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DIVE REPORT Uepi Island Resort – ORCAS
April/May 2008

As we anticipate the arrival of the SE Trade Winds, it’s been diving as usual at Uepi, lots of fish, critters & warm water.

What was unusual was a visit by a small pod of ORCA. Three females & a very small baby Orca were spotted lazing in the General Store dive site one May evening. Usually we see ORCA & whales later in the year around October & November, but we have also previously seen them in March.

Colin, who was at Uepi reports –

"We had decided to head out for a late afternoon fish with Jase, Josh, Scott & my 9yo son Lochie. We were no more than 10 minutes from Uepi, and had not even put a line in the water, when Josh spotted what he thought were dolphins. As we came closer it was apparent they were whales and from a distance we thought they were pilot whales. However as we approached shouts of Killer Whales rang out!

Now this was amazing – I had previously snorkelled with a pod of ORCA at Uepi back in 1996 and filmed them feeding and playing with a hammerhead shark. After many return trips since then we had not encountered ORCA again. Scott (who was also with us in 1996) had not been back to Uepi since. He has now earned a reputation as an "OAD" (Orca Attracting Device!).

A feature of this encounter was the eagerness of the ORCA to interplay with the boat. At times an ORCA followed the travelling canoe with its face within about 30cm of the propeller & they were keen to approach the resting canoe & lay against it, sometimes upside down with their white belly only inches below the water and within arms reach of the boat. Jason remembers his feelings well, "the baby seemed really interested in the propeller, scared the hell out of me having this thing right there and not being able to outrun it!! We got used to them pretty quickly and had them playing around the boat by the end."

After a little while we hightailed it back to Uepi in record time, the Honda 90 revving out on Jason’s Rayboat & quickly returned with other guests equipped with snorkel gear & cameras, where we snorkelled & observed the ORCAs until it became too dark. At one stage it appeared as though the ORCA had a large lump of meat they were feeding on, possibly a Manta Ray.

WOW what an experience especially for Lochie – we will just have go back with Scott again!”

Luckily I was returning from a day’s filming with the BBC, meeting up with Jason & company as they dashed back to General Store, so we piled into our filming boat & went & had a good look at them too. The highlight for me was the very cute & small baby ORCA.

The film crew from the BBC, the same guys who made "The Blue Planet" & "Planet Earth", spent a week or so at Uepi filming underwater for the new series "The Pacific". This is going to be a very diverse production, one to look forward too. They were overwhelmed by the corals of Penguin reef, the beauty of Bapita, the diversity of fish & corals on the Uepi reefs. They were using a very large Panasonic video camera which weighed about 38 kgms & the housing was about 0.7m long, quite a handful above or below water. Following the filming stint on the reefs a revised team was put in place to film the pole fishing tuna boats which operate in The Slot, the deep waters out from Uepi. The tuna boat would head out at dawn searching for yellowfin & bonito schools surface feeding on baitfish. Once located the schools were kept on the surface by casting baitfish, previously stored in live-tanks onboard the boat, into the water. Further stimulation was provided by water sprays upon the sea surface simulating baitfish movement. The poling guys would stand along the bow or stern & pole the fish into the ship using barbless hooks. When it was all happening fish would literally rain upon the deck. I must admit I had mixed feelings about this, but in reality this is a very sustainable fishing method, unlike long-lining & the very destructive purseiner methods. When a likely fish school was located & approached we had to quickly get the dive gear & the monster camera safely into our boat, then deploy into the fishing zone. This is not as easy as it sounds. We had to film the underwater action from as close as we could get, all the time being aware that the ship might move. The scene underwater was amazing, blue water, bonito attacking both the natural baitfish schools & the bait cast on the surface. If a large school is encountered the boat tries to draw a smaller pool of fish away from the main group to solely feed on the cast bait and of course the lures. The yellowfin are a little more difficult to get into a feeding frenzy than the impetuous bonito & tend to sit at about 20-30 metres until they decide they are hungry too. Then these silver missiles with bright yellow fins jet to the surface & attack the bait. With yellowfinned missiles streaking all around you, you wonder if you should duck for cover. The current can be strong at times & it takes a lot of finning to keep up. Richard the cameraman was an exceptionally strong diver & he handled that monster camera like it was of matchbox size. He would dash to a filming position, hold his breath for a prodigious time, then hang with perfect buoyancy as he filmed. A rebreather would be a great advantage as any bubbles around the lures tended to scare off some of the fish. As we, the safety divers & our bubbles had to stay out of sight, if Richard changed orientation we would have to make hard yards to get clear. At the end of one very vigorous session even Richard observed "that was a bit like running a marathon". My headache supported him. As we floated on our safety stops small remnant groups of the bait schools would attach themselves to us, hiding from their predators. It is surreal hanging out in the deep blue with fish everywhere, wondering what else might show. And from below, the whole image of the ship, the water spray on the surface, the pink lures flicking on the water & the high speed tuna-missile strikes is memorable.

