can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Firefly - Blue holes every morning on Santo



We arrived at the large Island of Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu over a week ago. Riding on a mooring off the Aore Resort on the island directly opposite the main town of Luganville was a welcome return to civilisation. The resort was well organised, supportive of visiting yachts, the wifi worked, happy hour was well attended and the night we ate there, the restaurant produced some great food.

We visited Luganville on the Aore resort ferry to get supplies and our bearings in this area that was once the Allies base during WW11, with over half a million service personnel, mainly Americans, stationed here waiting to head into battle in the South Pacific. Today Luganville is a bustling place and as elsewhere, the locals are very friendly but unlike Port Vila on Efate it was not a place to linger for too long.

We Scuba dived on the USS President Coolidge, a luxury liner turned troop ship that hit a 'friendly' mine in the Segond Channel in 1942 and sank to create one of the world's most famous wreck dives. It was an exciting dive with a maximum depth of 33 metres, the deepest we have gone so far. Our first dive that day had been on a relatively shallow reef and we then had a long surface interval to get ready to dive to Coolidge. Stopping at 'Million Dollar Point' we snorkeled over surplus equipment that the US Military dumped in the water after the local government turned down the offer of buying it (apparently they thought the equipment would just be left behind) - Bulldozers, Jeeps, aircraft engines and the like all went into the sea and despite being rusty they can still be seen clearly in 5 to 10 meters of water.

In order to travel up the east coast of Santo we tried to hire a car one morning in Luganville. The last one available had just been taken by a couple from NZ who were staying at the Aore Resort and whom we had just met of the ferry. No problem, we were invited to join them in the one car and had an excellent day traveling to the beautiful bay at Port Orly, visiting the stunning 'blue hole' at Nanda on the way there and the 'secret garden', a local's small holding and home to large Coconut Crabs on the way back.

Having sailed north to Santo we are now at about 15 degrees south and as its heading towards the southern hemisphere summer the weather is changing - and the wet season appears to have set in. Its humid most of the time but generally the days start bright and sunny - then by 1200 or 1300 or 1400 its raining incredibly heavily. All this rain and humidity have prompted a flurry of activity with the fabrication of a rain catcher and the installation of 5 electric fans down below. The fans are a very effective way of staying cooler and long overdue being installed. The rain catcher was created by modifying the central bimini, making a hole, adding a fitting and a pipe - now despite there being no water available to yachts in Luganville, Firefly has completely full tanks. In fact collecting water has become an enjoyable wet afternoon activity.

Making the most of the mornings has therefore become imperative and having had our first experience of blue holes we moved Firefly further north and anchored in Peterson Bay, near several more that are accessible by dinghy and we have been visiting them for the last 3 mornings. The Matavelu Blue Hole is at the head of the Nalaiafu River, about 2 miles upstream from where it enters the sea opposite Oyster Island. Effectively the location of the source, the river springs from a round blue hole, 30 meters in diameter, 18 meters deep, the water is crystal clear with a blue cast caused by dissolved calcium carbonate - absolutely beautiful and glorious to swim in. In fact with mask, fins and towing the dinghy we started at the blue hole and then drifted most of the way down the river through magnificent jungle scenery without seeing another soul.

The following day we tried the Riri River Blue Hole, about half as long but even more picturesque as the bottom is generally white sand and this creates fabulous aquamarine colours contrasting with the lush greens of the vegetation. Entering the water again initially at the blue hole we followed the river all the way back down to the sea. In fact it was so good we did the same thing again today (Monday 13th October) before moving Firefly about 5 miles south to Surundu Bay, anchoring just before the rain started.

The reason for the move was to get closer to Luganville as early tomorrow morning we are going to motor to the anchorage and go ashore to check out of Vanuatu. Our next destination is Noumea in New Caledonia, a passage of just under 500 miles. The direction is almost due south and in the normal South Easterly trades this would be a very tough trip - however, at present we have a window of lighter East winds forecast, just what we wanted and we are going to make to most of the opportunity and hope the forecast comes good!

Paul and Susie


Previous | Next