Blue Holes Galore - Santo July 2023

With some strong winds forecast we opted to find a sheltered bay and explore the East Coast of Santo (Espiritu Santo - known as Santo) with a hire car. We moved Askari to Palikulo Bay just a few miles around the corner, where there had been a US base in the war. It was a hitch-hike or 45 minute walk to Luganville and very well protected. We pulled into the bay with one other boat but were soon joined by several more as the strong winds got closer. We picked up the car the next morning, after getting a ride in the back of a ute into town. Dave and Trace had moved around - so they came along too. 

There used to be a yacht club here - lovely calm water

Exploring Palikulo Bay

We had decided to drive to Orly in the north and then work our way back, that sounded like a great plan until we met a guy by the first blue hole (Riri Blue Hole) who had an outrigger canoe he offered to rent to us to see that blue hole. This turned out to be totally hilarious as we were so bad at paddling this thing. We had told him we were sailors and of course we didn't need a local to paddle us..... how wrong we were. To stop arguments Andrew and Trace paddled up, then Dave and I paddled back. We just laughed the whole way, until Andrew sliced his foot open on oyster shells trying to get a rope swing for me - it probably should have been stitched and certainly curtailed anything too adventurous for him for the next few weeks. 

Andrew and Tracey paddling up

Ouch - poor foot!

After all that fun, we carried on up to turtle bay for a lovely lunch and a few beers in this lovely location - they also had a good medical kit..... This is a stunning anchorage- just a bit tricky to access for our draft with the swells and wind at the moment. We had a bit of an explore around that area - so pretty. To end the day we headed to Jackie's blue whole for a swim - this was definitely the bluest of the three blue holes we visited and has a little bar too!

Lunch at Turtle Bay

Jackie's Blue Hole

The next day we were on the road again - this time determined to make it to the north. We headed off for a quick stop at Champagne Beach - they wanted $15 a person to visit the actual beach so we went to a guest house for a drink and enjoyed the bubbles of freshwater bubbling through the sand at low water at their beach next door instead. The lovely Jeanette whose place it was showed us fresh coconut crabs and tried to convince us to chill there or come back for a pig roast - we really hoped to.

Champagne Beach bubbles with Tracey

Jeanette - our lovely host

Wow Port Orly

We carried on our drive and made it to the end of the road at the fishing village of Port Orly, we had heard that Chez Louis did a great lunch from Bev and John on Dandelion so pulled into the car park to find them too! Love these unplanned meet ups.... What an absolutely beautiful spot - we were really quite stunned as I hadn't expected such a beach in Vanuatu and it was really windy so imagine on a calm day - wow! And the lunch was great too.

Check out this tree house accomodation - more wow!

Lovely to see Bev at Port Orly

Lunch a chez Louis with amazing blues

Back in car and we still had one more blue hole that is easily accessible to tourists (there are others but they are private), the Matevalu Blue hole was probably our fav with a totally amazing rope swing and such clear water. I can't describe what it's like snorkelling in these blue holes; it's so weird as you can literally see one side to the other its kind of cosmic. 

Matevalu Blue Hole - best swing!

Stocking up on beer

What a fun couple of days - such a beautiful island. We drove back to the bay stopping in Luganville to pick up some beers - well actually three cases. Back at the bay Dan and Holly had lit the fire and we settled in for a few sundowners. As it got dark we realised a case of beer had vanished - we guess someone saw it in the back of the car - that was a shock as we couldn't imagine that there would be thieves around but perhaps it was a bit too much to leave the stash unattended in an open car. Not as much as a shock when we got a call the next morning from Avis to say someone had seen the car with a smashed window. That was a day of our life we won't get back, working with the rental car company and the police to make a report! Well in 7 years of sailing with Askari and all the sketchy places we have been we have never had a theft or damage, and I guess they were looking for more beer having seen so much! A shame but we later found out that may of the people in this area are displaced from Ambae due to a volcanic eruption a few years back, so without a garden their traditional home and garden life is probably pretty tough here. We left that bay as soon as the wind eased enough to escape!

Aore, Luganville chores and wreck diving in Santo

Askari at Aore Dive Centre

From our base at Paul's dive centre on Aore Island we could see Luganville just across the channel, our friends John and Bev on Dandelion were there and offered to ferry us around to get groceries and gas in a car they had been loaned by friends. So we piled into the dinghy with our gas bottle, a few weeks of rubbish and zoomed over to their anchorage. It was a little bit choppy onshore getting the dinghy out but it wasn't quite as bad as it looked on the chart, that was until the current turned and wind over tide in the channel made for bigger waves and a rough trip back to the calm of Aore. It was nice to see a bit of Luganville though; and the good news was that the discounted beer Andrew found in Port Vila was here too! 

