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Belated, BOTCHed, Babies & Bananas
April and May 2010

It has been two months since we made the deadline for a Dive Log Report. Sorry about that, no excuses other than we have been so busy working that the little spare time we have managed has been spent diving. Slack I know but can you blame me?

It is good to have the Wickham Wrecks available again. It means those who love looking at rusty WWII hulks littered with military clearance jumble-sale items, together with plenty of fish and marine invertebrate growth, are in heaven. It takes about 75 minutes to get to Wickham from Uepi but considering that this actually a tour of the beautiful southern Marovo Lagoon, the journey itself is a big plus. There are 4 wrecks we choose from. Two are Japanese freighters, one a fairly barren transport of unknown origin and the latest addition being a larger vessel of which we know very little. In about 2003 we had an American Air Force WWII veteran pilot, who incidentally shot down the Zero at the end of Munda airstrip, stay with us a few days. In chatting he mentioned flying back in a P38 with a companion aircraft having raided Bougainville. They spotted two Japanese freighters caught unloading with their bows up against a shallow reef somewhere in a lagoon. USA aircraft were skip bombing and had struck the two freighters but both ships were still apparently operational. So he expended all his remaining cannon fire at one ship whilst his mate did the same with the other. Both ships caught on fire and he and his mate were both credited with a ship kill each. I had little doubt from the description that these were the two Japanese freighter wrecks at Wickham. When we dive Wickham we can consider a day trip diving 2 or 3 wrecks. The trip is suitable for genuine advanced divers with suitable experience. Three wrecks have decks at 28m and keels sitting on the sand at 40m. The fourth wreck, the latest addition, is the largest and shallowest with the deck at 15m, making it the obvious last dive. It also has very prolific fish life, a wheeled artillery piece on the Bow, and four cargo holds. Wickham Harbour (no actual harbour facilities, just the name) is actually the southern entrance to Marovo Lagoon, from the Coral Sea. Exposed to a moderate amount to southern swells, the outer reaches of Wickham can be affected by rough seas, so there may be days when we do not offer this excursion.

April and May have delivered a tasty buffet of diving. A large pod of pilot whales moved along the Slot. The Hammerheads would show for a week or two, disappear then re-appear again. We think we sense that they are around, even imagining we can smell them, but they decide who gets a look or not. Encounters ranged from quick glimpses to close scrutiny. As usual quite a few divers saw their first hammer. Dolphins also featured, often riding the boats bow waves, but showing up underwater as well. Jill had probably her best ever encounter with about ten spinners very closely circling her around and around for a good while. Her attempts to attract her nearby buddy (under supervision) who had his head firmly stuck under a rock looking for who knows what, were futile so she bailed out of that and enjoyed the experience. Unfortunately having a student meant no video which is like her third arm normally.

One memorable dive was Point- to- Point on a sparkling sunny afternoon. The current was incoming and as soon as we hit the water we sensed “this going to be special”. Whilst still wiping air-bubbles off or housing domes the big Queensland Groper appeared. Other divers had been spotting this monster and his smaller companion over the past week so we were not totally ambushed. Guppy headed into the mouth of a large tunnel in the reef, stopped and stared at us. Then he headed out towards us a little and slowly along the wall away from us. Beautiful animal

Like many Point-to- Point dives the fish schools at depth were amazing: Swirling masses of Big-Eye Jacks and yellow Barracuda, Eagle rays, Dogtooths, Whitetips & Whalers, even a big barnacled green turtle. Crossing the channel we had several eagle rays and numerous sharks highlighted on the sandy bottom. Then upon reaching the Uepi side the Big-Eye streamed down for minutes, they just kept coming. On the top of Uepi there is always a high level of activity. Some beautiful blue water at the front and outer channel made a nice background for video and stills.

