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So Where Have You Been this Millennium?
Jan 2010

Who ever thought we would be in the early throes of 2010 !!
Just think back a mere 10 years & one month when all the fuss about where the first sun's rays of the new millennium would strike the earth’s surface was in full swing. Antarctica? Chatham Islands? Some small Pacific Island. I am not sure what all the fuss was about to get old before anyone else. But someone always wants to be first.

Now 10 years down the track we can look back on ten years of magic diving, great times, and out in the wide world a lot of not so good stuff along the way. But we made it, well I assume you have if you are reading this, as I doubt Uepi News, whilst originating in heaven, is not available in the other Heaven or the 'other place'.

Amongst the big news over the past decade has been 'the environment', with global warming & rising sea levels prominent topics. Now that the hype of Copenhagen has passed, nothing much seems to have changed as far as carbon emissions is concerned. And again the UN has demonstrated it is useless, despite those nice blue berets. Whilst most of us are concerned & convinced we need to reduce carbon emissions, for some the jury is still out. Some respected thinkers advocate we should pump SO2 into the atmosphere to produce cooling like the big volcanoes have done, with the cooling of the 1970s being the most recent example. Have a read of "Super Freakonomics" for some interesting aspects. How is the World responding to the Copenhagen meltdown? Australians, Kevin in particular, are busy congratulating themselves on how the economy has by-passed the global economic crisis, whilst business Australia refocusses on how to landscape Australia into a giant open cut mine pit. If we fill the pit with water & sink a few aging aircraft carriers on the shallowest berm, it will rival Truk Lagoon & even Tulagi.

In the meantime, here in Marovo it seems obvious that there have been some changes over the decade & that nature is responding. The ocean has warmed a couple of degrees over the last 15 years. Many might question this seemingly very high increase in temperature but that is what I believe. And the sea level has risen, maybe 0.2m or more. The corals, algae, fish, invertebrates & vegetation have responded. Come to think of it so have the humans whose villages have become soggy. Sick of wet feet they shifted to higher ground. But not all is bad as nature responds to the new emerging habitats which are quickly populated. Even a small change backwards to what it used to be produces countering responses. Overall our reefs are healthy, amongst the very best if we can believe our highly travelled diver guests. Pre 2000 we had learnt that coral reefs are very dynamic in discrete areas, but stable overall. So it is no surprise to see rapid responses to changes of temperature & sea-levels. It is noticeable that in 2009 the temperature has dropped a little & during the recent new year the tides were lower than previous years. Maybe that trend will continue.

The recent debate on the health of the Great Barrier Reef seemed to come from nowhere. Prominent scientists from reputable organisations (AIMS & UQ) savaging each others research conclusions. Where does that leave the ordinary citizen? Confused, well I am. I cynically wonder if funding for research was at stake.

Whales have featured too in this millennium. The venom of some years back directed at small Pacific Nations, including the Solomons, when the Japanese enticed these countries' governments to support 'scientific' whaling, seems to have vaporised. Where are those champions now that the Japanese whalers are deliberately sinking the smaller (& obviously less wise in the ways of whalers) ships of Paul Watson's Sea Sheppard fleet? I recall some years back defending the Pacific Nations, well the Solomons, not for being weak (& maybe sensible in the circumstances) in accepting the Japanese bribes, but from rabid vilification from resource consuming privileged westerners. This time I have not heard a whimper let alone a breaching noise from these Champions. What if they had sunk a boat named after an Australian Icon, that could have meant WW3. But barely a mention of the carnage of the whales which is the main point of it all but seems to be forgotten.

Sharks have also been in the news. Not for featuring in front page beatups after chomping an early morning swimmer who wandered into the sharks breakfast venue. But for disappearing in great numbers. The cause of this has been a desire for 'texture' which apparently makes or breaks a bowl of shark fin soup. Now I quite like texture, I guess, but it seems a bit of overkill in this instance. And consider the futility. In no way does this 'texture' contribute to after-dinner delights like say Rhinoceros horn does (so I am led to believe). Which is good news for the few remaining Rhinos who need all the luck they can get. But let me reassure you the shark population at Uepi & Marovo in general is healthy, active & friendly. It probably helps that Marovo people do not eat shark, in fact some people revere sharks totems, the shark having dragged headhunting ancestors from collapsed war canoes in the open sea back to Marovo. How come rescues are left to Life Savers these days, sharks would be much better!

Over New Year we had our best hammerhead sightings ever. With regular sightings at numerous sites being common place we then had a group of about 12 hammers at Elbow. Two days later it was "22 counted with just as many below". I was busy instructing a Resort Introduction Course at the time so could only smile & say how pleased I was they had seen so many. God I hate those smug cheesy smiles. From now on all Resort Courses will be at Elbow in 40 metres. Sightings have fallen off lately but the hammers are still around.

We had some widely travelled guests in January who had never seen Mandarin fish. So into the shallow coral just out from Jurassic Park (so called because the biggest monster Monitor lizards control the mangroves behind the mainhouse). And in no time we were onto them, compensation for the last few times when they refused to show themselves. It’s hard to fully appreciate Mandarins until you see a photo. A bonus is all the other exquisite small fish you 'discover' when searching for Mandys.