In addition to the underwater action, from the canoe we had to slowly traverse past the lures & water spray, with the tuna lures landing about a meter away. This mainly scared off the tuna so actual strikes were regrettably infrequent at this time. Once the fishing stopped we had to either give chase in our canoe as the fishing boat pursued another nearby school, or quickly get everything back on board the mother vessel.

Whilst I am told the footage was very good the BBC team are planning to go back with the high-speed camera they used to film the unbelievable Great White shots in Planet Earth. That should really be something as the lure striking action is full on! May the Trade winds hold off a little longer. I have suggested they might also try & record the amazingly precise, complex & perfect patterns that flying fish etch on the water surface as they launch, something I observed from the top deck of the fishing vessel as we steamed over dead calm oily seas.

It might seem anticlimactic to slip back into ordinary diving, but not at Uepi. A nice mix of dives sites has been producing great dives with plenty of encounters with turtles, rays & the ever present sharks. The currents have been a bit unpredictable, possibly influenced by the rising sea-level. May is when coral bleaching has occurred in the past but this year the corals are very healthy. During April/May we experienced outstanding night dives especially on Uepi Point, a night diving mecca. Typically this time of year the night dive starts with a quick drop onto the sandy patch, a swim with the current to the face where clear blue water greets you. Everywhere colours, critters & brilliant corals. It is hard to work out why on one night some species will be everywhere & the next night seemingly absent. One particular night several especially beautiful shrimps, rarely seen in the full, always very skittish & shy, were fully out in the open, stayed exposed & only withdrew when the attention was too intense. I have tried to photograph this shrimp species for years with no results. As I was the dive-leader I had no camera, could only watch & admire.

Recently the number of large trevally has been a feature. Big Black & GT are everywhere, lots of Blues & Bigeye are always around, terrorising the other schools & the Dogtooth Tuna & Spanish Mackerels are still very numerous. Trolling for the dinner plate has been producing many big Wahoo, a fish not often seen underwater, along with big Spaniards.
We are entering a period of incoming tides during the afternoons. Watching now from my desk I can see that special movement picking up, rich blue sunny sky giving brilliant water colour. Jason has been free diving on Charapoanna Point & reports that the fish are gathering in epic schools in great viz. Uepi Point should be loaded too. Guess I will have to tear myself away & see if he is right.

We have been helping out an international AID Project that is establishing a satellite internet service in a Marovo High School. This is mainly driven by the Secretariat for the South Pacific (SPC) with help from the EC. In particular we are helping extend that capability by wireless to 3 village communities, a Health Clinic & eventually another Secondary School. Once this is achieved we are hoping for assistance in providing specially designed (solid state etc) but cheap (about AUD$500) 'Laptops' to the end users. This is a very progressive but well thought out initiative (I had many reservations when I first heard of this). We are seeking donations from the diving fraternity of 'the Lucky Country', especially past Uepi guests, particularly with a view to providing laptops. Already we have had some generous responses from Uepi guests but more are hoped for. If you are interested contact Lee & Rhonda on info@uepi.com

Leana via, Grant, Jill & Uepi Staff

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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.