But days later and even closer to home we slipped in at the Dive Shop for a quick dip and have a look at “BOTCH”. Even leaving the jetty was hard as the Scad & Snapper interlaced with Lionfish swarmed over the waving soft coral at the edge. But we soon resisted and glided with a slight incoming current down past fans, barrel sponges and seawhips down to the sandy bottom at 35 metres. Jill spotted a pair of Tawny Nurse sharks lying closely together. One was as large as I have seen a Tawny and the other average size. They were not too concerned about us, just a little nervous, so they swan in a repeated circuit around two very small bombies, stopping at their preferred rest site then swam around again. Jill has some nice video on the Uepi Face-Book. Next were the deep bombies although we could only skim the top. Here a very large round shaped stingray levitated out of the sand and glided slowly away to the deep. By this time we were at “Shark Bombie” and the water was crystal clear with the brilliant face & top of Shark Bombie bathed in bright sunlight. In conditions like this it is breathtaking. We had been told that our Dive Guide Robert had found an uncommon Nudibranch at about 17 metres on the face edge, so it took us several minutes to find what we presume is the the female. This was a Polyceridae, Nembrotha kubaryana, dark body, green pustules and red margins on the foot and head. Whilst Jill was filming (see Uepi Face-Book “New Nudis”) I found another version, very nicely coloured and patterned similar to the first but without the striking slashes of iridescent red across the back. Once our eyes were adjusted we found more of these Nudis in the immediate area. Funny how easy it gets once you tune in. Heading back towards the Dive Shop after thirty metres we stopped at the Welcome Jetty, where the Blacktips and Whalers kept bursting through the resident schools of Scad, Snapper and Diamond Fish. I can watch this all day and only my almost empty 63 Cu tank made me make a shallow return to exit. I had to ignore the brown Morey with cleaner shrimps on the way back.

KurKuru has been a very popular dive so Jill has placed some video on Face Book.

Earlier this year we began to restock the reefs with baby Giant Clams. Whilst ‘wild’ Clams are in our area they suffered from a Taiwanese onslaught in the 1980s and a few from sales to Logging Ships over the past ten years. We get these Baby Clams from a Clam farm near Gizo. Our initial deployments were not successful with a 100% fatality rate. So we kept the remaining 70 Clams in wraps, protected by full screens in a nursery area. Recently we took 15 now larger Clams and distributed them in the coral garden basin at Uepi Point. This is an area where Clams occur naturally, is deeper and has different fish than where we tried previously. And we covered these babies with some mesh, not completely just over the top, but we thought it might help. We are happy to report a 100% survival so far, so we have released another 45 Clam Babies at Elbow, Elbow Caves and Landoro. Some of these Clams are unprotected but they have survived the first few days. Now we feel that the protection was probably not needed, survival depending more on where we chose to place the individual Clams. We have a lot to learn but are hopeful we have learnt some lessons already. It is strange but people seem to feel an affinity with Clams. With another 200 “Clam Babies” due soon we are keen to keep this program going.

Alas the “Ye Olde Dive Shop” is almost no more. A new building is taking place. Luckily the local Heritage Building Regulations are not well enforced or all that Termite waste and rotted timber would have had to be restored for the benefit of future generations. “Ye New Olde Dive Shop” will be much bigger and comfortable. All that remains of the old Shop is the flooring which is now temporarily fronting the back half of the new premises. Soon that will disappear, replaced by a new Shop front. The compressor has its own home in a separate building nearby.

As I write we are looking after a medical team of 18. Yes it is the Help A Friend Foundation (HAFF) from the USA making yet another medical mission to Marovo. The response has been enormous as the local people now know and trust these dedicated people who are on their fifth campaign. Jason is currently the Administrator (Honorary) of Seghe Area Health Centre (Hospital) and has taken over as our main organiser for the HAFF visits. The local Seghe Staff are now fully involved in the HAFF clinics, accompanying HAFF to clinics over a wide area of Marovo. Uepi provides logistical support to the AHC and to HAFF. Even to the extent that Josh has been allocated to the Sex Education sub-unit of HAFF, armed with a penis replica to demonstrate how to put on condoms. This replica is carved from black wood (Ebony) and is carried about in a fabric cover disguised as a banana, so as not to be too recognisable in public places. Josh did not initially realise that it was more than a banana for a short time and found it difficult to put a condom on a banana. Once he worked out that the banana needed to be undressed it was easy. The response has been most enthusiastic with condom handouts as popular as if they were Mars Bars. Another suggestion was that we should reward the brave kids who have teeth pulled with an improvised balloon, but Josh says supplies are already too low for that. Josh is getting used to the “thumbs up with big smile” directed his way from happy recipients. Sorry we have no photos to show you of the piece covered or uncovered or condomised. But anyone wanting to purchase a second hand ebony carving after this HAFF mission, please send in a tender price to TPPL with the envelope marked “Jojolo”. If the demand is huge we can get the Carvers into action.

It is the time of year when the tides are low at midday with the corals risking sunburn. The humidity can be high unless the Trade Winds are blowing. Rain storms can quickly come and quickly go. The Official Weather Forecast today, presented with much importance, was “Mainly Fine, light or variable winds”. No need for Celebrity Presenters with the latest computer simulations for that! But at least it cannot be wrong and we know what to wear.

Lukim iu moa
Grant, Jill, Josh and all the Uepi Team

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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.