Aore Island to Luganville, Santo, Vanuatu.

MiriamSean

Miriam

Miriam

            Aore Island to Luganville, Santo. By chance we found ourselves staying on Aore Island and had met someone who had done the crossing which was one of the ‘Pacific Island swims’. He was keen to help us but didn’t want to do it. Mim and Will were in good shape but Will had caught a bug so Mim and I planned to do Aore to Santo accompanied by 3 kayaks when the tide was slack. In fact the tide was quite strong (timing a bit out but it was getting dark) and dragged us away from the landing site at Unity Park. We hadn’t bargained on jellyfish but they found us. We got to the other side in 1hr 7m and 1hr 30m which was fantastic. We paddled back in the fading light for drinks on the veranda of our chalet.

Oyster Island to Turtle Bay, Santo, Vanuatu.

Will sets off.

          Oyster Island to Turtle Bay. It was our last day but we had time to go to a reef with kayaks and an anchor and on the way back meet-up with Harold the pirate. He tied our kayaks to the dinghy which Will took control of while Mim, Harold and I did the 1.7km swim back to Turtle Bay. It was a sea water lagoon with cooler fresh water springing up at frequent places (very near the Blue Hole). While swimming I wondered if this was perhaps the most perfect open water swimming imaginable. When we got out we had an outside shower before jumping in a taxi to the airport.

Boarding the Pirate ship.

This was the end and you can just see the Pirate boat, Cassiopea at the far background.

Blue Hole, Matevula River, Oyster Island, Santo, Vanuatu

Port Olry to Elephant Island, Vanuatu

           Next swim was Port Olry to Elephant Island. It had been quite windy but today we hired a car and went to the north of the island to find this dream like beach. At first sight it looked an easy swim across to Elephant Island. The 3 of us set off, Will choosing a different point to start and me swimming holding the camera. After 10 mins hard swimming we were making little progress and I realized we had a challenge on our hands as the tide was coming in. Halfway across I found a shallow reef to stand on and was going to call a return but I could see Will already over halfway there, so we had to go on. Choppy water and currents can be daunting but when the water is 27oC it doesn’t seem too bad. We searched the island for the rare ‘coconut crab’ but only found a large shell. We had a more relaxed return swim- but had spent nearly an hour swimming.

Vanuatu Swims. July 2012

Vanuatu Swims. We started at Port Vila and then flew to Santo via Ambryn Island (volcano).

We hoped that Vanuatu would provide opportunity for snorkelling and diving but the swimming was glorious.

1. Iririki Island Resort. On our first morning after the flight Will and were up early and swam across to Port Vila and back from our hotel on Iririki. It was only about 25 mins return but we had to smile at the warm, clear water which gave us a great appetite for the pancake breakfast while looking across the bay.

2. Oyster Island. After a volcano trek and no swimming (just one jump) Miriam met us off the plane in Santo and took us to Oyster Island for lunch. We had to ring a bell for the short ferry crossing and while we were waiting someone from the island swam across to meet us. This meant one thing; we put our bags on the ferry and swam across. Delightful. We had lunch and then set off with kayaks to find the Blue Hole. This was an 18m deep fresh water spring with unbelievable jumps and swings. I had a dive and left Miriam and William to ponder the 16m jump while I was joined by a Cambridge med student to try the 2.5 mile swim (with some help from the current) back to Oyster Island. Apart from a pause for a large coral snake we did it in 1hr 5mins. Meanwhile M and W made the jump!- all on video.