Uepi Island Resort
Uepi Island is a raised barrier reef island located in central Marovo Lagoon, the longest saltwater lagoon in the world. The island is about 2.5 kms long, with lagoon on the southern side whilst the northern side drops 2000m into “The Slot”.
The resort facility is sited on the eastern end of the island, immediately adjacent to one of the relatively few deep-water passages to extend into Marovo Lagoon. The deep passage generates ideal tidal currents for filter-feeding corals and invertebrates, prolific fish life and a variety of intense marine habitats.
The rest of the island is covered with primary rainforest and the nearest village is kilometres away. Being uniquely located and orientated along the central barrier reef means that Uepi Island receives protection from heavy swell and rough seas from any direction, and despite some seasonal winds and local squalls, there is always a lee side for diving.
Beginner or expert you can dive and snorkel every day of the year at Uepi.
Uepi Island is within the Coral Triangle and enjoys a huge diversity of corals and fish. A single diver has identified almost 300 species of fish on a single dive at Uepi Point. Over 600 species have been identified in the immediate vicinity. Adding to this diversity is the unique protection that has been afforded for decades to Uepi Island reefs and to a lesser but significant extent to the dive sites on adjacent islands. Positive actions are taken to counter biological and environmental threats and local people respect the ‘protected’ status of Uepi reefs. The result is an abundance of fish life and healthy coral.
SNORKELLING
The snorkelling at Uepi is exceptional and begins almost at your accommodation. The passage itself offers all levels of snorkelling and manner of experiences. Boat trips of up to 20 minutes take you further afield to extensive snorkelling sites providing an astonishing array of hard and soft corals, fish, rays, dolphins, sharks, invertebrates and above and below water scenery. Easy access to pre-breakfast snorkelling with Manta Rays (in season) can be a fantastic start to the day.
Scuba Diving
All dives have a dive leader and to add to diver’s enjoyment we try to have small groups of compatible divers. With the remoteness of Uepi Island evacuation insurance is required.
UEPI DIVES within Uepi Passage
The Uepi Passage is one continuous, very diverse, enormous dive site offering all manner of habitats, marine life and diving opportunities. A two-minute walk from your accommodation and you are at the Dive Shop where world-class diving begins. Or a one-minute boat ride takes you to other sites within the passage. There are nine named sites within the passage, but each has various profiles and displays of marine life. Due to its protected status, there are large breeding aggregations of many fish species along the channel. Great for night dives.
Uepi Point is the reef corner where the passage meets The Slot. It is bounteously covered in gorgonian fans, hard corals, colourful spikey soft corals and whip corals. A deeper point at 30m projects into the blue and attracts schools of fish, Grey Reef sharks and Eagle rays. Sightings of Dogtooth Tuna, Hammerhead Sharks, Silvertips, Giant Grouper can add to the excitement. Deeper points descend further into the clear depths. Bigeye and Blue Trevally, Snapper, Fusiliers and Barracuda school in large numbers along the wall and the reef edge. Spanish Mackerel, Giant Trevally, Mangrove Jack and Red Bass are amongst the predators attacking these schools. On the reef top healthy coral gardens and sand patches have an abundance of Garden and Moray Eels, Whitetip sharks, Clams, Anemones, clouds of Anthias and other invertebrates. Spend your dive at Uepi Point or anywhere along the passage where you can encounter Octopus, Cuttlefish, brilliant Anemone Fish, Pygmy Seahorses and Pipefish, flashing File Shells, Starfish, Crabs, Shrimp, schools of Scad and Perch and enjoy close encounters with Blacktip and Grey Reef Sharks, Tawny Nurse sharks, Green and Hawksbill turtles.
The point on the far side of the channel is renowned for fish and shark action. It is the starting point for an advanced dive Point to Point which offers blue water encounters and panoramic underwater views.
UEPI DIVES outside of Uepi Passage
The diving outside of Uepi Passage is exhilarating drop-off diving interspersed with extensive and complex coral gardens. Caves, swim-throughs, sheer plunging walls and protruding points all host prolific life. Over ten dive sites are conveniently within ten to twenty-five minutes of the Diveshop. Travel times may be short but Bottom Times are typically long.
UEPI DAY TRIP
Our action-packed day trip takes you away from the classic lagoon beauty of Uepi Island to a more exposed and stunning ‘weather coast’ scenery. The three dives feature a uniquely vertical shipwreck, an exciting cave dive and two very good WWII aircraft wrecks. Exceptional scenery, a beautiful beach picnic location and an exciting backwater boat passage make for an unforgettably ‘diverse’ day of diving.
RESORT HISTORY
Uepi Island Resort has been operating in Marovo Lagoon as a dive/snorkel resort since 1981. The operation is deeply integrated into the Marovo Community sharing all manner of mutual benefits including employment, extensive in house training, market and seafood purchases, timber and leaf purchases, carving sales, village cultural trips, and agricultural knowledge.
Health and education support from Uepi and our guests became so sought after that an independent charity “Solutions pa Marovo” was formalised to manage the demand.
Regular medical tours have carried out well over 20,000 village-based consultations and surgical teams have performed over 1000 operations in the operating theatre Uepi/Solutions built at Seghe Area Health Centre.
Education support peaked at 165 secondary students a year and recently the emphasis has shifted to tertiary education in disciplines such as Teaching, Nursing, Business, Tourism and Trade qualifications.
Since February 2020 Uepi Island Resort has maintained an extensive redevelopment program. Within the new main-house complex the new kitchen is specifically designed to provide professional standards of food storage, hygiene, preparation and quality. Six new beachfront accommodation houses also set high-quality accommodation standards in comfort, facilities and ambience.
