Uepi Island Resort - Uepi News.

Welcome to Uepi Island Resort
Natural Beauty Harmony Excitement Indulgence

Uepi News

Bunnies, Betrothals & Bamboos – Uepi Island Resort
April 2011

It is Easter Sunday. Breakfast began with an Easter Egg or two courtesy of the Easter Bunny assisted by several of our thoughtful & kind guests! The brilliant and dynamic sunset of last evening was followed by a mellow yellow sunrise this morning. A mild SE breeze, a fleeting preview of the trade wind season soon to come, barely rippled the calm blue lagoon water. Blue sky, vivid white clouds and tropical green vegetation filled out the view. The passive clouds building over Vangunu encountered early morning thermals and mutated into commanding, darkened, energetic shapes. One guest, an artist by profession, compulsively ran out with her camera to capture the drama of the moment. Soon it was gone, replaced by calm, and we all settled back into a hearty breakfast on the deck, but with eyes constantly drawn to the fish swarming over the reefs, the nearby mass of brilliant green foliage many laden with orchards, the predatory Erebachi (Monitor Lizards), Geckos and Skinks, and to the many birds of the air. The night divers of last night were still on a high, talking over the top of each other about what had been revealed under cover of darkness on Uepi Point. Soon the “Bapita” day trippers were heading off in warm sunshine to dive the surreal vertical shipwreck named the Taiyo Boat, cruise the brilliant coral of Penguin Reef, glide through the magic Bapita sinkhole, and check out the interesting Dauntless Dive Bomber and the excellent P38 fighter plane. When I dive the Dauntless I am always absorbed into wondering just how the rear-gunner coped with his task. Imagine sitting behind the pilot facing to the rear. Suddenly the pilot gets a rush of adrenalin fuelled bravado and initiates a screaming vertical dive. Immediately the gunner is staring straight up into the heavens, no doubt earnestly hoping ‘someone’ is actually up there and looking after him. Suddenly the bomb is released, the G forces are enough to black out Superman as the pilot barely avoids a crash into the enemy ship as he levels the plane out mere metres above the water and proceeds to get the hell out of there. During the dive the cannon in the centre of the propeller was firing away supposedly suppressing enemy fire, which maybe made the enemy a little mad. The bomb exploding no doubt made them even madder. Now provided the rear gunner has not succumbed to a black out or total fear he begins his work, suppressing the fire from these now fairly mad enemy who are totally committed to frame him in their gun-sights. To me this makes what is a technical interesting but not that especially impressive plane wreck, well worth a visit. Follow up with what is definitely an impressive plane wreck, the P38, and it is a great way to end an awesome days diving.

Meanwhile back at the breakfast table the remaining divers, obviously over energised by full cream milk chocolate (glad we do not serve red cordial), had elected for 3 dives. The first site “Inside Point” is straight out from the breakfast table, so close that any one of our laundry girls standing at the toaster could lob a coconut on it with casual ease. Of course you and I could not even throw it a quarter of the way, but let’s not dwell on that alpha males. On their return these divers were talking about giant barracuda almost pushing them aside, schools of trevally and the inevitable close shark encounters.

The first quarter of the year has passed blindingly fast. The moon cycles producing fish aggregations and spawning. The midyear generates low tides in the middle of the day and many good incoming tides in the afternoon. Already Uepi Point has had awesome fish schooling and variety. Some spawning is still occurring. This week was the turn of the brilliantly coloured Clown Triggerfish, one of the nicer triggerfish. Some of its cousin brothers are not all that nice. The Clowns nest in a very specific area on the sloping wall of the main channel back from Uepi Point at about the 20m depth. Normally a bit shy, they are not shy when nesting so it’s a good photo opportunity.

As well as many bony fish the eagle rays have been mating with attracted pairs displaying “dancing with the stars” performances. The vast majority of dives have had eagle ray sightings so the population seems very healthy.

General Store, always a top dive site, has been scoring very highly lately. With good swim-throughs, nice walls, a classic bombie and very varied life it has been producing very good dives. Further along Binusa and KuruKuru have excellent walls and coral gardens. Closer to Uepi, Roma has seemingly endless spectacular coral gardens in shallower depths and has proven great for snorkelling too.

