Solomon Islands
In the New Georgia Sound—known during World War II as The Slot, the maritime highway through which Japanese and Allied naval forces clashed repeatedly during the Solomon Islands campaign—Kennedy Island lies as a tiny, palm-covered coral islet whose significance vastly exceeds its modest dimensions. On the night of August 2, 1943, the patrol torpedo boat PT-109 was rammed and sunk by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri in the strait west of this island. The boat's skipper, Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, led his surviving crew to this uninhabited islet, then swam to neighboring islands seeking rescue—an ordeal that lasted six days and became one of the foundational narratives of a political career that would lead to the American presidency. The island, originally called Plum Pudding Island by colonial-era navigators, was renamed in Kennedy's honor.
The character of Kennedy Island today is shaped by its double identity as a war memorial and a quintessential Pacific tropical islet. The island is tiny—barely 100 meters across—and can be circumnavigated on foot in minutes. Coconut palms shade a beach of white coral sand that slopes into water of such perfect clarity that fish are visible from twenty meters offshore. There are no structures, no memorials, no interpretive signs—the island presents itself exactly as it appeared to the exhausted crew of PT-109 when they dragged themselves ashore: a fragment of coral reef that offered shade, coconuts, and marginal protection from Japanese patrol boats scanning the waters.
The marine environment surrounding Kennedy Island and the broader Western Province of the Solomon Islands offers some of the finest diving in the Pacific. The reefs that fringe the island support the extraordinary coral diversity characteristic of the Coral Triangle—the global epicenter of marine biodiversity that encompasses the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and eastern Indonesia. The World War II wrecks that litter the seafloor of The Slot—warships, aircraft, and landing craft from both sides—have been colonized by coral and marine life, creating artificial reef systems of considerable ecological value and profound historical significance. Wreck diving in the Solomon Islands combines underwater exploration with a direct connection to the events that shaped the modern Pacific.
The broader Solomon Islands experience that contextualizes a visit to Kennedy Island encompasses some of the most authentic and least-visited Pacific Island cultures remaining. The Western Province, with its provincial capital Gizo, maintains strong traditional customs including wood carving, shell money production, and the elaborate canoe-building tradition that sustained inter-island warfare and trade for centuries. The skull shrine at the village of Vella Lavella—where the heads of enemies were displayed as trophies—offers a window into a warrior culture that thrived until the early twentieth century. The food of the Western Province centers on the sea: fresh-caught tuna, reef fish, and the coconut crab that is considered a delicacy throughout Melanesia.
Kennedy Island is reached by motorboat from Gizo (approximately thirty minutes), which itself is served by domestic flights from Honiara, the Solomon Islands' capital. Gizo has basic accommodation suitable for divers and adventure travelers. The driest months from May through November offer the best conditions for diving and island excursions. The Solomon Islands remain one of the least-visited Pacific Island nations, and tourism infrastructure is limited—visitors should have a spirit of adventure and flexibility. Experienced dive operators in Gizo can arrange both reef and wreck diving, and boat trips to Kennedy Island are easily organized through local operators.