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Myths, Mantas & More
June 2010

June has breezed past. Quite literally as “Hetcha”, otherwise known as the SE Trade Winds, has been blowing most days. This makes for a comfortable atmosphere with cool breezes at the evening dinner table. With a variable 8 – 15 knots and a mix of overcast and sunny skies the outside dive sites along The Slot have been readily utilised. The Hobie-cats & kite boards have been in use. At times a little swell has pushed through into The Slot but for short periods. Sometimes Hetcha brings drought but this June regular rain, especially prevalent at nights, has kept the gardens green and the water tanks full. One storm from the NE produced the strongest wind for some years, battering the channel and removing a lot of fronds from the coconut trees. At the end of June the lowest air temp for a long while, 24C, generated shivers & the long trousers & shirts were prevalent at dinner. The water was still warm at about 29C but the return boat rides were chilly. These conditions look like persisting for a month or two before Hetcha falls away, the air becomes balmy and it warms a little.

Whilst taking an OWD course I had a good look around Landoro Gardens and discovered some great new corals in areas I had not seen for a while. There is a lot of new coral growth. And what is probably the biggest Giant Calm around lies in 14m on white sand. Our limited efforts in placing baby Giant Clams at Landoro has not been so successful. Nor at the Elbow where after a successful start Octopus have recently gathered up many of the baby Clams & had a feast. Some Clams have survived but we need to reassess where to place the new Clams at both Landoro & Elbow. In contrast those placed at Uepi Point are doing very well indeed.

Late in June the Hammerheads reappeared at Elbow. Our Dive Leader Lamae & some guests counted 9 on a morning dive so Jill & I quickly followed them and had 15 interested Hammers buzzing around us, 9 medium size hanging closely together with 6 big individuals swarming everywhere. Then an elderly Eagle Ray checked us out and 3 Pygmy Mantas in close formation glided effortlessly by. Since then Hammer sightings have been of single individuals but we feel sure they are just down there looking up at us. Hanging at the Elbow waiting for Hammers is not a bad pastime in itself.

A similar story with the Mantas. There were some very good mornings with the best being 7 or more soaring about & getting cleaned, but on most mornings only one, two or three. Large individuals have been spotted several times on the outside drop-offs with one very large Manta circling divers at Landoro, I am not sure how large as the estimates varied widely from BIG to BIG to BIG.

There has been a school of over 30 larger dolphins in the area, often near General Store. They are a bit shy & will not bow ride so there have been plenty of sightings from the boats but we have not seen them from in the water.

Spinner Dolphins have regularly been frolicking in the channel, often just floating with large brown eyes watching, or standing on their heads with tails in the air.

The Hetcha generates one of my favourite events of the year, the spectacle of Ospreys fishing on the reef straight in front of the dining area. The Marovo name for Osprey is Cho(n)gaCho(n)ga ihana which literally means “jump in the sea for fish”. Soaring back & forth across the shallows Ospreys spot a fish & begin their ascent until finally plunging into the water at great speed, talons fully extended. The success rate is quite high although the younger birds are much less proficient. Sometimes they sit in the coconut palms by the volleyball court & swoop from there. The Brahmany Kite also uses Hetcha to cover large areas in search of food. Mostly they inspect the tree-top canopy which is home to snakes, lizards, insects, bats & other birds & also feed on fish & crabs.

Funny how the public view of diving is warped by myth-information. I guess from the early days we have been educated by TV shows, literary fiction & general babble. The famous Mike Nelson (Lloyd Bridges) of Sea Hunt fame always managed to avoid the dreadful ‘bends” but suffered from the inevitable ‘raptures of the deep’, just as an enemy diver armed with a drawn knife swam rapidly against the 5 knot current to attack him from behind, managing to cut Mikes air supply hose. We never tired of the same old scenario repeated episode after episode as Mike in a fountain of air bubbles somehow turned the tables on his adversary, then rescued the girl & saved the day. Fabulous fiction. Then those incredibly handsome guys “The Aquanauts” with the coolest Brylcream (“a little dab will do ya”) Elvis like pushback waves in their hair, added even more reason to become a Scuba Diver. These guys would struggle out of the clutches of gorgeous women, bare their chests in a display of rippling muscle whilst slipping on a wettie and enter the danger filled ocean.