You may have read about the recent earthquakes in our area. The largest was 7.2 on the Rock & Roll scale & we rock & rolled with this, some subsequent 6s, lots of 5s & many smaller shocks. The Resort shook more than the events of 2007 which sent a big tsunami westward to Gizo & further. This time Tetepare & Rendova suffered loss of houses & some damage to boats caused by the shocks & a small tsunami. The international press reported 500 homes destroyed in Marovo, based on a completely wrong report issued by the Solomon Island Disaster Council supposedly after a recce. Seems SIDC are a disaster in themselves. This news persisted & was never corrected so you may be thinking that I am writing from a ravaged & damaged Uepi Island. Not so, no need to cancel your bookings. Thanks to those who were worried for us though.

After a long time absent we are diving the Wickham harbour WWII wrecks again. We are confident the local owner’s dispute is over & have sent several sorties to dive them. Some good news is that we now have a new wreck. It is shallower (15m to 27m), upright in good condition, located in a cleaner site, has a nice gun on the bows and has prolific fish life. Great for photos. The other three wrecks are 28m - 40m which are advanced dives & the depth cuts back on bottom time. So trips are designed for the particular divers & specifics when the divers are at Uepi. Two originals wrecks are Japanese freighters with lots of 'stuff' on them. We think the third is a USA Liberty ship, which is bare but still a good dive. Rumours of a mystery ship only known to a few locals are yet to be proven.

The old Diveshop is about to disappear. The whiteant 'glue' together with the paint cannot keep holding it up. So next time you come there may even be room for you to put your gear comfortably. The Dive Staff are keen to get this built so it should not take too long.

The coral trout (grouper) spawning aggregations are due to begin. This is a special time for us as we have worked hard to protect these aggregations sites from commercial fishing. Compared to unprotected sites in Marovo & elsewhere our site is way more healthy with big male fish common. We hope to collect some counts this year, something which has lapsed the past few years due to lack of time. Strangely compared to the last few years the aggregations are late, possibly due to cooler water temperatures.

Christmas Eve began with a Barge Party to Landoro. Packed with revelers chomping on snacks & soaking up the Marovo Rocketfuel Punch the MV "Barge" carved its way to the Landoro Jetty where upon disembarking everyone continued to chomp & soakup. With a strict dress code of Lavalava many sights were displayed, especially by those not used to wearing a lavalava. With numerous people showcasing their aptitude for diving into the lagoon from the jetty, without any preparation, fabulous displays of aquarobics thrilled the onlookers. The cruise back was timed & routed to experience one of the best sunsets ever. Thank you Santa.

New Years Eve was full of energy. True a few of the fullhouse guest list did not make it through to the magic moment, but most did. During the buildup a highly competitive game of Uepi Soccer & a hilarious session of Uggubugga with our Barman Malachi outstanding as always (you have to be here to see this, male instincts brought to the boil) set up the night. As usual the dancing was creative & flamboyant with everyone getting nicely into it.

We were thrilled to have Imogen (Imo) the daughter of Rhonda from the Tropical Paradise Office volunteer to help us out over Christmas & New Year. Rhonda herself made it for a week which was a bonus. We are very aware from guests’ comments of what a fine job Lee & Rhonda do at TPPL. Imo fitted in so well with all of us at Uepi. All the best at Uni Imo.

So 2010 is off to a flying start.
Billy Ghizo Point is really looking good after a quiet spell & is getting very good responses from divers who want to go back.
Penguin Reef suffered some limited damage from the earthquakes but will recover well.
The Tayio Boat wreck is still perched precariously on its narrow ledge overhanging the deep blue, despite the earthquakes. Beats me how it is still there.
Binusa has some top condition coral gardens on the far end once you have perused the fans along the wall. A good wide angle & macro dive.
The fans at KuruKuru are special & this has been a very popular dive with the extensive coral gardens at the end of the dive awesome.
Mongo Passage has turned on some brilliantly colourful dives with walls of golden soft corals & the white soft coral cathedral.
Elbow Point & Caves continue to be a focal point for hammers, eagle rays, pygmy mantas, dog-tooth tuna, turtles as well as having some great smaller animals.
Landoro Gardens has been especially popular with snorkellors, resort divers & as a shallower dive. There have been quite a few hammerhead sighting here too with one very large hammer closely checking out a group of resort divers. Rays & turtles like Landoro too.
Uepi Point has been brilliantly diverse as always, especially good with the current flowing in during the mornings.
Chara Point always has action with some incoming current which has been plentiful in January.
Point to Point has blown quite a few divers away. Sorry its only for the experienced.
And of course there are always more sites, more walls, more fish, more corals, more invertebrates & more fun to choose from.

We have also had lots of good sailors lately & the Hobie Cats have been flying.

We leave shortly for a trip to Victor Harbour for the wedding of Ocean Graham (daughter of Jack Graham & ex Mike Ball) who many will remember assisted us at Uepi a couple of years back. Maybe I will get a chance to renew my friendship with the Leafy Sea Dragons of SA, probably only on snorkel. And a week on my old childhood home of Kangaroo Island will round off the trip.

" Leana Via " Grant, Jill, Josh & 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.