Espiritu Santo - Vanuatu
2006
As September's intended Dive Trip was cancelled due to bad weather, John has asked us to step in with a dive trip write up from warmer waters. Stuart and I were lucky enough to take a week long diving holiday to Vanuatu's adventure island - Espiritu Santo. Vanuatu, formally known as New Hebrides, is an Archipelago, a y-shaped string of 83 islands, the main islands being Efate, Santo, Malakula and Tanna.
Santo is the largest island in Vanuatu and was an important operations base during WW2. The American army left behind bomber wrecks and a variety of sunken military equipment which provide today's divers with many intriguing dive sites. This includes the well known "Million Dollar Point" and the wreck of the "SS President Coolidge" This was a 1930's luxury liner of 200 metres in length which had been converted to a US troop carrier and sunk in 1942 after hitting friendly mines whilst navigating through the channel entering the harbour.
Stuart and I planned our diving week with Aquamarine dive tours. They outlined dives to suit a very experienced diver (Stuart) and myself, a new openwater diver of 5 months. There is nothing quite like 20m viz with an abundance of tropical fish & coral to take your mind off the fear button.
It worked for me as my first Santo dive took us down to 30m with stunning gardens of coral plates, gorgon fans and a rainbow world of fish. That first dive left me absolutely speechless for at least 5 minutes after surfacing. I thought to myself that diving can't get any better than this - but I was soon to find out that it does !!
In the following days our Aquamarine guides took us on more dives in and around the Coolidge. This shipwreck lies at a depth of 18-70 meters and is accessible as a shore dive with a short 50m walk.
We knew the Coolidge was a big ship before we entered the water, but when you view it the sheer size still amazes you as you approach, it's quite incredible!
I was somewhat nervous about the depth of these dives at 32-38m but once I began the decent along with the guide and qualified instructor, I was so in awe of the ship that I soon forgot my fears.
My favourite of the 3 penetration dives into the Coolidge was the entry corridors where, after nearly 62 years underwater, you can still clearly see the chandeliers with light bulbs intact, a mosaic fountain and red-carpeted corridors. All decorated by a backdrop of Angel fish, the odd Turtle and wondrous Loin Fish.
With all deep diving comes long decompression stops but when diving in these waters even the deco-stop is fascinating with colourful coral gardens, mesmerizing anemones and "Nemos" nibbling your fingers.
Espiritu Santo is well worth a visit for diving at any experience level.
Pauline