On to Espiritu Santo Island
Trip Start
Jun 06, 2006
1
70
79
Trip End
Aug 22, 2006
Luganville, Espiritu Santo,
Vanuatu
Sunday, August 13, 2006
We listened to a sermon that I had previously downloaded on my laptop, one my Richard Pinelli on financial principles from the Proverbs. Then we had a family discussion on how we would apply these principles individually and as a family. We prepared out luggage, and had a light lunch before heading to the airport.
We left disappointed that we had not been able to meet any of our subscribers or Church contacts on Efate, the whole reason why we had come
Twin Otter plane
. It wasn't the first time we had organized a public Bible lecture to which no subscribers had come, that happens from time to time, but this being our first try in Vanuatu, and it being rather remote, it was still a bit of a letdown. We hoped things would go better on our next stop.Our Air Vanuatu flight to Santo was on a Twin Otter, a light twin engine prop plane holding about 20 passengers; our flight was nearly full. There was no reserved seating, but as we were at the front of the line we were toward the front of the plane. I had my laptop case with me which I hadn't wanted to check, as well as my camera equipment in a shoulder bag. I assume that they would collect my laptop at planeside and put it in the hold since space would be tight inside. But no one did. So I wrestled both bags into the place, shoved the rolling laptop bag under the seat in front of me, and sat with my shoulder bag on my lap. After getting wedged in, I noticed that we were sitting in the emergency exit row. In the event of an emergency, I was supposed to push the small door open and go through. I joked to Marjolaine that wedged in as I was; our chances of getting out were not too good! The safety announcement was made: the copilot leaned his head through the open door and said "We're about to take off, try to fasten your seatbelts and keep them that way. Life jackets under your seat. In the event of an emergency, try to exit through the door you came in or through the two other exits in row two. Should be an hour to Santo." The repeated use of the word try gave me the impression he thought the seatbelts might not work and that we probably wouldn't make it out of the plane if there was an emergency, but there wasn't much we could do about it.
We left Efate under partly cloudy skies, with a little turbulence on the way up. The Twin Otter did not pressurize so we didn't fly to as high an altitude as a larger plane would have done, which meant we had beautiful views of the turquoise waters around the reefs, and of the thick jungle that still covers much of the interior of the island. Leaving Efate we flew over 150 km of ocean (about 100 miles) to the North West where we reached Malekula, Vanuatu's second largest island. As we flew over the thick jungle interior I remembered what I had read in the guidebook: Vanuatu's last known cannibal feast took place here in 1969(!) in the northern part of the island. The guidebook also reassured readers that almost everyone was Christian now, and human flesh now taboo. The book had also pointed out that along the inviting coastline of Malekula were a number of hot spots for shark attacks. I thought of this as we flew along the stunning coastline, dotted with patches of inviting sandy beach. Marjolaine also pondered this, since the next island was Espiritu Santo, and if we had time, we hoped to spend some time in the water there....
We landed flew on the North West and soon saw Espiritu Santo (most often just called Santo). This is the largest of Vanuatu's islands and was a major US military base during WW II. Over half a million men and women in uniform (including John F, Kennedy and James Michener) were stationed here before going off to fight elsewhere in the Pacific. There were several airstrips on the island some for fighters and some for bombers, and as many as 100 ships at a time were anchored off Luganville, the islands main town. As we flew in to land at Pekoa field which used to be bomber 2 field during the war, we flew over a corner of the island called million dollar point. At the end of WW II there was no longer any need for tons of military materiel in depots on Santo. There was also no need for it back in the US, so the Navy dumped thousands of tons of cranes, jeeps, trucks etc. into the shallow water off the point, thus its name. It is a favorite dive and snorkel site and we hope to see it if we have time.
We arrived under cloudy skies, that looked like they were threatening rain, but no rain came. We caught a mini-van into the small town of Luganville only a few km away and checked in at the Hotel Santo, where we had been able to get a family room. It was 18:30 and dark by the time we were checked and settled in, so it was time to have dinner.
I had a mental list of things to do on Santo if we had no contact with any of the people we had come to meet. This was a very unusual opportunity, and I wanted to make it as interesting and educational for our daughters as we could, consistent with the reason we had come. There were no messages waiting for me from any of our subscribers, so after dinner I made inquiries about seeing the President Coolidge the next day. If we wanted to make a scuba dive on that site, it would have to be Sunday, since we were to fly out Tuesday morning, and we needed to leave a full day between diving and flying to avoid possible decompression problems ("the bends" can result of one flies too soon after diving).
Dr. Hutton, the dentist in Vila had recommended Allan Power's dive center if we wanted to visit the President Coolidge, so I contacted a man from there and he informed me would could dive Sunday morning at 8:00. So I reserved four spaces.
The President Coolidge was a US luxury liner built in the 1930s. It was very large (654 feet, 200 meters long), and very fast; setting speed records between the US West Coast and Asia. During WW II it was converted to a troop ship, and instead of carrying 1000 passengers in luxury, it carried 5000 marines packed like sardines. In 1942 as it entered the waters off Luganville, due to a communications snafu, it hit two US mines which would sink her. Since the ship was still moving, the Captain ordered the ship run aground to try to avoid a tragedy by allowing as many troops to escape as possible. The ship beached high and most men were able to wade ashore.
Amazingly only two men were lost. One sailor working deep in the ship was apparently killed by a mine explosion. The other casualty was an army captain named Euart who had safely escaped the ship, but then learned that some of his men were still down in the vessel and were having trouble exiting, as the ship was increasingly listing to port. He went back aboard through a door in the side of the ship, and tied a rope to his waist to keep tension on it as the men under his charge climbed to safety. During all this, the Coolidge was settling by the stern as water poured in through the mine holes. Finally the stern was so heavy that it pulled the beached bow up in the air causing the whole ship to slide backwards toward deeper water. Three men stood on the side of the now sideways ship trying to help Captain Euart up. He would have needed to climb up the rope which was now vertical and by this time he was apparently too exhausted to do so. He went down with the Coolidge when she slipped backwards beneath the waves.
This great ship now lies on her side, her bow at about18 meters (60 feet) of water and her stern at 70 meters (200 feet). She is considered one of the greatest accessible wreck dives in the world.
I'm heading for bed now, thinking about what the dive may be like tomorrow!
