March 2, 2026
Got to have a full circle moment tonight! When we went to Upie Resort in Solomon Islands we met Mollie Smith, the school teacher there on the island for the owner's children. We loved chatting with her at dinners and when we ran into her on the island. We got to dive with Mollie on our last scuba outing. She has since completed her 2 year stint at Upie and now is back teaching in Tauranga, NZ. Mollie is British, but has lived in NZ, with her family about 11 years. It was great to catch up - we all loved Upie soo much! I invited Mollie to join us to see the glow worms, something she had never done and we had such a nice night! She picked us up at the Port and we had a yummy Italian dinner first at Alpino Mount Mauganui and then lots of laughs kayaking the Wairoa River at Waimarino Adventure Park.
Above and a couple of the better photos below from operators website and fellow residents who joined us. It was so dark none of mine are that good. I did capture Bosco, Mollie, Kimberly & myself in our goofy gear. Turns out glow worms are actually a fungus gnat larva used to catch prey into sticky silk threads in caves ans damp environments. Which is what I got brushing against my face when were entered the grove area to float and observe the big display of glow worms! Yuke! But kinda cool too!
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We woke up to thunder & lighting and pouring rain, but the afternoon turned gorgeous! We had a lovely sunset and a relaxing day. Played some games, sang some tunes with the staff and chilled! Also got a chance to do some blog work. More daily highlights below.
Raja Ampat is truly a diver and snorkeler paradise! Soooo many fish and corals everywhere you look!
Seeing an Octopus on this trip is one of my goals. So far, I have seen two reef octopus hiding in holes on the reef slopes. But I really want to see one in motion, like this video below by Evan Johnston (follow him on Instagram at of___earth ). Evan is an Irish marine biologist, free diver/ scubadiver, instructor and talented underwater videographer. He has been at the Resort for the last 6 weeks taking video, for their future marketing and gave me this video for inspiration!