South Pacific Projects has been educating the children of Uluibau Primary school on marine ecosystems. The group have been visiting the school every Monday from 2:30 – 4:00 pm. The visits are educational and beneficial to the whole community. Educationally, the children are taught on marine ecosystems. Beneficially, the children will encourage others in their community at Daku and Uluibau villages to protect their marine ecosystem, especially the coral reef and the sea community as a whole.
The introduction of new systems of teaching from South Pacific Projects i.e. technology like computers, really motivate the students to learn and thus encourages them as well. Hence, a great attitude of pleasure was vividly shown by each member of the group. We also play fun games with the students and then socialise with each other. Therefore, thank you South Pacific Projects. We’re looking forward to more educational visits in the second term. We always welcome you into our classroom.
Vinaka Vaka Levu!!
Epeli Ligavai – Class 7 & 8 Teacher, Fiji
After seeing some dolphins swim around out boat following a fun dive on Saturday, we couldn’t have been more excited about our day trip to Moon Reef on Sunday! After an early breakfast we sat at the dive shop, hoping the rain would ease up so we could be on our way. With the sun shining we got to see some beautiful small tropical islands and a view of the Viti Levu coastline on the boat ride. We arrived at Natalei-ra with its long black sandy beach and admired the resort and the setting.
After meeting Howard and Zee, we piled onto a big boat and set out for Moon Reef. The water at Moon Reef is incredible! Very clear and beautiful turquoise colors. It was only a matter of minutes before the first Spinner dolphins were sighted and we all marveled at their beauty! We followed the dolphins and attempted to take some good pictures. As well as dolphin watching, we headed over to a patch of coral reef and jumped in for a snorkel. The reef there is beautiful and healthy; alive with a variety of hard and soft coral and lots of little fish. We also saw 3 Whitetip reef sharks! Kat started following one of them…crazy lady!
Round 2 of dolphin spotting began and this time they were jumping and spinning out of the water, putting on a great show for us. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay out there all day, so we waved goodbye to the beautiful creatures and headed back to the mainland for some delicious lunch. Having stuffed ourselves with chicken curry, lamb noodles, egg fried rice and much more, we were all pretty content to laze around in the sun and wait for our ride home. This has to have been one of the best days yet! We were so lucky to be able to see and enjoy the dolphins in their natural habitat!
Emma – UK
This week, South Pacific Projects signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) at their Head Office in the UK. The purpose of this new relationship is to implement a unique research and conservation project with spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) in Fiji. Volunteers who take part in the new project will be trained by Dr. Cara Miller who represents WDCS in Fiji and will be accompanied by highly skilled South Pacific Projects staff. Volunteers will assist Dr. Miller by investigating spinner dolphin site fidelity, behaviour and critical habitat. In addition to the research element of the project, volunteers will create an awareness-raising campaign about marine conservation and present it in local schools and communities. Details of this fantastic new opportunity will be published on our wesbite in the next few weeks. South Pacific Projects would like to thank WDCS, particularly Cynthia Walsh and Dr. Miller, for their unwavering support in getting this new project going. We look forward to visiting the dolphins in March and preparing for our first group of dolphin conservation volunteers to arrive!
Howard Foster – Oakland, California
After four months, over 100 dives, a few litres of Kava, a touch of sunburn (an even heavier touch of tropical rain!) and some wonderful memories of time spent with volunteers and our Fijian friends and colleagues, it’s time to get the winter woolies on and head back to the UK to visit family and friends. It’s gratifying to know that through the hard work of our staff team and the contribution of our volunteer groups this year, South Pacific Projects is ready for 2011 with new project partners and new community projects to look forward to. Look out for news of these developments on the website in the New Year. To all of you joining us in February: Kim, Helen, Stefan, Emma, Ashley, Jennifer, Marijn, Kimberley and Mei-Ling (and the other guys who are still thinking about it!) we very much look forward to welcoming you to the project. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year from South Pacific Projects.
Howard Foster – Leleuvia Island, Fiji.