In March the Spinner dolphins were about in very big schools. The young had grown a little so the parents were not so nervous about canoes or people so were keen to play. On many dives the returning dive boat would find a playful school to enthral us all until reluctantly we agreed to return to base. Without a doubt digital data cards were created to be overfilled with dolphin shots.

Early in April a male guest was observed in the garden on his knees before his lovely lady companion. The observer, a frequently Uepi guest, excitedly & immediately reported the sighting and later that day a smiling couple confirmed their engagement. “Love is in the air” and they must have left some aerosols because soon we had notice of further impending and dramatic romantic drama.

Matt & Sally have been staying with us for a while helping with things. Some secretive approaches from Matt to Jill established that a proposal was imminent, and that an underwater scenario was planned. Help would be needed. The problem was getting the whole plan in place as Matt required. This meant getting Matt diving with us without Sally, almost impossible as when it comes to diving Sally is like a hungry sheepdog with a rotting sheep carcass, never misses the scent. With a great deal of huff & puff Jill set Sally an important and immediate task & we whisked Matt around to the coral gardens at Landoro. We had some remaining baby clams destined to repopulate the reefs so we took those with us to make a heart shape, thereby marking the very spot where the proposal would take place. To get Sally to this spot Matt had to navigate to it. So we gathered redundant mesh guards we normally use to protect small baby clams and laid a trail. This took more time than we planned so we had to deflect Sally’s enquiring questions upon our return.

The next day all was set. Matt had drafted a “Will you marry me Sally” message on a piece of sailcloth material stowed in his BCD. Understanding that Sally would need some way to reply he had a slate with “Yes” on one side & “No” on the other. I quickly convinced him that a “Yes” on both sides would be more productive and save Sally from any hard decision making. A ring in a traditional case was also in the BCD pocket. But a complication arose in that Sally was very keen to join in with the other divers on a particular dive and there was room on the boat. Appealing to her work ethic and keen interest we allocated Sally & Matt a serious task, checking out the baby clams at Landoro. So off they went with Lamae our Diveguide in the know and putting Matt onto the ‘start’ point. Lamae had been privy to and part of the planning the day before and was sworn to secrecy. I am not sure how the other staff all knew about it the previous evening but perhaps it was ‘Pela’ a traditional Marovo spirit responsible for lots of strange things! The plan went well although Matt overshot the main turnoff along the wall into the spot with the ‘heart” and had to be very assertive to turn Sally around & retrack. By this time Sally was wondering and even disturbed as to why all the mesh guards they were collecting had no signs of any clams anywhere. Finally the “heart” was reached & Matt knelt classically on one knee and produced the sailcloth. Sally went into serious hyper-ventilation. The rest is history as shown in the following photos which of course involved a little re-enactment at the time.

Meanwhile our ‘girls” had been alerted to what was going on and that Lamae was delivering the newly betrothed couple to Landoro Beach for Champagne and to gather themselves. This was of course provided Sally and Matt both survived the drama of the dive. The girls went into a serious Solomon girlie mode and the beach was swept, flowers were laid, traditional archways erected and Matts arranged. Again the images tell the story.

Sally & Matt under the traditional arch of flowers on the decorated beach

Sally & Matt returning by canoe to Uepi

Other recent visitors included a group from Scots College in Sydney. This school is developing a ‘brother school’ relationship with our local Patakae Community Secondary School. As part of their visit they enjoy a few days of outdoor activity at Uepi, spend a few days at Chubikopi Village whilst there enter into day programs with the Patakae students. It is a rewarding experience all for everyone. A challenging sea kayak along the outer reef for a picnic lunch on a jungle covered barrier reef island was made even more challenging when a mixed message meant they paddled to a much more distant island!

Scots kayakers ready to paddle

Scots kayakers departing Uepi

Last year we were contacted by Alex Vogel an adventurous sea kayaker. With several long solo paddles to his credit Alex sought some advice in planning an extended solo trip around the Western Solomons. You can read one article about his trip at http://oceanpaddlermagazine.com/3D-Issues/OP25-3D/. In 2012 Kayak Solomons has one extended trip around the general Marovo area booked. See www.kayaksolomons.com for other information.

