Uepi Resort, Solomon Islands, South Pacific: Undercurrent 11/2024

Subscriber Content Preview
Only active subscribers can view the whole article here

Dear Fellow Diver,

The moment I landed at the Uepi Island dock, I had a good feeling. After a day or two, I knew I had discovered a hidden resort reminiscent of what diving was like decades ago, but with lovely cabins, high-quality food, and pristine diving, with plentiful fish, diverse corals, and warm and relaxing waters. Wanna see lots of sharks? You've got it. Like big schools of fish? Macro stuff? Enormous sea fans? Pristine, eye-popping hard corals? Uepi (pronounced ooo-pee) has it all and even activities for nondivers.

Beachfront at Uepi Island Resort The downside? Uepi Island is a long haul from the U.S., first requiring a plane change in either Fiji or Australia. After you arrive in Honiara, the capital, there's a 1-2 hour puddle jumper flight to Seghe, followed by a 40-minute boat ride to the resort. So one ought to devote at least two weeks to the journey -- make a side trip in Fiji or Australia, or, as I did, combine Uepi with 10 days on the venerable liveaboard, Bilikiki.

I arrived in mid-August, just four weeks after Jace Kelly, the co-owner/manager, and his crew at Uepi finished rebuilding their six exquisite guest cabins. (Jace's father, Grant, built and ran the resort until turning it over to Jace a few years back.) Despite no A/C or hot showers (the temperature was fine, but a shower can be bracing in the winter; it's how they manage their limited water supply, Jace explained), ceiling fans maintained pleasant temperatures in the lovely dining hall and in my well-appointed and spacious cabin, which had a comfortable bed, adequate storage, and many Aussie outlets (they have adaptors) that included USB-C plugs. All cabins sit on the water, with pleasant front porches and sheltered hammocks. My cabin was the farthest from the dining area, a semi-lighted 8-10 minute walk through the jungle. At night -- it stays light until 6:30 p.m. -- I used my phone light to keep from stubbing a toe. The comfortable common dining areas had a nice lagoon view and a comfortable sitting area in the bar.

After my easy checkout dive among plenty of hard coral (85°F water, 100' viz) to get my buoyancy right, our next dive was at Charapoana Point, just three minutes away. I backrolled off the skiff and followed our guide along the wall, kicking easily in the mild current at 60-70 feet. Suddenly, I saw a flurry of big fish --sharks, a dozen or more, mainly grey reef sharks with a few black tips mixed in, and a hammerhead. Schools of hovering barracuda, trevallies, snappers, and cleaner fish abounded. I was reminded of Palau's Blue Corner but with a mild current, so I didn't need a reef hook; I just needed a simple handhold on dead coral. I turned the corner, and the dive turned into a small-stuff, hard-coral dive. Bright orange anemones, wild schools of grunts, and split-fin yellow-tailed snappers paid no mind to me as I swam through their swarms. I spotted a couple of nudibranchs, a pipefish, a small green eel peeking from his lair, and seven pink anemone fish cavorting about in their living nest. The dive was filled with life....

Subscribers: Read the full article here

;