Uepi Island Resort - Uepi News.

Welcome to Uepi Island Resort
Natural Beauty Harmony Excitement Indulgence

Uepi News

Not a Poem but a Dive Report
August / September 2010

No Poetry this time, sorry. For some reason I wanted to write a poem. I began by writing a verse titled “Wanna Be”, but as it could well have driven people to snorkel in the 2000m deep ‘SLOT” wearing a 50 kgm weightbelt, I decided I would leave the literary heroics to Captain Goodvibes, Chicken Man and a dead Danish author who wrote about the tattooed Girl who played with matches. YOU have had a very lucky escape as it was a very powerful poem while it lasted.

I readily recall the early days of surfing when the mags were full of endless poems about mother earth, the rhythm of the oceans and spiritual stuff about nature. Maybe that memory was in the cellar of my subconscious trying to get out. Diving has never attracted that kind of writing even though narcosis might well generate similar musings. With diving its been more the “I dropped into the perfectly crystal clear waters onto absolutely pristine reef previously unseen by human eyes where masses of colourful fish of every size, colour & shape beyond my imagination engulfed me in a kaleidoscope of swirling beauty and energy”. If only I could make that rhyme!

So what has been awesome since the last Uepi Dive Report? “Stacka tumas”.

The SE Trades known as ”Hetcha” in these parts have been nicely blowing, not too strongly and keeping us cool. 26C is cool around here, how have you been this winter? So the Hobie Cats have been very busy. And the cool breeze has stimulated a lot of paddling on the sit-on-top paddleboards too. Our regular sea-kayak trips have been mainly concentrating on the leeward areas of Bapita & Hele, with enjoyable lodgings at Matikuri.

With plenty of baitfish schools, including some big baitballs in the area, the fishing has been extra good. Take a look at Josh’s fresh sashimi he caught one afternoon. Jase & Raba struggled to get this one in the boat whilst Josh laid in the boat with his muscles cramping up after 1 1/2hrs of arm wrestling the monster. Prior to this success others of equal size got off. Yes, the bigger Yellowfin Tuna have been around in numbers which is great to see. The subsequent mix of baitfish, sharks tearing through the bait, big tuna leaping all around, with squadrons of gulls and frigate birds dashing down to scoop up food, is charged with energy. The harder you looked the more big schools you saw strung out across the SLOT into the distance. Sort of like what the World is meant to be like. Wahoo & Mackerel have also been plentiful.

Josh's yellowfin tuna

The amount of snorkelling activity has been very high with plenty of outside trips. Most days the channel has been full of waterlogged snorkellers who just want to snorkel forever it seems. The sandy area from the beach in front of the accommodation around the reef in front of and past the main-house has been getting more & more attention with many discoveries to be made. The number of baby sharks in this area is phenomenal and it is amazing to watch them instinctively school together and hunt small fish, learning the moves as they go. Over the same reefs the Osprey have been actively fishing, seeking, stalking, swooping down talons outstretched, with regular success.

Baby black tip reef sharks practicing their fish herding skills in the shallows of the lagoon

Landoro Gardens has a lot of new corals that are growing quickly and as usual Landoro produced regular rays, Bumphead Parrotfish & turtle sightings. The row of bombies are looking good whilst the inner fringing reef adjacent to “Bombie 3” is magic. There are several very good tunnels to free-dive through and the coral variety and health is first rate.Quite a few OWD students have been fortunate to make their first OWD at Landoro in

the past months & have surfaced so enthused by their first OWD that they are hooked on diving. One group of divers capped off a Manta Ray swim before breakfast, Hammers & Eagle Rays at Elbow in the morning, with a Landoro dive including encountering a pod of very friendly dolphins. Underwater Dolphin encounters have also happened at DekuDekuru and North Log. Plenty of bow riders have been about too and it is common to see a returning dive boat slow down in the channel, divers rush to the bows and spend a good time cruising up and back forth as the dolphins leap accompanied by loud “Oohs” and “Ahs”.

Despite Hetcha and an opposing current making the initial part of the journey to Wickham wrecks ‘bumpy’, this has not dampened the enthusiasm of a good handful of divers. With the newer shallower wreck available some suitably experienced divers are doing 3 dives at Wickham. It’s also a perfect opportunity to see a good slice of the Marovo Lagoon.