Freshwater Plantation, Aore Island

Evidence of US military time here in WWII

Inside the Bat Cave

Huge Banyan Trees - it is thought fairies live in the roots

Keen to explore a bit of Aore Island we found a plantation with a bat cave, it was all a bit random trying to organise to visit and before we knew it we were on a tour that was leaving for the cave in 10 mins and we were phoning from the boat - argh well island time, we zoomed in the dinghy down to the plantation where we met our guide a 3 other tourists who'd been forced to wait for us. The actually turned out not to be grumpy and we had a very nice, slow, walk around the plantation and up to the cave, followed by a coconut juice. The cave was really cool and apparently had been used during the war so contained old coke bottles and other evidence of the US soldiers that came to the island for RnR. We learned that the plantation used to farm cocoa beans and saw many trees left with fruit, we also saw stinging trees and the trees that are used to build dug out canoes, plus took in some nice views of the island. It was all nice enough but not a 'must do' activity. We headed back home for lunch and then spent the afternoon at the resort pool - this is the life! 

The walkway through the cave was sadly under repair

Not too shabby - resort life

Then we were into our two days of double dives - the two most famous dive sites in Santo are Million Dollar Point and the wreck of the SS Coolidge. This was the plan for day 1 and we headed out with Paul, his dive guides and four other divers at 0630 - that was a shock. 

The SS Coolidge is famous as it is the largest and most accessible wreck - the ship is 200 metres long, 25 metres wide and has about 50 different dives sites on it. Some people come to dive it year after year. It was originally a luxury steamship with a really interesting past, however it was converted to a troop and supplies carrier in the Second World War. In October 1942 it was bringing over 5000 troops and supplies to the US base in Luganville and it hit a US mine protecting one entrance to the town, due to a miscommunication. The captain was able to drive the ship ashore and almost all the crew walked ashore, before it slipped down the reef. I am not an avid wreck diver and can get claustrophobic, however this was an opportunity to do something challenging and we were both pretty excited. The first dive was the bow area and into the cargo hold, where you go inside the ship but without being really inside as it's open. We had a guide for just us and he was carrying a pony bottle for extra air. We saw ammunition, a gun and our guide made Andrew wear a hat - that's a thing on 'The Coolidge' apparently. We saw opening windows but for me the most amazing thing was the marine life that had taken over the ship, from eels and octopus to big fans and clams - it was really quite something and I totally loved it. We ended up with a short decompression stop on the reef before returning to the boat for a fab lunch and long surface interval before heading back in. 

Our First Dive on The Coolidge

Million Dollar Point

Million Dollar Point

I like the fans taking over

Our second dive was Million Dollar Point. The story goes that at the end of the war the Americans were leaving the military base and all its equipment, the stuff was offered to the French and British, who controlled Vanuatu at the time, apparently the offer was so small as it was assumed they would leave it regardless, to spite the British and French the Americans drove all the vehicles, food, clothing and machinery off the wharf into the sea. They actually built the ward for this specific purpose! This has created a unique dive site, just off the beach that includes bulldozers, trucks and all sorts of crap mangled up together. It really is just a junk yard under the sea. We enjoyed the dive and it was interesting to experience this part of history but it wasn't a great dive, the visibility was low and it was just a pile of old rotting metal.

That afternoon, another yacht arrived at the dive centre, Viva La Vida - UK/Aus Tash and Ben who had just sailed from Fiji. They had had a rough trip and were keen for beers - so we joined them at the resort. It turned out they had arranged for the women from the banks island to perform 'Ëtëtung' their traditional 'Water Music' at sunset.... intrigued we went to the beach with the resort guests and experienced this hypnotic and mesmerising experence as the women and girls swooshed and slapped the water. It was truly incredible and very beautiful - apparently it was a tradition of old that has more recently been rekindled by women while doing the laundry; such a cool night. Tash and I joined in the fun and dancing and were both gifted flower crowns.

A little clip of the water music

Next day - back under water we did two more amazing dives on The Coolidge, each one more inside the wreck, swimming through caverns. Finding medical supplies, a barbers chair, a row of toilets, a tea set, cars, more ammunitions and on our last dive we went deep inside the ship in cargo hold 2, and shut off all our light for a few minutes to witness the flashlight fish that live there. I was having so much fun and wasn't really paying much attention to my deco, (no excuse but I knew I was near Andrew and the guide and had plenty of air or maybe I had deco sickness - who knows) but I got to our deco spot with 28 mins of deco time - oh my god how embarrassing.... The guys were actually really good and we just swam around playing with shrimp and gobies - not often you get an 85 minute dive with a dive shop!! I actually didn't need anymore air but they had both a pony and a drop tank; it was all so well organised.

