NORDLYS - Diving on the Coolidge and further north to the Banks

Diving on the Coolidge and further north to the Banks

NORDLYS

David and Annette Ridout

Thu 6 Oct 2005 01:08

USS Coolidge Diving and further north to the Banks Group

Parapara Island

2nd October 2005

The last few weeks have been packed with contrast. The four of us, that is Annette, myself and Diana and Michael Hobson sailed over to Luganville for the last few days of their visit. Here we enjoyed a really top class meal ashore as well as diving/snorkelling on Million Dollar Point. This was one of those rare occasions when both the snorkelling contingent and the divers enjoyed themselves equally.

At the end of the war in the Pacific the Americans found themselves with huge quantities of earth moving equipment and jeeps, lorries etc that it was apparently not economic to ship back to the States. The island of Santo, which has Luganville as its capital and only town of any size,

had been the centre of American operations. The huge natural harbour had held over one hundred ships at anchor. Five airstrips and rows of Quonset huts housing everything from munitions to machine shops and thousands of troops dotted the shoreline. The Americans offered the equipment to the local colonial power which in this part of what was then The New Hebrides was the French. The bargaining came to a grinding halt and rightly or wrongly the Americans raised the proverbial finger and simply dumped over a million dollars worth of plant in the sea. It fell down a steep underwater bank and now lies at depths of between 5 and thirty five meters. An excellent dive/snorkel site.

In 1942 the USS Coolidge a huge liner of 645 feet length was steaming towards Luganville with over five thousand troops and much wartime cargo on board. There was a 'misunderstanding' between her Captain and the local Naval authorities and she sailed through an American laid mine field. Sinking, the Captain ran her ashore and miraculously nearly six thousand people got off her in just 90 minutes with the loss of only two lives. She then slid down the same bank that I mentioned in the previous paragraph and now lies on her side with the bows in 20 meters and the stern in 70. Much later the Captain was exonerated at his trial. Tragic lack of communication between Navy and the Merchant service caused this scandalous loss of such a fine ship. All has not been lost however as she makes one of the worlds finest wreck dive sites and this attraction is what keeps Luganville in reasonable financial viability. I did four dives on her with Allan Power Diving. A very professional outfit that was started by Allan over twenty five years ago. She is now, due to his efforts, a national monument and all diving on her is controlled. I visited the engine room with it four huge telegraphs, saw 'the lady' in the main salon. A bas relief which is probably the most famous dive on the ship and also swam around the dining room with its crockery and chandeliers. The cargo holds were full of munitions and jeeps plus several howitzers. One sight I will never forget was bottles of medicine in the surgery with air still in them and many dry powders. Going into such a vessel in darkness and up to fifty meters depth took a little getting used to but once the anxiety was mastered the whole experience was one I will always treasure.

Leaving resort life behind us we headed north with David and Kate Wagstaff now on board. It is at this stage that my fingers freeze at the task of describing the next few days. We were to experience three different anchorages and three communities in what are Vanuatu's most out of the way islands. This experience was quite simply delightful but emotionally draining due to the charm and dignity of the people we met as much as the beauty of the surroundings. Climbing through jungle, attending a ceremony where the whole community sang three verses of welcome to the tune of God Save The Queen, snorkelling reefs and entertaining lots of people who canoed out to us was the pattern for these days. Quite simply these people have almost nothing and are ignored by the Vanuatan authorities. Their only means of communication is the copra boat and none had been to them for nine months. Health problems were a constant worry for them. One yachtie nurse saw over eighty people at an impromptu clinic and managed to save the life of a young diabetic girl who luckily for her gave birth during the nurse's visit. We gave away a lot more than we intended or to be more accurate 'traded' away a lot. One local mother produced a heap of rust she said was here only light and could I mend it as the oil leaked out. Having a spare we gave it to her but she insisted we have almost all her garden. Face was saved when Annette accepted three tomatoes. Nordlys ceased to be a Registered Condom Carrier (see previous episode) and reverted to membership of the Royal Cruising Club when we gave our huge box of said items to Sally the nurse mentioned above. She said she was always being asked for them.

Ureparapara was our northern limit. This island is the top of a volcano that has had one bit of its rim blown out to give a large nearly circular harbour over which the crater walls, now clad in jungle, tower up to eight hundred meters. David and I climbed some five hundred meters up a jungle track to the rim for a most spectacular view. In the heat of the day and with no breeze penetrating the jungle I felt like an overheating car being pushed too fast down a motorway. My temperature gauge was definitely in the red sector but before the system blew we gained the ridge with its view and breeze.

This is a very inadequate description of what for all of us has been a time of mixed emotions. These have ranged from anger at the corrupt non caring authorities to wonder at the kindness and dignity of the people we met to sheer amazement at how much of a success many of the communities were making of their lot. A hard couple of days sailing to windward in twenty plus knots had shown Kate that not all sailing is enjoyable and brought us back to Luganville for three days of organisation and preparation for the eleven hundred odd miles to Australia. We have heard on the radio that the turtles are laying their eggs on Chesterfield reef so hopefully we will manage a couple of days a this uninhabited bit of land to the west of New Caledonia.