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Starblazer - 24/09/2014 - Espiritu Santo



On Monday we had a great sail from Ambrym to Espritu Santo. It's about 60 miles so we started early (0630) to ensure arriving in daylight. The recommended anchorage, just off Luganville, promised to be bumpy as the south easterly winds blows right in so we headed to the north shore of Aore Island which is more sheltered. Four yachts were on buoys in front of the Aore Resort but the only other pick-up looked decidedly dodgy! We motored along a bit until we inched our way into 9 metres where we dropped the anchor. The underwater profile is very steep, from 30+ metres to less than 1 in a very short distance. To further complicate matters, the holding is poor because the bottom has a lot of coral. We finally set the anchor but had an uncomfortable night, worrying if we were likely to drift inshore when the tide changed. The next morning we spoke to one of the moored yachts who said the moorings were maintained and that they felt secure. As soon as they called us to say they had left, we pulled up the anchor and went in search of their buoy. Described as 'an orange ball' we thought it should be easy. Wrong! The surface current was flowing one way but there was quite clearly a much stronger current lower down and their buoy was submerged. I did spot it, under the water, but couldn't reach it. A German couple from another yacht tried to reach it for us from their dinghy, using our boathook, but without success. We picked up the iffy looking one that we had ignored the previous afternoon.



Luganville is about a 7 minute dinghy ride away, providing it's calm enough to make a decent speed. The Aore side of the channel was fairly smooth but it got rougher and rougher as we approached the other side. The town itself is really just one long road, though obviously there is quite a lot of housing on unmade roads behind the main street. The tourist office was helpful, the market was very colourful and lunch was excellent. We decided to book a hire car for today, Wednesday, not cheap at about £60 + extra for additional insurance. There are a variety of tours you can book, between 5,000 and 8,000 Vatu per person, approximately £35 - £55 each. To visit all the places we wanted to would have meant 2 tours so we booked a hire car as the least bad option!



When we collected the car this morning we found out our limitations. There is only one main road you can drive freely on, from Luganville to Port Olry about 70km away. This is the only road with a tarmac surface. We were allowed to drive down unmade or disintegrating roads which led to either a resort or a tourist destination! There was a threatened £500 fine if we went off the permitted roads and the car was fitted with a GPS tracker which should set off an alarm at the office if we strayed beyond our permitted boundaries. The road map was a joke.



First stop was Million Dollar Point where we paid 500 Vatu each to walk on the beach and read the information board. During the war the USA established itself here, building numerous airstrips, buildings etc. At the end of the war there wasn't enough space on the ships for the men as well as the diggers, lorries, jeeps and all the other vehicles they had moved in. They offered to sell the vehicles to the resident French population and the local government but they declined to pay the asking price, expecting the Americans to just abandon everything. Wrong. The Americans gathered all the machinery and vehicles together at the beach, started them up, put a brick on the accelerator pedal and slammed them into gear. They rolled down the beach, into the sea, finishing up at a depth of about 40 metres. Some of the stuff is visible at shallower depths if you snorkel over it but the sea was too rough today. There are also numerous chunks of rusty metal exposed at low tide.



The road to Million Dollar Point was one of the allowed unmade roads. We continued along and drove through the golf course, another permitted journey though the road surface was horrendous. We eventually found the main road and our speed increased from less than 10km an hour. We did get overtaken by someone on a bike, not the motor variety. Our next destination was the Matevulu Blue Hole. The island has a number of stunning 'Blue Holes', deep holes filled with stunningly clear fresh water which takes on a deep blue hue. We took the track towards Matevulu college, reached a sign saying 'Matevulu Blue Hole' but no indication if it was straight on or turn left. We stayed on the better surface, wrong again, we turned around and found the famed Blue Hole. Again, the entrance fee was 500 Vatu each, for which we got to walk down a short path to the viewing platform. There were picnic tables but no refreshments available. We sat on the end of one platform and drank our bottle of Sprite.



Back on the main road we headed north again, taking the track towards the Champagne Beach which is famous for its very fine, white sand. The woman at the car rentals had said to park at the Lonnoc Beach Bungalows to avoid the entry fees to Champagne Beach. We drove to the beach where it said quite clearly the entry fee was 2,000 Vatu per person (£14-£15) or 500 Vatu for guests at the bungalows. We went back to the bungalows and bought a beer each, 500 Vatu, then sat at the edge of the beach drinking it. The Lonnoc Beach is the other side of a small headland from Champagne Beach but the sand is quite similar.



Port Olry, the end of the road quite literally, was a medium sized village with a church, school and medical centre but not quite what we expected. We didn't stop. We found the Port Olry Beach Restaurant next to the Paradise Bungalows and had a very good lunch, steak and chips for me and coconut crab for John.



We wanted to get back to Starblazer before dark and time was moving on. On the way back I spotted the sign for another blue hole which we had been told had many fish. This one was definitely worth the 500 Vatu entry fee. Sac aka Jack was very welcoming. We were encouraged to wander around and he gave us a plate of lovely pink grapefruit segments. We could have snorkelled, the group of youngsters about to leave had, but we decided against it. You could see

lots of fish from the platforms. We then walked around the end of the pool to the Navarak Cafe run by Suzy, Sac's sister. The coffee was good and the homemade cakes were excellent and good value. The whole area was well presented and an effort had been made to plant flowers, clear vegetation and lay down good footpaths. The sign for the cafe is very clear on the main road, the one for the Blue Hole less so.



We returned the car less than 8 hours after we had collected it. We had it for 24 hours but there was nowhere else to go!



Joyce

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