Later came “Jaws” and the sharks morphed into evil scheming creatures with an insatiable taste for human flesh. People have been traumatised ever since. Val was bitten despite wearing a chainmail suit. Throw in the likes of Vic Hislop displaying frozen Great Whites in supermarket parking lots and some people have never made it into the water since.
Then we had the spectacles of the Jacques Cousteau epics; Calypso laden with every dive toy imaginable, Divers in space age suits with aerodynamic twin tank units, banks of powerful lights, the inevitable chopper overhead, underwater scooters and sleds everywhere, underwater communications. Plenty of visuals left some gasping for more high tech adventure. The Space Race looked tame in comparison.

Those of us who ignored the warnings of ‘bends’, ‘raptures of the deep”, strong currents, evil sharks and even more, became divers & over the years were, along with the general public, subject to a new range of myths, some of which persist today.

1. Wetsuits must be so tight that your testicles must be pushed up into your stomach.
2. Only a Dive Master is qualified to do up the wetsuit jacket crutch strap of an attractive girl diver.
3. The more expensive a mask is the better it will fit you.
4. The more D rings your BC has the more macho you are.
5. Having your gear serviced means it will work perfectly the next time you use it.
6. The larger your Dive- Watch is the better diver you are.
7. Your mask & snorkel will stay securely on your forehead as you exit onto a boat.
8. You need a BC that will raise Titanic.
9. Lionfish will attack you at first sight.
10. You will never go into deco....no listen you will not......no no no hear what I say never...
11. The second dive must be shallower than the first or you will get bent.
12. Scuba tanks are filled with oxygen
13. When filled a small volume tank should show less pressure than a larger volume tank because it has less air in it.
14. When you empty an aluminium tank of air during a dive it gets lighter but a steel tank does not.

I have finally given up trying to keep the fungus off the sensor array of my Canon 20D. So I have opted for a new 7D & Subal housing. Along with a new 60mm Macro lens, the previous lens having been flooded when attached to a 20D body. It will be good to have options other than a W/A lens. I loved my old 20D for stills but I am looking for some improvement with background noise in low light conditions, not uncommon in UW conditions. I am keen to try the 1080i HiDef video function which is under consideration as broadcast quality by some wildlife film producers. If anyone has any hints other than drying rooms & silica gel I would be keen to hear them. Perhaps a UV lamp emitting the right wavelength could help? Camera makers say store cameras in a well ventilated area but also say put them in a plastic bag with Silica Gel which seems a bit contradictory.

June has seen a lot of kayaking activity, with several trips paddling in the fabulous Bapita area. From a base at the very nice Matikuri Lodge visits to Bopo Village, Halisi School, the Tayio boat wreck & Bapita itself have received acclaim from the paddlers. Short trips from Uepi to snorkelling locations have also been popular. A white sandy beach with thick green jungle backdrop, white sand lagoon with shallow colourful reefs makes it all so easy. Before any paddling excursions all paddlers do an orientation learning paddle strokes & rescue skills. Kayaking is a self empowering activity and it is still a surprise how some seemingly less adventurous people really take to it.

The HAFF Medical Mission in the first weeks of June was a huge success. Over 1300 patients were seen in 10 days of clinics, at a different venue every day. Whilst exhausting, it was very rewarding for everyone. We will continue to work with HAFF to develop Seghe Hospital & improve radically the health care in Marovo. Our next immediate goal is to purchase a dental drill as the nearest is in Gizo 110 nautical miles away.

The divers from yesterdays Uepi Point dive came back raving about the clear & blue water, and the fish life. The BOTCH divers enthused about the ‘fabulous sand-hill & shark bombie’. The snorkel trip loved exploring the recesses along the dropoff at “Billy Ghizo” commenting on our Guide Aeram’s abiity to dive deep “out of sight” & stay down. Meanwhile my blocked left ear caused by a mild cold continues to keep me office bound. My new camera is still untried!

I cant wait for the next dive! How about you?
“Leane Via”
Grant, Jill, Josh & all of Team Uepi

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We sincerely wish to thank the following people for use of their photographs in our website:

Peter Lange, Peter Pinnock, Oceania Films/Matt Guest, Eric Cheng, Fred Bavendam, Andy Belcher, Manuela Kirschner, Louise Murray, Roberto Rinaldi, Mark Strickland/Oceanic Impressions, Jill Kelly, Grant Kelly, Wes Kelly and Jason Kelly.