White Beach
Depth is the range from the top of the site to its usual maximum; "recommended cert" is the mainstream-agency level operators usually ask for, not a legal rule. Currents and visibility change daily — treat everything here as planning ranges.
When US forces packed up their Russell Islands base in 1945, surplus trucks, tractors, pontoons, and crates went off the wharf and down the slope, where they remain — axles and radiator shells dissolving into coral at every depth from snorkelable shallows to 30 m. The dive is half history walk, half critter hunt: guides know which gearbox hides a frogfish and which tire hosts the resident octopus, and glassfish swirl through cab windows. Corals grow brightest on the shallow wreckage, where late light makes the whole junkyard glow. It is the Solomons' quirky counterpoint to Vanuatu's better-known Million Dollar Point.
The moment you come for: WWII vehicles fusing into reef; frogfish and octopus in the machinery; shallow wreckage that suits every certification level.
Topography: Sloping sand and rubble strewn with dumped WWII vehicles, pontoons, and equipment
Entry: Russell Islands anchorage dive off a former US base site; calm entries over the slope.
Know before you splash
Hazards: Sharp, unstable metal; silt pockets between vehicles; mind depth as the debris field descends.
Conservation: The wreckage sits on customary land and water — visits run through local arrangement, and souvenir-taking is both illegal and corrosive to that welcome.
Who you'll meet
Clownfish & Anemonefish
Common Reef (Day) Octopus
Frogfish
Lionfish
Nudibranchs
Ornate Ghost Pipefish
For photographers
Wide angle: ★★★★☆ · Macro: ★★★★☆ — editors' 1–5 rating of what this site gives each style of shooting