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"Laid Back & Loving It" -
Uepi Dive Report July 2009

First thing this morning, after a quick Earl Grey with a spoonful of sweet local honey, I grabbed my snorkel gear & camera & together with two guests took a 5 minute boat trip into the calm lagoon. Bathed in bright sunshine with blue sky above, our driver & spotter Robert gently stopped the boat in about 5 metres of water & we all squinted in various directions looking for the telltale surface patterns, exposed wingtips or flashing bellies of feeding Manta rays. After a few minutes, Robert spotted two small groups of Mantas travelling up & down the reef edge where it drops into deeper water. We slipped into the water and waited a short time for the Mantas to approach us. At first they were a bit wary, but over the next fifteen minutes relaxed and even began to approach us. The best way is just to wait quietly somewhere along their flight path until they appear & come towards you. Snorkelling is the best method as SCUBA bubbles tend to scare them a little. We also keep the number of observers small & do not observe them every day. This seems to work as the Mantas have remained in this area for over a year now. We have a very high success rate in finding them & almost every camera bearing snorkeler has been able to get some nice images. We have become quite familiar with individual Mantas as they have very different markings & colouring. This ranges from almost entirely black to almost entirely white with complex black markings. After spending an easy hour of interaction the lure of hashbrowns with poached eggs, freshly brewed coffee & mouth-watering pawpaw lured us back to the Uepi "Breakfast on the Deck". As a parting farewell the all black Manta decided to show us his gymnastic & dancing skills & soared around us & in-between us doing rolls, wing-overs & other fancy 'mantoevres'. As I relaxed at breakfast & looked out over the blue lagoon & rich green tropical islands, with the peaks of Vangunu Island as a backdrop I thought, "Not a bad way to start the day - laid back & loving it".

My mind drifted back to yesterdays dive. A good afternoon incoming was making the channel irresistible, so I abandoned my intention of writing this Dive Report & a few minutes later Jill & I dropped into Charapoana Point, angling down steeply into the current to ascend. The visibility was a bit cloudy but the wildlife was very active, especially the Whalers who seem to love current. At about 30 meters we paused to wipe air bubbles from our camera lenses & a hypo Graceful Whaler decided we should not be in his reserved space. Becoming very pushy he had to be convinced with a camera housing that we owned the Ocean not him. Having established that, we glided deeper with the current. Beneath us the reef slope was just a carpet of moving fish. Normally, up in the water column, the strong current had persuaded these fish to settle close to the coral where the current was less. Employing the same tactics we drifted around the point displacing tons of fishlife as we went. A large Spanish Mackerel & two big steel-blue Dogtooth Tuna torpedoes were unperturbed by the current, heading swiftly into it without regard. We chose the easy path & began to fin across the channel to Uepi Point. Below us a huge swarm of trevally imitated the whirling shape & movement of a cyclone. Nearing the far reef the current really picked up so we drifted with it downstream into Fan City. The visibility had improved greatly & the sun was bright overhead with blue water colour. In these conditions this area is a blaze of colour with big sea-fans, huge basket sponges & a great variety of reef-fish. We drifted, sharing the lee of large fans & coral outcrops with diverse colourful fish. The current eased due to the effect of an eddy & after about 70 minutes we arrived back at the Diveshop where large schools of Scad & Black Spot Snapper welcomed us. Plenty of current but despite that, a laid-back & loving it dive.

Current seems to be one of the unresolved issues with some divers. Most experienced divers have been in moderate & strong currents. They have learnt that current usually means that plenty of fish, rays & other life accumulates & feeds in the current. So most have developed some techniques for dealing with currents & consequently really enjoy a bit of current. But some have not & have a closed mind as far as learning some techniques & procedures. Anyone who has watched the sharks, rays & fish use currents to effortlessly move about must surely be a bit envious & want to try & emulate them. Hanging out with schools of Snapper or Jacks on the edge of a magic drop-off is the diving equivalent of sky diving or cliff roping. And it is so much easier & more laidback. If you have a point like Uepi Point with some current - then that is where the action is. Also the soft corals are at their best when the current flows, pumped up & full of colour. It is often a surprise when a soft coral tree appears seemingly from nowhere on a wall. Possibly the strongest current we choose to dive in is at Mongo Passage. Here the current reinforces as it approaches the passage wall. As it gathers you up fish stream down the face, a brilliant wall covered in golden soft corals lights up; then a quiet refuge in a wall concave covered in white soft corals. You can find quiet spots along the wall if you hide behind fans, small outcrops, small concaves, but once you shift out away you go again. Brilliant. The more difficult part is getting back to the outside face where the life along the reef edge is prolific. At the most strenuous it is a bit like finding handholds & footholds when climbing. But if you look ahead & take advantage of every hold, concave either vertical or horizontal, and the lee provided by small outcrops & corals, and plan your moves then progress is made. On reaching the front there can be some uplift so an extra weight combined with body attitude makes for a fun wander along the face. Holding position for shooting can be difficult but with so much colour filling the viewfinder, irresistible. July has produced some classic Mongo Dives & I think we are in for a lot more in the coming months.

