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Conway Reef, known since 1976 by its Fijian name Ceva-I-Ra Reef (pronounced ), is a
Conway Reef, known since 1976 by its Fijian name Ceva-I-Ra Reef (pronounced ), is a coral
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...
reef
A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...
of the atoll
An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gr ...
type. It is at , and it is 2.5 km long in an east–west direction. In the middle of the reef there is a small sand cay
A cay ( ), also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island on the surface of a coral reef. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, including in the Caribbean and on the Great ...
, 1.8 meters high, about 320 metres long, and 73 metres wide, with a land area
This is a list of the world's countries and their dependent territories by land, water and total area, ranked by total area.
Entries in this list include, but are not limited to, those in the ISO 3166-1 standard, which includes sovereign s ...
of two hectare
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...
s. Politically, it is in the Western Division and the Nadroga-Navosa province of the Republic of Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
. However, geographically, it lies 450 km southwest of the main complex of the Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
Islands.
None of the other islands of Fiji are farther away from each other than 75 km (unless you count Rotuma Island
Rotuma is a Fijian dependency, consisting of Rotuma Island and nearby islets. The island group is home to a large and unique Polynesian indigenous ethnic group which constitutes a recognisable minority within the population of Fiji, known as ...
, which is politically but not geographically part of Fiji).
The closest land to Conway Reef is Hunter Island in the French territory
A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal.
In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...
of New Caledonia
)
, anthem = ""
, image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg
, map_alt = Location of New Caledonia
, map_caption = Location of New Caledonia
, mapsize = 290px
, subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...
. It is also claimed by Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...
. It lies 275 km to the west-southwest ( WSW) of Conway Reef.
In 1838, the Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
Captain Drinkwater Bethune of first came across the reef and recorded it; it was first mapped by several years later by a British captain named Denham, commanding HMS ''Herald''.
There were a couple of wrecks on the island in the 19th century: The brig ''Rapid'', under Captain Arthur Devlin, ran aground on the reef at 0200 h on 14 January 1841, going at a speed of 7 knots with all its sails up: The crew member on lookout duty may not have been paying attention. And 14 years later, on the night of 26 January 1855, the ship ''Logan'' of New Bedford, under Captain Wells, was wrecked on Conway Reef (which he referred to as “Sandy Island Reef”).
There have been three recent shipwreck
A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...
s on the reef (1979, 1981 and 2008), the latest one is the Chinese fishing vessel
A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing.
The total number of fishing vessels in the world in 2016 was es ...
San Sheng No. 168. The wreck of that ship lies on the northeast end of the reef. The stranded wreck of a coastal trading vessel
Coastal trading vessels, also known as coasters or skoots, are shallow-hulled ships used for trade between locations on the same island or continent. Their shallow hulls mean that they can get through reefs where deeper-hulled seagoing ships usua ...
lies 240 metres south of the centre of the cay.
Access to the island should be attempted only at high tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another.
Tide tables can ...
m, and only in a shallow draft tender. Extreme care must be taken to navigate the coral heads.
Conway Reef is uninhabited, apart from some bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
s that appear to have almost no fear of humans. It offers the rare opportunity to experience diving
Diving most often refers to:
* Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water
* Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes
Diving or Dive may also refer to:
Sports
* Dive (American football), a ...
and snorkeling in a virtually untouched underwater environment.
In 1983 it was reported that there was some vegetation
Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic character ...
on the cay. In 1985 it was reportedly bare. But today the cay has some vegetation again, and it's about 3 m high.
The island counts as a separate entity for DXCC
An amateur radio operating award is earned by an amateur radio operator for establishing two-way communication (or "working") with other amateur radio stations. Awards are sponsored by national amateur radio societies, radio enthusiast magazine ...
credit in amateur radio
Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...
. Several Dxpedition
A DX-pedition is an expedition to what is considered an exotic place by amateur radio operators and DX listeners, typically because of its remoteness, access restrictions, or simply because there are very few radio amateurs active from that pl ...
s visited it as 3D2C in September 2012, and 3D2CR in June 2019 and September 2021.
See also
*Desert island
A desert island, deserted island, or uninhabited island, is an island, islet or atoll that is not permanently populated by humans. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereot ...
* List of islands
This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water
A body of water or waterbody (often spelled water body) is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another plane ...
References
{{Authority control Uninhabited islands of Fiji Reefs of the Pacific Ocean Atolls of Oceania