Conway Reef, known since 1976 by its Fijian name Ceva-I-Ra Reef (pronounced ), is a

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

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 component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

of the

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most ...

type.

Geography

It is 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 Grea ...

, high, about long, and metres wide, with a

land area This is a list of the world's countries and their dependencies, ranked by total area, including land and water. This list includes entries that are not limited to those in the ISO 3166-1 standard, which covers sovereign states and dependent ...

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), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s. Politically, it is in the Western Division and the Nadroga-Navosa province of the

Republic of Fiji Fiji, 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 of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

. However, geographically, it lies south-west of the main complex of the

Fiji Fiji, 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 of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

Islands. None of the other islands of Fiji are farther away from each other than (unless you count Rotuma Island, which is politically but not geographically part of Fiji). The closest land to Conway Reef is Hunter Island in the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

. Hunter Island is also claimed by

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

. It lies to the west-south-west ( WSW) of Conway Reef.

History

The reef was annexed by the United Kingdom in 1965, and incorporated into Fiji on independence. In 1838, the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

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"). In 1964 a Japanese fishing vessel, ''Fuji Maru No. 2'', was wrecked on the 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. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...

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 fishing, catch fish and other valuable nektonic aquatic animals (e.g. shrimps/prawns, krills, coleoids, etc.) in the sea, lake or river. Humans have used different kinds of surface vessels in commercial ...

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 merchant ships used for transporting cargo along a coastline. Their shallow hulls mean that they can get through reefs where deeper-hulled seagoing ships usually cannot ...

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 ...

, 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 (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

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), ...

and snorkeling in a virtually untouched underwater environment. In 1983 it was reported that there was some

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plants and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular Taxon, taxa, life forms, structure, Spatial ecology, spatial extent, or any other specific Botany, botanic ...

on the cay. In 1985 it was reportedly bare. 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 radio spectrum, spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emer ...

. 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, 3D2CR in June 2019 and September 2021. and 3D2CCC in April 2024.

Tectonics

Its former name is given to the

Conway Reef plate The Conway Reef plate is a small tectonic plate ( microplate) located in the south Pacific west of Fiji. The western boundary is with the New Hebrides plate while the eastern is with the Australian plate. A short transform boundary also exist ...

which is a tectonic microplate that extends on the sea bottom to the north of the reef. The

Australian plate The Australian plate is or was a major tectonic plate in the eastern and, largely, southern hemispheres. Originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, Australia remained connected to India and Antarctica until approximately when Indi ...

is subducting under the

New Hebrides plate The New Hebrides plate, sometimes called the Neo-Hebridean plate, is a minor tectonic plate (just larger than a microplate) located in the Pacific Ocean. While most of it is submerged as the sea bottom of the North Fiji Basin, the island count ...

to produce an active

seismic zone In seismology, a seismic zone or seismic belt is an area of seismicity potentially sharing a common cause. It can be referred to as an earthquake belt as well. It may also be a region on a map for which a common areal rate of seismicity is assume ...

the

Hunter fracture zone The Hunter fracture zone is a sinistral (left-lateral) transform faulting fracture zone, that to its south is part of a triple junction with the New Hebrides Trench, and the North Fiji Basin Central Spreading Ridge. The Hunter fracture zone, wit ...

and in concert with propagating back-arc extension, a volcanic

Hunter Ridge The Hunter Ridge (previously known as Hunter Island Ridge, Matthew Ridge), is an active volcanic arc oceanic ridge located on the oceanic New Hebrides plate in the south-west Pacific Ocean extending at least . It defines the south-western limit ...

that extends from southern

to the area of Ceva-I-Ra. The convergence becomes oblique by Ceva-I-Ra as the

extends towards the Kadavu Islands of Fiji.

References

{{Authority control Uninhabited islands of Fiji Reefs of the Pacific Ocean Atolls of Oceania

Geography

History

Tectonics

See also

References