Page 524 - Melanesia

UEPI POINT: The passage meets The Slot at garden stretching from Uepi Point back to

Uepi Point, where a near vertical reef corner is Uepi pier is festooned with anemones, mantis

coated profusely with corals - especially gor- shrimps, coral shrimps, hard and soft corals and

gonian fans and colorful spiky soft corals. At 30 of course a myriad of associated reef-fish of all

meters a coral peninsula juts out into the deep colors and sizes.

blue, and the walls plunge into the abyss. This

provides the stage for a spectacular proces- UEPI WELCOME JETTY: From flashing ‘scallops’

sion of pelagics including schooling barracuda, in a cave directly below the pier, to the base of

jacks, runner, rays and sharks. At various times ‘Shark Bombie’ in just over 30m. If time allows

and tides the point area becomes a hunting/ hunt for a pygmy seahorse, spotlight a colorful

feeding ground. As a result the underwater cave as you ascend to a 15m wall clustered

action can be very exciting. Many varied and with fans. Rated as one of the best shore dives

large schools of feeding fish swarm across yet, you’ll see a variety of fish such as man-

the reef-face of the deep point and into the grove jack, greasy rockcods and stingrays rest-

shallows. The predators, giant trevally, mack- ing on the sand, whilst under continual surveil-

erel, wahoo, rainbow runner, big-eye jacks, lance by the resident grey whalers, white-tips

dogtooth & smaller tuna, sharks, barracuda and & black-tip sharks. The jetty always has dense

others cruise relentlessly back & forth waiting schools of smaller fish & is home to a garden

for pre-occupied inattentive fish to become of tridacna ‘giant’ clams. The wall is great for an

their next meal. The explosive sounds and easy entry night dive with common sightings

sights of large number of fish all taking evasive of sponge decorator crabs, hingeback shrimp,

action at the same time fill the water. Families spindle cowries, basket stars, hawkfish, slipper

of garden eels, arrays of colorful gobies and a lobsters ...the list goes on!

diverse collection of invertebrate life inhabit

the sand patches of the shallows. The coral