Adventure Magazine Issue 220
Issue 220: June/July Winter 2020
Issue 220: June/July
Winter 2020
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Tranquility Island Reef Dive<br />
Banner fish and butterfly fish at Twin Bommies, Efate<br />
Diving Efate Hideaway Island Bonzer Wreck<br />
SS President Coolidge, Santo<br />
Big Blue Cathedral Cavern, Efate<br />
Million Dollar Point, Santo<br />
Located off the southern end of Santo,<br />
just 6 kilometres from Luganville, is<br />
Million Dollar Point. After World War II,<br />
this was a dumping site for thousands<br />
of tonnes of US Navy equipment, said<br />
to collectively be worth a million dollars.<br />
Trucks, forklifts and bulldozers are all<br />
slowly being covered by the corals. Pacific<br />
Dive can provide you with equipment hire<br />
and all the information you need to dive<br />
both Million Dollar Point and the nearby<br />
shipwreck of SS President Coolidge.<br />
SS President Coolidge, Santo<br />
The wreck of the SS President Coolidge is<br />
one of the world’s most talked-about dive<br />
sites. The Coolidge is a former US Naval<br />
vessel sunk by mines in 1942. With the<br />
hull almost completely intact, divers often<br />
spend multiple days at this site traversing<br />
the plethora of corridors, decks, guns and<br />
discarded relics that litter this 200-metre<br />
long troop carrier. Don’t miss 'The Lady'<br />
(a beautiful statue of a woman riding a<br />
unicorn) which can be found in the main<br />
dining room, the highlight of the dive for<br />
many visitors.<br />
Cindy’s Reef, Santo<br />
A dive not to be missed, there is a huge<br />
variety of corals to be found here, from<br />
staghorn corals to large plate corals and<br />
even ‘potato head’ coral, which has only<br />
been identified in Vanuatu. A relatively<br />
simple dive that’s great for beginners,<br />
Cindy’s Reef is also home to an<br />
abundance of marine life, with a myriad of<br />
tropical fish as well as turtles and sharks.<br />
Tutuba Point, Santo<br />
This reef is found off the northern end of<br />
Tutuba Island, just a short boat ride from<br />
Santo. Depth starts around 6 metres and<br />
descends the wall to a maximum of 30<br />
metres, with visibility at this site often<br />
outstanding. As well as spotting an array<br />
of crayfish, divers at Tutuba Point also<br />
have the opportunity to explore plenty of<br />
underwater caves and chasms. Both Aore<br />
<strong>Adventure</strong> Sports and Santo Island Dive<br />
and Fishing provide regular dive trips to<br />
the sites off Tutuba Island, including both<br />
Tutuba Point and Cindy’s Reef.<br />
Blue Hole One + Blue Hole Two, Tanna<br />
The volcanic island of Tanna offers a<br />
dramatic underwater landscape with blue<br />
water caves, swim-throughs and reef<br />
walls. Opened in 2015, Volcano Island<br />
Divers provides access to the dive sites<br />
located off the island. Blue Hole One<br />
consists of four connected sinkholes.<br />
Access between them and (and to the<br />
outer reef) is via swim-throughs and<br />
tunnels, providing an exhilarating dive.<br />
If you’ve got time, Blue Hole Two is also<br />
worth a visit. At low tide, this dive site<br />
is accessible from shore with another<br />
array of interconnected tunnels as well as<br />
intricate caverns and grottos to explore.<br />
Throughout your dives in Tanna, keep<br />
your eyes peeled for turtles, moray eels,<br />
reef sharks, blue-spotted ray and even the<br />
elusive dugong.<br />
Tasman, Efate<br />
Shipwrecks are one thing, but how about<br />
the opportunity to dive a plane wreck?<br />
The Tasman offers just that. This is a deep<br />
dive, down to 40 metres, and visibility is<br />
often not the greatest, so the Tasman is<br />
best tackled by experienced divers. For<br />
those willing to take it on, the wreckage<br />
of the ill-fated Qantas S26 Sandringham<br />
Flying Boat (which hit the reef on takeoff<br />
in 1951) is mostly intact, and divers can<br />
climb through the cockpit, making this dive<br />
one for the bucket list.<br />
Hideaway Island, Efate<br />
Hideaway Island is a marine sanctuary in<br />
Mele Bay, just 30 minutes from Port Vila.<br />
With a certified PADI dive resort situated<br />
on the island, this is definitely a beginnerfriendly<br />
dive, with training courses also<br />
available through Hideaway Island Dive.<br />
Calm waters provide crystal clear visibility<br />
and a great variety of brightly coloured<br />
corals are on show here surrounded by<br />
prolific marine life.<br />
Ollies Lolly, Efate<br />
Not far from Hideaway Island and just<br />
beyond Blacksands Reef is Ollies Lolly.<br />
This large reef is only nine metres down<br />
and houses an abundance of soft corals<br />
as well as huge red anemone with playful<br />
clownfish darting in and out of them.<br />
This dive boasts excellent clarity, and its<br />
shallow depth and vivid colours make<br />
Ollies Lolly a paradise for photographers.<br />
Twin Bommies, Efate<br />
This popular dive site about 15 minutes<br />
from downtown Port Vila consists of two<br />
large coral ‘bombora’ as well as a steep<br />
wall peppered with brightly coloured<br />
coral formations. There’s a huge variety<br />
of fish here to keep you company as<br />
you explore, including butterflyfish,<br />
lionfish, leaf scorpionfish and colourful<br />
nudibranchs. Dive trips to both Twin<br />
Bombies and the Tasman seaplane wreck,<br />
as well as many of the other dive sites off<br />
Efate, can be arranged through Big Blue.<br />
MV Semle Federsen, Efate<br />
This cargo trading vessel was sunk off the<br />
Pango Coast and now forms an artificial<br />
reef located not far from Port Vila. This is<br />
another deep dive at between 40 and 60<br />
metres but offers spectacular visibility the<br />
whole way. If getting a spectacular view<br />
of the whole ship as you descend isn’t<br />
exciting enough, making your way through<br />
the cabins and stern of the wreck certainly<br />
will be.<br />
The Cathedral, Efate<br />
Located just off the Pango Peninsula, to<br />
the south of Port Vila, The Cathedral reef<br />
is a must for avid divers while in Vanuatu.<br />
This dive site offers a vast cavern filled<br />
with shafts of light, from which it gets<br />
its name, and the effects created are<br />
truly fascinating. As well as marvelling<br />
at the optical effects, divers also get the<br />
opportunity to explore a ‘chimney’, which<br />
extends up to a large pool on the surface<br />
inside the reef.<br />
Mele Reef, Efate<br />
Off the coast of Mele Bay sits a sizeable<br />
reef that offers divers a vast range of<br />
corals and marine life to explore. The<br />
main reef rises to around 6 metres below<br />
the surface and a dive here is ideal for<br />
beginners. The bay that surrounds Mele<br />
Reef is also home to two major wrecks,<br />
both worth exploring while in Vanuatu,<br />
the MV Konanda and the Star of Russia,<br />
with Nautilus Watersports coordinating<br />
dive trips to both. The MV Konanda was<br />
purposely sunk, creating a safe diving<br />
experience that’s ideal for those new to<br />
wreck diving. Exploring the cabins and<br />
holes and bridge areas makes for a fun<br />
dive. For the more experienced wreck<br />
divers, the 90-metre long sailing ship Star<br />
of Russia sits 30-metres down in Mele<br />
Bay. This grand vessel was crafted by the<br />
same builders as the Titanic and it is now<br />
home to schools of tropical fish.<br />
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