Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving - Njanjelakalau Island
Njanjelakalau Island is a small island located in the Florida Islands group of the Solomon Islands. Accessed for diving purposes from Maravagi Resort, the island is about 11 kilometres to the south-west of the resort. It is a 15 minute run to the island.
The dive here is a drift dive. The main spot is on the eastern side of the island. We entered the water at the south-east corner and drifted north. At this spot there is a wall to 40 metres and then a slope that goes to well over 60 metres. The current was with us shallower but over 50 metres it was against us. Very strange.
The terrain below 40 metres was a lot like Stony Creek at Jervis Bay in New South Wales. There were lots of sponges, small gorgonias and seawhips. Great! We saw three grey reef sharks deeper and as we came shallower, three clown triggerfish. Above 40 metres the gorgonias are huge, more than two metres across.
Further along the wall there is an indent in the wall and some small caves. Once you round the point and start heading west, there are many more cracks and gutters in the wall and reef. The depth comes up to under 30 metres. This is probably as far as you will get and there are some nice reefs in the five to ten metre range.
Visibility was very nice, over 30 metres. Water temperature about 28°C.
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