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.
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| There used to be a yacht club here - lovely calm water |
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| 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.
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| Andrew and Tracey paddling up |
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| 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!
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| Lunch at Turtle Bay |
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| 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.
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| Champagne Beach bubbles with Tracey |
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| Jeanette - our lovely host |
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| 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.
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| Check out this tree house accomodation - more wow! |
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| Lovely to see Bev at Port Orly |
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| 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.
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| Matevalu Blue Hole - best swing! |
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| 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!
