Lat: 15:32.3 S: Long: 167:10.7 E - 16th July, 2013 - Aor e Island Resort & Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu
Lat: 15:32.3 S: Long: 167:10.7 E 16th July, 2013 – Aore Island Resort & Luganville,
Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu We then spent a few days in Efate not doing too much before we
moved on to Luganville on Espiritu Santo, which was a major WW2 supply and
staging base for the retaking of the Solomon Islands from the Japanese.
Towards the end of the war the Americans built a pier and drove
millions of dollars’ worth of equipment into the sea rather than leave it
behind, when the British and French refused to buy it. “Million Dollar Point” is
now a scuba diver’s paradise, one which Alan, Will and Roger were keen to
explore. They saw dozens of jeeps, bulldozers, cranes, motor-bikes and a whole
arsenal of explosives, just sitting on the ocean
floor. A second dive took them into the Segond Channel, right along the
shoreline, where they explored the sunken remains of the converted liner USS
President Coolidge, which hit one of its own mines coming in loaded up as a
troop ship. Provisioning for the five-day sail to Mackay, Queensland,
Australia, was much easier than expected as there were several decent
supermarkets and a huge daily fruit and vegetables
market. |