2005 Vanuatu - Bokisa Island

We finally got our tickets the night before leaving and made reservations on the airport bus from Mornington to Melbourne’s Airport. The Melbourne area was having snow flurries which is so rare it made international news. We were at the bus stop 50 minutes early and took the opportunity to take a break and stop into Gloria Jean’s for a snack and coffee. Two and one half hours later we were at the airport. Just as we are to leave Melbourne for the short flight to Sydney we taxi back to the gate with a problem, but it all worked out. Two hours later we are in Sydney, and checked into Vanuatu Air. The trip to Vanuatu is about 4 hours from Sydney and the flight was quite pleasant (for flying). First they offer us drinks and I got a rum and coke and had to stop the lady from pouring half the bottle of rum into my glass.  A few minutes later dinner is being served and the whole plane is feeling pretty happy being served drinks, dinner and headed for “the untouched paradise”. And dinner. They offered steak or chicken and I’m thinking to myself. Hmmm! Mystery meat or mystery meat, which do I choose. I think I’ll take mystery meat number 1. There was no mystery at all, it was a nice steak and veggies with desert and bread, and it was GOOD. How often can you say that about airline food?! And even though my rum and coke was 90% rum, I had not had THAT much. It was good food, not something that the dog would bury in the back yard under the maple tree.

Anyway, we got to Port Villa, the international hub, popped thru immigration and customs without a hitch and were soon in the hotel room. We got 3 1/2 hours of sleep before security woke us up and told us the bus was there to take us to the airport for our flight to the bigger island of Santo – this was 5:30 AM. We were dragging, but excited. Had to pay a $2 departure tax from Port Villa in Vatu, the Vanuatu currency. So I was the bank exchanging money before the flight.

On the flight to Santo looking out the window at the volcanic mountains rising out of the ocean it was like stepping back in time. We could see the ocean below and barrier reefs, white beaches, shades of blue water and the miles and miles of jungles covering the islands. Almost felt like we were in some adventure story, going to some island not yet seen by humans, in search of King Kong. But then 20 minutes later we were landing and soon getting on a small speed boat over to Bokisa island where we were staying. After the boat ride we were greeted with tropical drinks, lays of flowers, and were settling into our Fare for the week. I think we got the best 'hut' in the place, somehow by luck and it didn’t take long for us to slow to pace of “island time”.

Before we could really relax, however, we headed to the dive shop and arranged to rent wet suits, and scuba equipment. We of course had to present our cert cards and were told the boat left the dock at 9:30 am and our first dive would be on the USS President Coolidge, a absolutely MASSIVE boat that hit a mine in World War II and sunk right off shore of one of the nearby islands.

Then it was time to hit the beach, flop in the hammocks, watch the tropical birds, swim in the pool and wait for dinner. Dinner is announced by one of the staff taking a wooded “stick” and beating a Tam Tam – and kind of hollow totem pole. It’s quite loud and everyone heads for the dining area pretty quick. The food was very nice. Typical of the islands, the sun sets early and the stars were shining bright. We headed out for a stroll on the beach, looked at the Milky Way and then headed to bed. After only 3 hours of sleep the night before, we were ready for bed.

We had a great location with our Fare on Bokisa Island, and apparently some of the native birds thought it was a top spot too. They were sure to be in the huge trees around our Fare every morning at 6:00 AM to noisily welcome the day. We nicknamed one of the birds the “Gomer Pile” bird. Every morning that feathered little pest would come over and sit in the tree and squawk “Surprise, Surprise, surprise” 32 times in a row, before taking a breath to start it all over again.

So, on day one, after getting up to the sound of “Surprise” and the sound of the surf we made it to breakfast, collected our dive gear and were out to the boat. Our dive master was Harris and his plan was to take us to the USS President Coolidge. The Coolidge is one of the world’s largest wreck dives and it sits in 65 feet of water down to 242 feet. It is 656 feet long and 82 feet wide. Our dive plan was to dive to 80 to 100 feet and cruise along the deck of the boat and look at artifacts from WW II still remaining on the boat. The Coolidge was originally a cruise ship but was converted to a war vessel because of World War Two. It struck a mine and sank in Vanuatu. Although the loose of life was minimal (almost none), the ship went down with all it’s equipment onboard. So there are still shells, guns, rifles, gas masks, helmets, jeeps, tanks, etc. to be seen. Harris led our dive which went smooth. Near the end of our dive we were doing safety stops in 30 and 15 feet of water. Harris pulled a small bag of bread from out of his pocket and was immediately enveloped by what seemed like a million fish. It was an impressive site. Harris turned out to be our favorite person on the whole island. He was friendly, professional, and just an all around nice person…and a skilled diver. Later in the week he confessed to have been working in the area for over 20 years and had over 6000 logged dives on the Coolidge.

After lunch we did a 2nd dive on the reef just a few hundred meters from the resort and it was spectacular. Neither of us had every seen such massive formations of hard corals that stretched out as far as the eye could see in all directions. It was almost like looking at fields of wheat stretching out across the plains. Stag horn corals everywhere….just acres after acre of it.

