Page 502 - Melanesia

In addition to the fantastic reefs and abundant
marine life, there are wrecks from WWII that have
created artificial reefs. There are 6 fighter planes, a HAEPE PINNACLE: Rising from the deep waters
Japanese Freighter and a small US dump site. On
the surface, there are plentiful cetacean sight-
ings including dolphins, pilot whales and the odd
minke whale, plus the chance of seeing leather-
back sea turtles. Munda is in close proximity to
some of the top dive locations with over 25 dive
sites to explore.
BOB PART: the wall at Bob slopes steeply down to
55 meters or so - and then just gets steeper. Vis-
ibility often exceeds 60 meters at depth. Known
for big silvertip and galapagos sharks.
EAGLES NEST: Located off the back of Kundu
Kundu Normana. On the surface there are a few
large rocks breaking the surface where eagles
often make their nests. Below, huge gorgonians
and lush soft corals hang off the wall. Schools of
barracuda swim along the wall, as well as other
pelagic and often you will catch the bump-head
parrot fish, either singly or in large schools. At the
end of the wall you come to a shallow plateau
ranging from 10 meters to the surface; the perfect
place for that extended safety stop.
the coral mount attracts a wide variety of fish
life. It is patrolled by numerous sharks, king-
fish, barracuda and trevally in addition to being
home to many of the larger reef residents such as
bumphead parrotfish and maori wrasse. This large
site offers almost everything, with beautiful hard
corals at the top of the reef, big gorgonian fans
and elephant-ear sponges deeper. Two big drop-
offs also attract the pelagic fish, schools of big
maori wrasse, reef sharks, rays and large schools
of reef fish. A great site for any level from novice sea fans and colorful soft corals, the wall is lit up
to advanced.
KASTOM SHARK CAVE: The volcanic island of
Ndokendoke has an amazing cave system that
penetrates from a bush clad fresh water pool in
the middle of the island. To reach the start of
this cave dive you’ll walk with full dive gear onto
the island and through the mangroves. The cave
entrance is a pool of fresh water about 2 meters
wide. As you descend, the cave is large enough to
be comfortable and there is a guide line through
the cave for easier navigation. After penetrating
the cave and reaching a maximum depth of 35
meters, you reach the outer wall of the island,
along with the abundant sea life including Pygmy
seahorses. There are many potential dangers
inherent in diving in an overhead environment,
such as silt, disorientation, loss of light, and no
direct access to the surface in an emergency.
LANGARANA ISLAND – Explore the numerous
cracks, holes and hidden swim-through forma-
tions on this beautiful wall that drops off into
the deep, blue waters of the Blanche Channel.
Covered in green and lilac colored tube sponges,
by shafts of sunlight penetrating the overhanging
tree canopy.
MATIANA CAVE: is very deep and silty to get into,
but has a stunning main chamber, while Wayne
Manor is a tight squeeze in places but has a blind
exit into a bat cave. There’s also plenty of explora-
tion still to be done around the Roviana area, with
both sea caves and sinkholes likely.