Time has flown and it is now several days after Easter & the lingering taste of Easter eggs has well and truly gone. Yesterday I guided an early dive on Fan City at 0700. Only 3 divers dropped in about 3/4 of the way from the diveshop to Uepi Point. The current was coming in gently, near the end of its run. As soon as I was wet I was in dreamland. The water was clear and blue, the sun was bright, the colour brilliant and the marine life abundant. This was picture perfect country! Drifting down to about 30m was a spectrum of colour, the fans, whips and huge barrel sponges providing a backdrop for swarms of fish life. With eyes looking everywhere we almost missed the Hawksbill turtle earnestly breakfasting on sponges only a few meters away. Barracuda circled overhead, Coral trout darted about, Trevally reflected sunlight as they swarmed up and down, small resident fish darted in and out of shelter. Clown Triggers, Parrots, Surgeons, Butterfly and Angels, the list went on. The Bumphead parrot fish were in abundance and the females were being rounded up by the dominant males. Everywhere there was action. Fan City is named after the many large & colourful fans that cover an extended area along the sloping wall down to the sandy channel bottom at about 50m. Normally divers only get glimpses of the magnificent spectacle so this dive profile has been especially developed. It can be dived with incoming or outgoing current at certain times, and is well suited to early morning when the sun angle is especially good. Reaching Uepi Point we crossed the outer face then explored the shallow coral gardens. Finally a drift along the reef edge back towards the Dive shop, gazing at the teeming activity.

Show me the way

Clown Trigger

This morning we dived early again with several others. The plan was to dive Point to Point but the tides had changed early and so Fan City was the fallback. We entered further from Uepi Point than yesterday. Not unexpectedly the viz was not brilliant like yesterday, but again the slope was covered with life. The Bumpheads were prolific with much larger males aggressively shepherding their clan and making stereotype displays of male authority. Interestingly in the first section not dived yesterday the Square-tailed coral trout were occupying spawning territories. As we approached Uepi Point the viz improved and was typically clear and blue on the corner and across the front, despite the outgoing current. Several sharks and rays cruised around. A very large “monster” fish, which I missed seeing, attracted some underwater attention and a great deal of speculation and friendly ‘shyacking’ after the dive. My guess a very big Dogtooth tuna. A swimming Spanish Dancer style flatworm drew in the photographers as did various anemone crabs and shrimps, Spine-cheek Anemone-fish on onion-head anemones, Angels and Butterflies. We backtracked a short way into the current where some huge Bumphead males were being very demonstrative and not at all bothered by divers as they darted aggressively around. A quick stint into the more protected sandy stretch on top revealed the hiding place for masses of fish intent on getting out of the current. Certainly very different to yesterday but another great dive. Tonight a night dive is planned to cover the same area and see who knows what. At times weather conditions prevent night dives on Uepi Point but several night dives there in the last fortnight have produced ‘best ever’ rave reviews.

A morning dive to Elbow has just returned. The hammerheads have been spasmodic for some months but a large hammer showed up for this dive. And to add to the fun about 20 dolphins decided to dive at Elbow as well. I guess a crowded dive is not always a bad thing. We do our best to keep to small groups but some things are beyond our control.

One of the joys for us has always been the music and songs performed by Uepi Staff over the years. This is volunteered by the staff as a show of their appreciation and friendship. From about six months ago the staff have developed their Bamboo Band to the extent that they are producing some very high standard kastom music. As always on the actual day the lineup varies and it is a little unique. That is how we like it and judging by the response of our guest they do too. It is not always possible for all our guests to hear the staff play but most get a chance to enjoy their music as the average stay is about a week days.

Shortly we will be requiring every Uepi guest to have DAN insurance. Whilst Dan does not cover unused accommodation expenses etc it is by far the best insurance to have for medical evacuation. In particular DAN Australasia is a dream to work with compared to any other organisation. This may not seem important when all is going well but it definitely is important when you need assistance, which is precisely what you take out insurance for. What you get with DAN is CHEAP but definitely not nasty! This does not mean not having other insurance as provided by travel agents but for different reasons. Experience has shown that if you need an evacuation, especially a serious one, you need DAN. We do not benefit in any monetary way from dealing with DAN except for being able to work with people who are professional and caring.

Jill has loaded a recent short video on www.facebook.com/UepiIslandResort and check out www.uepi.com or contact info@uepi.com for regular news & information.

Solomon Airlines now has Brisbane/Honiara return flight on Sundays. This means that between Virgin Blue & Solomon Airlines Saturday is the only day there is not an international connection.

We are looking forward to seeing you sometime.
“Leana via” Grant, Jill & Team Uepi

News Archives

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.