After lunch we hit the trail around the island. It was getting dark so we did not want to try to walk the whole thing, but we went down the trail 15 minutes to get an idea of how it would be for when we did go the whole way. It was a true jungle. Not as rugged was what we encountered in Fiji, but still a jungle. Odd plants, odd sounds, think foliage, the ocean constantly on the left hand side for a guide. We saw a couple spiders that were big enough to have for dinner (all non poisoness – but still), and some 3 inch hermit crabs that were quite shy. At dinner one of the boys (all the male staff were called “the boys”) brought out a large telescope and we looked at the moon. Munched the fresh fish and told outlandish “fish stories” about diving. There were 2 other couples from the US at the resort, several couples from various parts of Australia, and a couple from New Zealand. It was fun to sit at the table and exchange stories about ourselves and learn about the other people. All in all, a superb first day in Vanuatu.

We made some new friends today. A lady from Perth, Carole, came in and went out with us on our first dive which was back on the Coolidge. Today we went to the Cargo hold and looked at the Jeeps and other equipment still stacked up in the ship’s holds. Was a huge moray eel hanging out of one of the port holes as we were ascending up to the shallow water for our safety stops.

Our 2nd dive of the day was on a different wreck for the first half. The 2nd half of the dive was in about 25 feet of water cruising around on a reef. Saw some interesting blue spotted sting rays, a huge starfish and such. A group of 16 Australian’s came in from Sydney and the resort got quite a bit livelier. Fourteen guys and two women. One of the fellows nicknamed Frenchy was really friendly and funny and he shared a lot of his pictures with us. All the underwater pictures here are from Frenchy.

Back to the Coolidge for more wreck diving. We went to the deck of the ship at 80 feet and the goal was to see “The Lady”, a porcelain picture of a woman near the Captains quarters, inside the wreck. Everything was still within the limits of our training and we would have easy access to escape routes and the surface. While waiting to enter the wreck another group of three divers suddenly popped out the 'hole' in front of us. One had wild blond hair held together in dreadlocks and looked like some kind of wild, underwater, medusa. After that, the area was clear and Harris guided us to the lady. Every one gave the ok, and we started our ascent. The depth gauge read 131 feet. A few moments later we were on the deck of the boat, still with 1600 psi in the tank and we made our ascent up to the safety stops. Even though I never really got close to Decompressin Limits, we still spend 10 minutes at the 15 foot stop…gave me time to play with the fish. If I stuck my hand out dozens and dozens of little blue fish would come out and give me a manicure.

Our 2nd dive was a drift dive on one of the reefs. Interesting creatures including a cuttlefish and a blue spotted ray. The water was getting more flat each day and today it was almost perfectly flat. It’s nice when the boat rides are smooth.

Did a 3rd dive at night. The most interesting thing we saw was what appeared to be a nudibranch, which are usually about 1 to 2 inches in length. This one was about 1 1/2 feet long and about 8 inches wide, and bright, crimson red – a Spanish Dancer I’m told. The dive master who had been diving the reefs for 30 years told us he had never seen one like that before. We certainly had not.

The next few days were spent diving various places around the island and on the Coolidge. The last day we did a short shallow dive at Million Dollar Point. It was one of the most boring dives I’ve ever done. After that, we turned in our gear and headed down to the boat for the afternoons activities.

Five of us headed up to a neighboring island, and went partway up a fresh water stream and anchored the boat. Then we all got into ocean Kayak and paddled up the river to the source of the fresh water…an underground spring called a blue hole. We snorkeled in the blue hole a while, rested, then paddled back to the boat. About 1/2 back to the boat in a very wide section of the river, I noticed the bed of the river was covered by sand dollars, just thousands and thousands of them. By the time we got to the boat we were kind of tired as the tide had changed and we had ended up rowing against the current both ways. At the boat we had lunch which actually was lousy. Then we headed out to a snorkel area in the ocean near some beautiful beaches. The coral reefs at this place were completely destroyed and not pretty at all. The boat crew said they had been in perfect condition 6 months earlier, but the Crown of Thorns starfish had moved in and destroyed the reefs completely. Wow. I had no idea how destructive the crown of thorns was.

After that trip we got back to the room, relaxed a few minutes and then it was off to walk on the beach, have dinner, etc. The next morning we said goodbye to our new scuba diving friends, Frenchy gave us the DVD of pictures and we boarded the boat to leave. At every stop we zipped thru the lines in just seconds, even customs and immigration was quick and painless. The last stop was home, and we exited Melbourne to a queue of 100 people waiting for cabs and a LONG line of cabs coming to get people to take them places. Wow. It was organized like Space Mountain at Disney World. And 5 minutes later we were on our way home. The only thing I did not hear was “Please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times”…. Los Angeles could sure learn a few things from Melbourne’s International Airport.