Florida Islands, Solomon Islands

Florida Islands, also known as The Nggela Islands or Nggela Sule, are a small island group in the Central Province of the Solomon Islands, a sovereign state in the southwest Pacific Ocean. The first recorded sighting of the Solomons by Europeans was the Spanish expedition of Álvaro de Mendaña on 16 April 1568.

The Nggela Islands group lies immediately north of the more famous island of Guadalcanal, the scene of the Battle of Guadalcanal against the Japanese during World War II. After the War, the British administration moved to Honiara, Guadalcanal, making it the capital of the Solomon Islands group.

The Solomon Islands archipelago is part of two distinct terrestrial ecoregions. Most of the islands are part of the Solomon Islands rain forests ecoregion. Soil quality ranges from extremely rich volcanic (there are volcanoes with varying degrees of activity on some of the larger islands) to relatively infertile limestone. More than 230 varieties of orchids and other tropical flowers brighten the landscape.

The islands' ocean-equatorial climate is extremely humid throughout the year, with a mean temperature of 26.5 °C (79.7 °F) and few extremes of temperature or weather. June through to August is the cooler period. Though seasons are not pronounced, the northwesterly winds of November through April bring more frequent rainfall and occasional squalls or cyclones. This area, being within the Pacific Ring of Fire, is prone to large-scale earthquakes with one in April, 2014, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale.

South Pacific cruises are becoming extremely popular. Local cruises operate year round from Australia, Fiji and Tahiti. The Australia/New Zealand cruises sail between October and March as do the Trans Pacific/World sectors.

General Information:

Language: English (official), Melanesian dialects
Currency: Solomon Islands dollar (SBD)
Time zone: (UTC+11)
Drives on the: left
Calling code: +677