Jill and I had a break in August & flew to Vavau in Tonga to relax & swim with the humpbacks. The weather was great & we had a fun time. Vavau is very scenic, laid back and friendly. It was very interesting to stay in a few offshore resorts, go on whale swim tours most days and see how others operated. The outstanding resort was Mounu Island Resort & we found that we had so much in common with the owner operators that it was like a reflection of our lives and experiences. They also ran a very good whale swim boat. The other outstanding whale swim operator was Dive Vavau. Whale swimming tours can involve long days on a boat with sometimes nil results or only brief in-water glimpses of whales. Although every day you do see topside activity, some of it spectacular in its own way. The procedure is you are in a swim group of 4 plus a guide who controls the group. You have to snorkel on the surface if a calf is present. This can be a bit restricting if you are seriously interested in taking stills or video. Free-diving with adults only (whales that is) is ok but you are not really presented with that many good opportunities. You have to have a bit of luck (e.g. weather, other operators beating you to a mother and calf and hogging it, how your buddies behave, how good the guide is etc) so you need to plan on doing a number of days whale swimming. Some get lucky straight away but some miss out on the best opportunities. We were acutely aware of how much time you spend to have an often brief experience. This contrasts hugely with the convenience and intensity of Uepi. But when you get lucky it is a really magic experience and fortunately we had some great encounters, especially on the last day when we had repeated 20 minute swims with a mother and calf, sometimes only metres away. Was it worth it? Definitely.

Humpbacks in Tonga

My new Canon 7D performed really well. I even shot a little HDV with it using a wide-angle lens. Not too bad for first up & I could do much better now having had a little experience. Jill’s trusty Sony FX1 HDV performed well as usual. We will have some results on the Uepi Face Book very soon. Coincidently whilst in Vavau both the Solomons and Australia had national elections. Both nations had indecisive results requiring quite a period of negotiation to determine a ruling party of sorts.

I took a break during composing this. I had tried to meet a deadline but when farewelling some guests at the Welcome Jetty the water looked irresistible. So I missed my Dive Log deadline. When we dropped in to do Point to Point the viz was fantastic & the fish life intense. We followed swarming schools of Jacks down quite deep, were distracted by a Leopard Shark on a deep sandy patch and a turtle resting alongside trying hard not to be noticed. Ascending as we crossed to Uepi Point we were met by even more fish schools streaming from the shallows down the face. Below a school of Highfin Snapper were aggregated. The water colour above was blue blue blue and the sun was shining intensely. Wow this is as good as it gets. Suddenly I was surrounded by a compact school of Fusiliers

charging full speed from below, diverting around me, almost hitting me. As they sped past Spanish Mackerel was doing his utmost to grab a meal, but just kept failing by inches. Above me Trevally including several large Blacks were swooping around, with hundreds of smaller fish making sure they avoided them. I managed an image or two, as they were oblivious to me. Settling carefully on the reef rim I was soon surrounded by schools of other fish who enjoy floating suspended in the current coming up the face. But my interest was quickly diverted once I discovered a large Moray being cleaned by several wrasses, very close to my right elbow. A quick strategic shift moved me to the beginnings of the sand patch & I spotted a large Stingray nestled on the sand. It had a huge barb. I called Jill & she focused the video waiting for it to maybe swim away as they mostly do. But this ray was definitely feeling quite at home and not at all interested in moving despite my closeness.


Black Trevally	Highfin snapper

The previous day in the same area a guest, Dr Christine, was grasping a small rock as she tried taking an image or two. Feeling something crawling over her hand she saw a Blue Ringed Octopus on her hand flashing wildly. She was pleased when it continued its journey & she even managed an image or two, so we would believe her I suspect. Christine is a researcher in marine toxins, and having worked with the most lethal Coneshell & Jellyfish toxins was probably a bit relieved. The blue rings here are rarely seen and are especially colourful.

Our divers love the Nite Dives on Uepi Point. Such a diverse area during the day transforms at night with a new set of creatures and behaviour much of which is not observed during the day. Crayfish, Slipper Lobsters, giant Geographus Cones, Basket Stars, unbelievably Decorator Crabs, many Shrimps, sleeping fish, are typically seen. Uepi Point being so convenient means a quick shower afterwards and you are dining at a reasonable time & able to make the others who chose a cold Solbrew over a dive wish they had.

Inside Point is a renowned habitat for Octopus mating and its all beginning to happen again. Several Octopuses (hey that is a correct term according to my technical references!) have staked their territory and are displaying accordingly.

Our new Dive Shop is progressing well & we are looking forward to your responses when it is completed. The main structure is completed so we are at the fitting out stage. Already life for the Dive Staff & Guests has been easier. An opening party is planned before New Year.

The new Bar area at the Main House is now waiting for 820 sown Sago-palm leaf, to be used as roofing material. With a bit of luck that may be finished by New Years Eve.

“Leana Via” from Grant, Jill, Josh & all the Uepi Staff

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.