Espiritu Santo's 30,000 residents refer to their Spanish-named island paradise as "Santo". The largest town on Vanuatu's largest island, Luganville is also often referred to as "Santo". Vanuatu is known as a beach resort and Espiritu Santo has no shortage of dramatic and spectacular coastline.
Sail in this morning was early but beautiful, warm and picturesque. Sailfish or flying fish greeted me this morning, incredible. By the hundreds they would fly out of the water at the bow of the ship and skip along the water at 20 to 30 yard intervals. I was able to capture a few pictures (they are pretty small), so the pictures shown are good close ups of a few of these amazing fish.
Now that we have lived and learned a bit, using the blank side of our cardboard pillow card, I created a taxi sign off note, if said "One Taxi, six people, to go to Champagne Beach - a 90 minute stay, then to the Matevulu Blue Hole for a 45 minute stay, then return to the ship for a blank amount of US money, tip included". I then gave this to Jeff our incredible deal maker to venture out and negotiate a taxi. Note here, I saw sign postings at a taxi stand that were offering this type of excursion on a piece meal basis, for example $50.00 US per person to Champagne Beach, $35.00 per person to the Blue hole and $20.00 PP to Million Dollar Beach. I wish Jeff good luck so off he goes. Not five minutes later he returns to show me the signed off card, total for six of us $72.00 US - amazing. So with Jeff, Joy, Bob and Leslee we head out to the air conditioned van operated by our friendly driver, Johnny. My write up summarizes these sights as follows:
Champagne Beach has silky soft silica sand as well as coconut palms. It is one of the most strikingly beautiful you will ever see. It has a wide shoreline of soft, white sand and the water is translucent blue. There's also a straight-on view of Elephant Island. The soft sand continues several feet into the water, so you can wade in without worrying about cutting your feet on sharp coral. It is 33 miles north in the Hog Harbor area. Admission is 500Vatu or $5.00 US PP
Matevulu Blue Hole has magnificent crystal clear blue water and is surrounded by tropical trees and plants. The Blue Hole is about 160 feet across and 60 feet deep. The sun reflects the brightest azure with clarity of color that is truly amazing. It is refreshing to stop on your way home from Champagne Beach to jump into the cool water and wash of the sand and salt before going home. It is 14 miles north of Luganville. Admission is 500 Vatu or $5.00 US PP.
We then negotiated for an additional $9.00 to take us to Million Dollar Beach. Million Dollar Beach is where tons of military equipment was tossed and dumped over the cliff. Even after 70 years, the rusting jeep and tank parts line the shore for miles. We were there during the high tide, so with Johnny apologizing that there was not so much to see - he told me had he known that we wanted to come here he would have done our tour in reverse. I told him that this was not a problem as it wasn't on our list but thanked him for taking us here.
A note on the fees, well most of the land in Vanuatu and areas within a lagoon or bay are owned by a village, family or individual. So you must always ask permission and, in many cases, a small entry fee is required. It is usually the village head that collects these fees from the visitors, these are the individuals included in the pictures. So at the end of our day we paid $15.00 US PP for an excellent 5 hour tour. I know in the math $72 plus $9 equals $81.00, we gave him a $9.00 tip ($1.50 PP) that Johnny was very happy with. Yes that is me swinging in the jungle into the Blue Hole - Fun. Also the pictures of Champagne Beach do not do it justice, this is one of the most incredible beaches we have visited, in the world. It is safe with powdery champagne coloured sand, crystal clear warm water, few people and all the facilities you need.
Fiji tomorrow - this incredible journey continues...
Quote of the day. I could not at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life. - Eleanor Roosevelt.
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