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Uepi Island Resort – Leaping into diving in February 2008

Leap years are great – one more day to go diving. True as we all know the wedding proposals can be a bit overwhelming on the final day of the month, but as long as you take any hasty leaps into the ocean, not marriage, it all works out for the best.

February has been a very nice month; great weather with a mix of hot, cool, windy, calm, dry, wet conditions. The water quality had been fair to brilliant. The fish life have really started to stir as the masses gather for mating & everyone, fish that is, gets energised. By the end of February the aggregations of coral trout are really building with large aggressive males staking out territory. Yesterday the numbers of square-tailed coral trout gathered on the sandy patches & reef-slopes at Uepi Point were unprecedented if not in total numbers then in the size of individuals. And this morning the large (up to 1.2m) greasy rock cods were lining the edges of Inside Point.

We have now entered the time of year when the afternoon produces good incoming tides. This really livens up the fish schools on both Uepi & Charapoana Points & will continue for months. Along with blue skies & clear water we are expecting some very good diving, videoing & photographic conditions. Nothing beats underwater images with sky blue water colour backgrounds.

Over the last few weeks the water within the inner lagoon has been very clear so we have taken advantage of this & dived & snorkelled around some of the inner lagoon islands. These islands are covered in rich rainforest & most are circumscribed by very rich fringing reefs. It is strange at first to plunge into 2-3 metres of water, maybe max out at 5, spend 100 minutes & surface with half of a 63 cu.ft tank spare. But the sights can be amazingly colourful as you scan ahead over up to 50m of diverse reef, every portion of which is richly saturated with colour courtesy of the bright sun & shallow water. Untouched Digital photos attract criticisms of heavy handed tweaking of the saturation button in Photoshop. But the biggest pleasure is the surprising number of beautiful small reef-fish that you see, discover or stumble over. Small very colourful & exotic fish are everywhere.

Last week having decided to look for the elusive Mandarin Fish, rather than just talk about it, I donned a snorkel & investigated the shallow reef just out to the rear of our kitchen. I spent the next 2 hours in crystal clear shallow reef waters having a great time. Highlights included a previously unseen nudibranch, eagle rays, a huge bumphead parrot fish, a family of six spotted sweetlips posing together. Then as the light faded a little I went back to the most likely area of acropora coral, took a breath & held onto a shallow rock. And there, right in front of me, was an elusive Mandarin fish. Surprisingly bold, he continued to emerge from the twisted coral labyrinth in which he lives to look at me, for over 15 minutes, obviously recognising that I did not hold a camera. Of course only a photo would convince some sceptics so I duly revisited the exact spot twice & not a Mandarin Fish anywhere to be seen!

Uepi has its share of Dolphin sightings underwater, always a memorable time if you are the lucky observer. Recent sightings include a pod of over 20 adult spinner dolphins checking out the hammerhead spotting divers who were perched around The Elbow. But a recent dive was probably our best interaction yet... over to Gayle
“What started out as a regular dive at Charapoana Point, you know the one, crystal clear water, the usual Reef Sharks patrolling, Spotted Eagle Rays “flying like kites” in the current, schools of Trevally racing here and there in unison, and Chevron Barracuda gliding in a pack, turned out to be one of the most exhilarating interactions that we’d ever had.

Three of us were 30 minutes into the dive, had worked our way up the point and were all facing into the wall concentrating on looking for the small stuff. We all heard the tell tale sounds, a bit like camera strobes recharging; we all looked up and at each other as a small pod of six dolphins came into view.

We each started making different sounds trying to attract them in for a closer look. I’m not sure whose sound did the trick or whether they were just playing with us, but they came very close sitting up on their tails, seeming to mimic our bubbles. They spent what appeared to be around 15 minutes darting around us and swimming away only to turn around and come back for another look. The larger male seemed to mimic us by expelling bubbles then slowly lying on his back, still staring directly at us.”

Around the resort the final touches are being done on to the completely new “Vanua 1” which is now a comfortable ‘family size’ accommodation, carefully designed for the Uepi climate. See www.uepi.com soon for images. And the rising sea levels have required us to raise our dive jetty & to landfill some of the area nearby. Our feeling is that the steady rise in sea level observed over the past 10 years has been added to this year by the tsunami causing earthquakes of Easter 2007. The impact of this on the tops of existing fringing reefs may well be spectacularly good. It is quite possible that these reef tops will really flourish as they strive to reach the sunlight above. And the effects of sunburn caused by Spring Low tides in mid year may be effectively eliminated.

A second airline, SkyAirWorld is now servicing the Solomons. Its lower fares have caused Solomon Airlines to drastically cut fares & reduce conditions. Never have flights been cheaper. Along with Air Vanuatu, Our Airline (Ex Air Nauru), Air Pacific, Air Niugini, the total number of flights into Honiara has sky rocketed. We all wonder, even doubt, if this is sustainable but in the meantime fares are down, the sky & water is clear & blue.

Maybe it is the time & year to leap onto a jet & dive the dream at Uepi.

Leana via
Grant, Jill & all the team at 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.