Esperito Santo, Vanuatu – Blue holes and clear waters…

Vanuatu has several islands which are promoted as ‘must see’ destinations for travelers to the island group. Esperito Santo is one such island so we decided to include it in our itinerary during our month stay in the country. Unfortunately, the state-run Air Vanuatu must be one of the most expensive airlines in the world, with a flight on an ATR 600 with 10kg check-in luggage costing a whopping US$ 150 one way. We decided to travel to Santo by boat instead for half that price and with no luggage restrictions, which proved to be quite an adventure to say the least.

Trying to find out information about ferries running from Port Vila on Efate to Santo provided to be more difficult than one may expect, mainly because we realized that very few foreign travellers use ferries in Vanuatu. When we enquired about ferry schedules at travel agencies or resorts people’s eyebrows immediately shot up. Our research showed that two companies ran ferries to Santo – Vanuatu Ferry which at least has an operating website and Facebook page, and Big Sista, which has neither. We eventually went in person to the Vanuatu Ferry office in Port Vila, and were told the ferry was in dry dock in Australia for hull repairs, but that the cargo ship could carry 350 passengers and departed on Monday nights at 8pm. The cost was 9000V per person one way. Other people told us that Big Sista was also in dry dock, and emails to both their email address, and to Vanuatu Tourism’s email address went unanswered. So we decided to go on the cargo ship.

As we had to check out from our accommodation on Hideaway Island at 11h00 on the Monday of departure, we decided to go into Port Vila and establish a ‘base camp’ at a restaurant where we could safely sit down with our luggage for the day, and have lunch and supper before heading to the wharf for boarding t 5.30pm. This proved to be a wise decision, as when I went out to the wharf during the day to check out the situation, I discovered that it was not actually a wharf, but rather a makeshift dock on the side of a very bad road, with no facilities whatsoever. I bought the tickets and went back to the restaurant for the rest of the day.

At 5pm we gathered our luggage, flagged down a taxi and set off to the ‘wharf’. I found some bricks that we could make a seat from and we sat and waited for boarding at the advertised time of 6pm. In reality we ended up boarding at 8pm, and departed almost two hours after that. The nightmare had begun….For 9000V we discovered that no seating exists for passengers at all. We ended up finding a spot on the upper deck, and Akhona slept on a lifevest storage box, while I slept on the bare floor, using my jacket as a pillow. Ants and cockroaches bit me at various times during my fitful attempts at sleep during the 27 hours at sea. Of course the toilets were stinky and had no toilet paper. Luckily we came prepared with our own toilet roll, as well as food for the journey – bread, chicken and boiled eggs:) Let’s just say it was a memorable trip for all the wrong reasons. To add insult to injury, we saw the faster Big Sista ferry pass us half way through the trip…Misinformation in Vanuatu was the norm we discovered.

We arrived in Luganville, Santo two hours late at around 9pm, and by the time we had reclaimed our bags it was closer to 10pm. We managed to arrange a taxi to take us to Hotel Santo, where we spent the first two nights. At US$79/night it did not provide good value for money. The included breakfast was the most meagre we experienced in Vanuatu. Our fellow guests at the hotel were a drunken, belching, spitting group of local men who we thought were workers being accommodated by their construction company, but when we complained about their rude behavior we were shocked to discover that they were actually the leader of the opposition party and other political officials!

Luganville has little to offer other than one well-stocked, modern supermarket and numerous poorly-stocked smaller Chinese-owned stores. We stocked up with meat and vegetables and moved to a self-catering cottage a few minutes drive outside of town, where we were able to cook tasty meals like Chicken coconut curry, Beef stew and steak and mash to our heart’s delight.

On our second day in the cottage we did a day trip along the west coast of the island to visit some of its most well known sights. Our first stop was at Port Orly, a beautiful long quite sand beach with a few little beach resorts scattered along its length. Five minutes after we arrived a herd of cows walked down the beach providing a great photo opportunity.

We then started to make our way back to Luganville, and our next stop was Champagne Beach, which I must say is the softest, whitest sand beach we have ever set foot on. I immediately got the drone out and did some aerial shots before getting Akhona to model for me in and out of the water, which was crystal clear and turquoise blue…

We also frolicked around in the water and took some pretty cool selfies with the GoPro on a very long stick…Sometimes it’s great just to be in the moment and enjoy a truly wonderful location, which Champagne beach definitely is. When I researched Champagne Beach on Trip Advisor several people complained about the 1000V entry fee per person…It is well worth it, believe me.

After a few hours we set off for Riri Blue Hole, just one of several blue holes to be found on Santo. Essentially these blue holes are really just swimming holes in a river located not far from the sea. What makes them exceptional is that they have white sand bottoms which reflect the blue turquoise water found in most of them. It really is quite startling when one first sees a blue hole…It just doesn’t look real 🙂

The drive along the coast of Santo was also cool because we saw endless plantations of coconut trees – more than we’ve ever seen anywhere before. We also stopped to buy some fruit from a roadside market. Who knew there were so many different varieties of bananas available in one region?

The next day we arranged to visit Dany Island,a small deserted island owned by an Australian with the name of Dany 🙂 We were collected bright and early by our driver and taken to a small beach where the boatman who is currently the only person who stays on the island met us, and took us across to the island in a tiny boat. The island proved to be beautiful, with natural white beach and some of the best coral we have ever seen…

I got our little Dji Spark up in the air as soon as possible as the weather looked uncertain to capture some great aerial shots of the lovely little white beach, clear water and extensive reef which almost surrounds the entire island.

Then we took a snorkel out onto the reef…Even though the water was not as clear as it usually is because of recent bad weather, we still saw some amazing coral, and large numbers of fish. It was one of the highlights of our visit to Santo.

We headed back to Luganville at around 3pm after I did a quick photoshoot with Akhona using the island as a great location. It was really a great experience spending time virtually alone on a naturally beautiful South Pacific island.

While in Luganville we managed to teach down the ticket office which sold tickets for Big Sista ferry, and even though we were once again given misinformation about its departure time, we managed to secure two tickets for our trip back to Port Vila, and upgrade to the air-conditioned ‘VIP’ level where we found ourselves a cushioned booth to sleep in. The 20hr trip was a lot more bearable that the cargo ship adventure, but still quite grueling as the boat rocked dramatically most of the time. Thanks heavens for anti-nausea tablets 🙂 Unfortunately the ferry was quite dirty, and the toilets must not have been cleaned for weeks…Stinky…It was another tiring 20 hr trip, but at least we didn’t have to sleep on the floor 🙂

Once we arrived back in Port Vila we excitedly set about finalizing our plans to fly to Tanna for the real purpose of our trip to Vanuatu…The visit to Mt Yasur, the world’s most accessible active volcano…