Our second Dive on The Coolidge

Diving done for now we got back to being sailors and spent a morning in Luganville provisioning and buying pipe to replaced our blocked toilet hose. The last night at Aore, Dave and Trace whizzed over from the anchorage to join us for another fab dinner at the resort followed by a nightcap or two on Askari. The next day we set sail for the east coast of Santo.

New hose for our holding tank that was glamourosly blocked

Lovely dinner with Dave n Tracey

Maskalyne Islands, Malekula and onto Santo - 3 July 2023

Tuesday morning (27th June 2023) we popped ashore to say our goodbyes to William and his family and then upped anchor for a beautiful sail on light southerly winds back over to the Maskalyne Islands, we were able to sail right in through the pass of the southern channel and dropped anchor off the island of Awai. This is a super protected anchorage with Malekula on one side and Awai on the other with a reef out to the ocean. We spotted movement ashore so popped the kayak in and paddled over and met the chief, he was super friendly and then he commandeered Andrew and our dinghy for the school run - later..... We didn't really have an idea of his timing and as it was getting late in the day thought maybe he meant tomorrow. 

Sailing into the Maskalyne Islands

Our calm Anchorage at Awai Island

Ready for the sunset school run

Just approaching beer o'clock he and his wife paddle over, she's taking the dug out canoe back and the school run is on! Andrew grabbed his phone and off he went over yonder. Hmmm we didn't really think this through, half an hour later its starting to get dark and I am on the boat thinking - I have no idea where Andrew's gone, didn't they eat people in Vanuatu not that long ago, what if they hit the reef in the dark, how long do I wait before I call someone, who do I call and what would I say, etc, etc Phew he finally appears whizzing across the lagoon laughing with the chief and his daughter all neat in her school uniform. It turns out it wasn't that far, however when they got there the kids weren't there, so Andrew was taken across to the other side of the island and through the school grounds barefoot, met the head master, whilst also thinking weird there's no kids and didn't they eat people in Vanuatu not so long ago..... Then they found the kids playing football.... crazy to think the kids usually go from one island to another for school in a dugout canoe - so it was great we could help, next time maybe we should both go on the adventure.

Andrew returning - phew!

Whilst chilling out the next afternoon, after some fun drift snorkelling, we had started making plans for some diving and it turns out to dive the Coolidge (the most famous dive in Vanuatu - more on that) you need a guide and you need to book in advance. We were actually pretty lucky we made enquiries as many other people we know skipped it or waited a long time. We had a booking for 6 & 7 July and a mooring for a week arranged opposite Luganville, as the anchorage is not very nice, so for the second time this season, we had a plan!! 

Pretty Hermit Crab at Awai island snorkelling

 Clear water and some critters at Awai

Nemo at Awai

Sailing back out through the Maskalyne Islands we saw this cool sand island

So next morning we sadly left the lovely Maskalyne islands and sailed up to Malekula. There's heaps of great anchorages on Malekula but one deserted spot took our fancy. It was called crab bay and with the shape of the reef it actually looked like a crab, although I think it's named for the fiddler crabs there. We had read the reef was pretty healthy, so finding the place deserted we went out to explore.

Old copra shed at Crab Bay

Exploring Crab Bay

 Oh my - wow - beautiful gully, sooo many turtles, 3 different kinds of shark and just so many fish. We were super excited and spent the next two days diving on the reef. Our first dives since we were in Raja Ampat for Christmas - probably the longest we've gone without diving for years. Some underwater snaps:

Huge ray 

Lion fish at Crab Bay

First outing of our new projector screen for the cockpit - perfect post diving relaxation

The crab at Crab Bay

Then it was time to set sail to Luganville, the second city of Vanuatu. As we lifted the anchor in Crab Bay there was a cute crab on our anchor snubber - how perfect. Then we set off for a perfect downwind sail to Luganville, poled out until we reached the Segond Chanel and then we sailed all the way down to Aore Island, which would be our base for the next week. We were very excited to find that the resort there was so lovely, super friendly and served fabulous food; we made ourselves very at home!

First downwind sail this year

Yes we like it here

Kastom string band for our first night - yes there was dancing

Nice selfie after dinner at Aore Resort