoke from the copra drier drifts across the nakamal while he explains how dolphin teeth once bought brides, and you taste the sour tang of kava before dusk even falls.

Yandina guesthouse strip - simple plywood rooms on stilts over the lagoon, geckos chirping under the eaves

Loaloa village homestays - fall asleep to pig grunts and the faint throb of a diesel genset powering the pastor's fridge

Catholic Mission bungalows at Nafinuqa - verandas look straight across to Florida Islands, breeze carries copra smoke at dawn

Logging camp containers at Pavuvu - basic but air-conditioned, and the canteen sells lukewarm SolBrew cheaper than anywhere

Beach fales east of Yandina - thatch roofs, sand floor, million-star rating when generators die at 10 pm

Private island eco-lodge on tiny Leli - solar lights, reef right off your hammock, rates that qualify as a splurge by Solomons standards