I’d dived all around Fiji in previous month and was curious to see what was different about South Pacific Projects conservation expedition and how it was benefitting the marine environment. So we’d set out to have just a couple of dives to see what SPP had found during their volunteer’s surveying work. What we got instead was an experience never to be forgotten. We were on SPP’s local boat, on the way to the dive site, faces being warmed by the sun, islands in the distance, green against the bright blue of the ocean. Then a movement in the distance, in the water caught my eye. Was it bait fish? Or maybe a school of tuna? We decided to check it out. As we got a little closer, rounded dorsal fins started to appear above the water line and the backs of the dolphins became visible. How many were there? Who knows? 60? 70? They swam in front of the slow moving boat, popping out to say hello and smile for the cameras that were trained on them. After 10 minutes of ‘Oohing and ahhing!’ we decided we had better get to the dive site, or we would be playing with dolphins all day. The SPP team explained that next year, they are starting a new research and conservation project in collaboration with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society to survey and help protect these beautiful mammals.
Arriving at ‘The Market’, we geared up and hopped in, only to be greeted by a school of some of the largest Barracuda I’ve ever seen. With no fear of their strangely dressed visitors, the school of at least 30 fish swam up close to us, giving us a view of how large they really were. It was a rainbow of coral, healthy and lively, with graceful Butterfly Fish, wondrous Flatworms, bright nudibranchs and mischievous Triggerfish flitting in and out of large formations. When Howard pointed out a Hawksbill Turtle ambling along the reef, I hovered and quietly observed its progress. A sleeping Reef Shark, looking so calm I wanted to swim up to it and pet it, was being gently prodded by a cheeky Remora. The water was warm, the current gentle and all of it combined to make me even more eager for the next dive. It was clear that Howard and the team are working hard to help the local community of Bau to empower them to conserve their still-abundant marine resources. I wish them luck next year when the first of hopefully several new Marine Protected areas is established in the region through the efforts of South Pacific Projects volunteers. Happy diving!!!
Zeina Saad – Beirut, Lebanon.
Gloomy weather and rain did not deter us from making a trip to Leleuvia yesterday, together with Ms Catherine Siota from SPREP http://www.sprep.org and Paul from the Fiji Islands Voyaging Society http://www.fijivoyaging.com We were picked up by Pai, Taione and Howard, South Pacific Projects Director, we made our boat trip to Leleuvia Island. The rainy weather did not dampen the spirits as we all were eager to look for Hawksbill Turtle nesting tracks on the beaches. Then there was the dive that I always look forward to as no two dives are ever repeated, they will always be sure to be better than the last one. On the island it was great to see the changes in recent months since the local staff began implementing the Ecosystem Based Management approaches such as collecting leaves for compost, planting mangroves and recycling rubbish. These little things are making positive contributions to the Leleuvia look. After meeting the project staff and volunteers, Howard took us all out for a dive to Moturiki Cove. The highlights of the dive were seeing heaps of Whitetip Sharks as well as six beautiful Eagle Rays, two Marine Turtles and swimming amidst a huge aggregation of Snappers and Fusiliers. Also not to be missed were the (endangered) Maori Wrasse. As a Fisheries Officer it was encouraging to see the healthy state of the coral reefs, especially after so many survey dives at the site by South Pacific Projects as part of their baseline assessment, which indicates excellent diving practices with no harmful impacts on the coral reefs.
Saras Sharma, Fisheries Officer – Suva, Fiji.
Saturday morning and it’s high tide, it’s a little rough going over to the barrier reef, so instead we drop into a new area that we’ve never dived before, just inside the passage. I’ve no idea what to expect and we descend to about 10m and wait to see what we find. Drifting along in the shallows, Hansi signals me that he’s just seen a turtle, then in front of us a 2.5m Gray Reef Shark appears, cruising silently along the reef. It is such an impressive and graceful fish and we watch transfixed as it checks us all out before moving off behind a coral head. We mosey around the shallows, seeing lots of Snapper and taking pictures. Two or three Whitetip Reef Sharks are also cruising around, un-phased by our presence. This is inspiring as just in the last few days we’ve seen a few illegally set longlines when we’ve been out in the boat. Recently, we have been made aware of at least two local gentlemen running shark-finning operations, they sell the fins to the Asian markets, to make soup. Shark fins are only added to thicken the soup, as they don’t have any discernable flavour. Shark Fin Soup is eaten by the wealthy as a status symbol. The shark is then thrown back into the water to drown in agony. It’s a barbaric and completely wasteful practice as the rest of the animal isn’t even eaten. In response to this issue, South Pacific Projects is rolling out a new shark awareness project in local schools, using teaching materials donated by the London Aquarium http://www.visitsealife.com We hope that by educating Fijian children about this beautiful and much-maligned creature, they will gain a better understanding of the shark’s role on the reef and in the ocean and think more critically about shark-finning and other unsustainable fishing practices.
