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