Ono Island, Great Astrolabe Reef, Kadavu

(S 18° 52.1’ E 178° 28.8’)

25th May - 8th June 2005

RV Heraclitus at anchor in Kadavu

Shortly after arriving on the west side of Ono Island, we were befriended by both the village of Nagarra and the owners of resorts a few bays away from our anchorage. We came here to the Great Astrolabe Reef to determine its health. Click here for the full results of our study.

snorkeling an exposed bommie at low tide

We knew already from conversations in Suva that this reef system has suffered severe fishing pressure due to its proximity to Suva and that it was also scarred by the bleaching events that affected Fiji’s reefs in general in 2000 and 2002. While in Kadavu we also heard of crown of thorns infestations, disease outbreaks plus the illegal fishing practice that uses a rampant weed called ‘duva’ to stun fish, at the same time poisoning the corals themselves. We were disappointed to find that at leaset some of this is true since much of what we saw of the Great Astrolabe Reef looked colourless and lacking in fish. But we did find some healthy reef walls and flats on the windward (eastern) side of the barrier reef, thanks to Piero Piva who brought us out in his speedboat several times.

Piero at the wheel of his boat on the Great Astrolabe Reef

We celebrated a youth day at the village, seeing Fijian cultural dancing for the first time. We sang songs with the villagers on a Friday night after many bowls of kava.

scenes from Nagarra village, Ono Island

We gave several educational presentations on Ono Island – one at the school in Nangera, the other hosted by the resort owners for about fifty of the adults from the village. Both audiences were very keen to hear our findings on the state of their reef, and to listen to our cautionary tales of other reef systems we have seen around the planet that destroyed by overfishing, nearby deforestation, destructive fishing practices, chemical runoff from fertilizers – all the threats that currently face the Great Astrolabe Reef.

Suva, Fiji

9th - 15th June

A pitstop back in Suva stocked us up with enough food and fuel to see us through the next phase of our expedition – a full reef study at Namena with a team from Wildlife Conservation Society plus diving en route in the Vatu Ira Channel.

Plans for a cultural exchange with Dr Epeli’s Oceania Centre were scuppered by some very nasty winds that caused us to drag anchor across the harbour several times. Meanwhile, the President’s Cup brought an entire fleet of racing yachts into the harbour from Auckland, New Zealand. Boats rolled and dragged through a few days of stormy weather, cloud banks obliterating the peaks of Viti Levu.

Just before we left this fine city for the last time, we were able to host about 30 of the musicians and dancers from the Oceania Centre. We shared with them our film from the Phoenix Island expedition and an oceanic slideshow. They were enthralled with the Heraclitus and our life at sea plus curious about how we juggle all aspects of the science, art and adventure that we carry out on board. We departed Suva harbour with their songs in our heads.