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Wanted - Uepi Diving - Rewards Offered
Jan 2008

If you dive regularly you get the rewards & 2008 has already produced some 'that’s why I go diving' reward winning dives.

Early January was not as outstanding this year as it often is, although it improved as the month developed. The heavy rains from various Coral Sea cyclones had an effect on the surface clarity, although once you reached a few meters depth the underlying water was often fairly clear with the expected divers populations of marine life. And the rain meant more cloud so light levels were generally lower. But ...

Uepi Point as always produced epic night dives, well worth postponing an icy cold SolBrew until later. Planned 45 minute dives often ended up being 75; the visiting cold water 'hunters' so used to taking a catchbag at home were taunted by swarms of in-your-face crayfish; spotted hingeback shrimps went walk-a-bout over the rainbow reefs; VW styled 'bugs' scurried with orange headlights lighting the road ahead; sleeping fish lay everywhere ignoring the electronic lightening of flash bursts; weasel faced whitetips shadowed divers; giant & deadly Geographus cone shells hid in ambush, harpoons poised like Japanese whalers on alert for the The Sea Sheppard.

But the biggest rewards really surfaced in first few days of February when the schooling hammerheads decided to show their faces. 2007 was a fairly lean year for the 'hammers' following several good seasons. February is not usually a good hammerhead time so it was a bit of a surprise two mornings ago when Jill & I tumbled into the bottomless blue waters at The Elbow. No sooner had we tumbled in, began fumbling with white-balance buttons, when the first large hammer buzzed us: Then two more: Then a school of 6 smaller mature adults. This activity 'looped' few minutes. The school grew to 11 as Jill worked the 'attracting device'. The larger shark visited us every so often, keeping an eye on us. At one time I was stationed about 3 meters from Jill busy filming two hammers just below me practising their synchronised swimming. As I hit the stop filming trigger I raised my eyes just as the the largest hammer shot up from the depths, passed between Jill & I within an easy arms length of Jill. How I would have love to have recorded that sequence. What magnificent creatures they are. Our air went quicker than normal needless to say.

After lunch we gathered 4 other divers & back we went. The bright sunshine had gone but again we had only just entered the water, still wiping bubbles off lenses, when we were surrounded by a very active school of hammers which quickly grew to 14. These were smaller individuals than in the morning session so we could only wonder at how many hammerheads were in the area. But the action lasted a long while as we were buzzed & they circled us often at very close quarters. Again this was a great reward.

This morning the four other divers returned to The Elbow. After all it is hard to have too much of close hammerhead encounters. But only the larger hammers showed, and briefly. But despite this, the viz was great & the Elbow is covered in colourful & diverse marine life. So Jill & I dropped in late morning unsure if our friendly hammers would be there to meet us. It took all of a minute before the action began. The big guy kept checking us out every ten minutes or so. Four medium sized adults swarmed by & around us, so close it was hard to frame them in the view-finder. Then a quite large silver-tip shark took his time checking us over, every tip shining with that unmistakeable silver-frost glow. This silvertip stayed a little below us & was less curious than many silvertips are, a calming thing considering its large bulk. The hammer group then swam up the nearby walls, across the reef shallows above us, back down under us from the other side, & repeated this cycle quite a few times. Below the smaller hammers showed, much slimmer in profile, but kept their distance. After the dive we took the time to slow down some HD video of a large hammer coming hard up the wall & directly at us. The energy & mobility is amazing, especially when that huge sweeping tail is fully used. We hope to put some video on the Uepi website www.uepi.com to show this.

Over the last week Uepi Point has had some very good viz. Stunning colours & swarms of life. The water has been a little cooler which may explain the high level of activity, including the appearance of the hammerheads who normally like the cooler water to surface in. The coral trout (aerolatus) are aggregating & lately schools of the smaller females have been gathering in sandy shelters along the reef faces. The large males occupying the breeding grounds have been fighting for territory with impressive displays designed to keep other males away.

One recent rare sighting has been a dugong. The locals say they see dugong from time to time including in the bay at Uepi when they are paddling their dugout canoes, which are virtually silent. But last week one of our visitors Sally spotted one from a sailing craft, not far from the Uepi beach. Let’s hope that dugong can continue to survive in Marovo.

We have just demolished the original tourist accommodation "Vanua 1". After 25 years it was time to replace it with a new design of building. The design follows the "Kivoli" building that we built between the Tavaurina jetty & the mainhouse & attracted much favourable comment. This new "Vanua 1" will cater for a family, still have a dedicated leaf deck & be much cooler.

A new Australian owned airline begins servicing the Solomons from March 1st 2008. They are offering cheaper fares so & flying a very nice aircraft.
Together with a newly elected Solomon Islands Government led by an impressive new Prime Minister there is new air of cooperation & positiveness in the Solomons.

The atmosphere between the Solomons Government, the Australian & New Zealand Governments & RAMSI is now one of mutual cooperation & respect, a very healthy change.

The sun is now shining brightly, the magical Marovo Lagoon is sparkling & I have mental images of hammerheads dancing on centre stage in blue tropical water.

Time to claim another reward. Leana via from the best place on earth.

Grant, Jill & all of the Uepi Staff

Uepi Island diving offers rewards all through 2008 .......

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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.