Back on our dive, the big Grey Reef Shark comes back to see us again and again and in the photo you see here, I didn’t even know it was there! Andrew got this great shot that I also sent it to my Mum to demonstrate that yes, we do dive with sharks and no, they’re not dangerous! Sharks are such beautiful and misunderstood animals, if you’ve only seen movies like Jaws and Deep Blue Sea, then I can recommend the documentary ‘Sharkwater’ to get the other side of the story. About 7 or 8 people a year are actually killed by sharks worldwide. Humans, on the other hand, slaughter over 100,000,000 sharks a year and this is a very conservative estimate. So who is the more fearsome predator?
Howard Foster – Leleuvia, Fiji.
Being part of a South Pacific Projects volunteer expedition was one of the most exciting experiences of my life so far. Living on a beautiful little island with wonderful people was just amazing. The initial thought of being on an island with complete strangers was very intimidating, but by the end of the expedition it was hard to say good bye to new found friends and the laid back island life style. The South Pacific Projects staff team are great people who have a lot of experience and knowledge to share, and their big smiles and bubbly personalities made everyone feel at home from the very first day. While the local Fijian staff are just a crazy bunch who quickly become like family with their Fijian hospitality that include constant hugs, jokes and offers of a hot drink. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to be part of the expedition, where we experience amazing dives and are educated and taught skills that allow us to contribute to the conservation of the local coral reefs and provide long term benefits for the local communities.
Scuba Diving is one of those things that you have to experience yourself; it’s hard to describe just how beautiful the underwater world is. But before we could enjoy any of that beauty we had to learn a thing or five! The very first thing we had to do was complete a 400 meter swim which seemed a lot harder than it actually was. I wasn’t exactly the strongest swimmer and it had been a while since my last swim so I was pretty much shaking in my board shorts. But it turned out to be alright, I didn’t die of exhaustion like I thought I would. After surviving that swim I felt I could take on anything! Initially the thought of diving to depths of more than 20m and expected to carry out surveys, which I thought was going to be complex, was very intimidating! And having to know what seemed like a million different fish species seemed like quite the task! Fortunately the learning process was very enjoyable with lots of interesting lectures and discussions as we progressed at our own pace, so taking tests were almost fun! Every day for the first two weeks was hectic, there really didn’t seem to be a moment to spare, there was always something to do. It was always eat, dive, eat, dive, study, study, dive, and eat! Swimming into a school of fusiliers, staring a turtle in the face, watching a white tip reef shark move gracefully in the water, barracuda’s, stingrays, a diversity of corals and hundreds of other marine organisms!
I feel very fortunate to have been provided a Scholarship by South Pacific Projects, it’s given me a whole lot of experience, allowed me to meet wonderful people, give back to the community and open my eyes to the amazing world of scuba diving. This has giving me a new perspective on the importance and beauty of the marine environment. My University education did equip me with a lot of knowledge and experience, but diving has made me that more passionate about my field of study. I’m thankful for the wonderful job that South Pacific Projects does educating their volunteers, giving back to the local communities, and for their contribution to marine conservation in Fiji. I encourage everyone who has the chance to be part of a South Pacific Projects expedition and make a difference.
Alfreda Soro – The University of the South Pacific, Fiji.
One of my mantras as I travel around the world is “Embrace Randomness”. Revelling in the unforeseen opens up an infinite number of possibilities for discovering where the road less travelled will lead.
Finding myself on a flight to the capital city of Fiji with no plans and no place to stay, I randomly selected a guest house from my guide book and showed up on the doorstep without a reservation. The only other person at breakfast the next morning was a guy named Howard. We struck up a conversation about what had brought each of us to Fiji and he told me about South Pacific Projects.
As soon as I told him I was a photographer, he asked if I’d be willing to consider photo-documenting the work his organization is doing. Leleuvia is a secluded island, offering diving in crystal blue waters on pristine reefs teeming with exotic fish and coral in one of the most beautiful and inaccessible locations on the planet. My first thought was “Our father who art in heaven, Howard be thy name.” My second thought was “How soon can we get going?”
After two absolutely incredible weeks in paradise, a front row seat at 30 meters below the surface, an opportunity to use my photographic skills for the Forces of Good and drinking kava with the King of Fiji’s great great grandson, I’m left with two words….“Embrace Randomness”.
John Langford – Texas, USA
You can see Langford’s photos and read about his adventures at www.CosmicCandidCamera.com