The passing parade of Dolphins, Hammerheads, Eagle rays, Pygmy Mantas continued in July. It was fairly wet but mostly at night. Some moderate winds at times restricted diving on a few sites at times but at Uepi we can always find a dive site. Air temperatures were down a little but we only shivered when guests quoted us their hometown temperatures. Brr!
The good news is that mean sea surface temperatures are down by up to 2 deg C. This is great for coral health & also helps corals win the constant battle for dominance with algae.

It appears that the SE trade winds may have mostly blown their course. It could be a bit early to say this but who am I to dispute the locals? If so we should get a long warm latter half of the year, with plenty of calm waters.

The low tides in July have been the lowest for maybe 10 years, but not as low as they were prior to that. Considering that we had the highest tides ever over New Year, it’s an interesting situation.

The schools of Scad, Back Spot Snapper, Diamond Trevally & Moses Perch have noticeably grown in size this past month & some schools are as big as I can remember. We all love holding our breath & finning through these schools as they part inches from your mask, provided you do not breathe out at all. Blue sky & water & a frame full of fish makes for some great images.

During July as usual we had a significant number of returnee guests. One couple had a prior arrangement to spend a major part of a day diving Penguin Reef, as they loved it so much during their previous visit. To compliment this we took them to a site we love ourselves but rarely dive, a 'just around the corner' drop-off not too far from Bapita Passage. This is a spectacular vertical wall which seems to enjoy very good visibility & has plenty of varied life. And so as to finish off a partial tank they dropped into another site near the sandy beach picnic spot & a passing pod of Dolphins checked them out.

In July we had several kayak trips to run. Typically these trips include paddling along coral reefs, lunches on beaches with snorkelling, meeting local villagers, sleeping in local Lodges & Resthouses, short hikes, "kastom" storytelling. Everyone has to be 'kayak orientated' which is usually a lot of fun. The trips are designed within the experience & ability of the participants taken into consideration but it can be an achievable personal challenge to many. It was interesting indeed to have Ross Cook from Rosco Canoes, along with friend John stay with us. They brought along an impressive hi-tech inflatable kayak & did some day paddling from Uepi. Ross has been in kayaks all his life & manufactures premium quality kayaks & canoes in Brisbane. Needless to say his average paddling speed is about my fastest but he gave me an advanced paddling lesson which opened my mind, but showed me how little I know & how inflexible I am compared to someone who has constantly paddled all his life. I now have plenty of inspiration to improve. With an epic adventure paddle planned for later in the year this was a very timely wake up call.

Also inspirational have been some of our older guests, several having claimed the Octogenarian title some years ago. Laid back & loving it certainly epitomises these 'oldies'. Every day out snorkelling, walking, whatever & plenty of good stories at the dinner table. One Octogenarian dived as well. Another couple are off on a quick 13,000 km trip in 21 days across Australia to look at wildflowers, once they leave Uepi. Despite having a lot of miles on the clock these guys are laid back, very active & loving it.

After ten years of, as Jill says, "living in a workshop" we have built ourselves new living quarters. It’s highset, breezy with windows facing all directions, verandas all round, our own design & we have built it out of the beautiful local timbers. It’s very easy on the eye. We now feel like we are living in a Resort, strange that! Check out some 'house' images on the Uepi Island Facebook along with other news.

There is now a charter aircraft based in Honiara. Currently it is a 9-seater Beechcraft but as business builds a Twin Otter & possibly a Seaplane will come on line. It is hopeful that this aircraft will be organised to service the PacBlue international flights.

Again, thank you for all the caring people who are providing support for our Scholarship Scheme, Patakae VSAT Project & Chubikopi War Canoe. You are making a difference. Details are on our website www.uepi.com along with all the information about Uepi.

Leaving you 'laid back & loving it'
Grant, Jill, Josh & all the 'tim bilong 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.