15.35S, 167.08E – We headed out to another island, called Espiritu Santo, yesterday morning. It is located about 120 nautical miles northwest of Efate. Espiritu Santo is the largest island in all of Vanuatu and has a population of 33,000. During World War II the Americans set up a large military base in Luganville, with half a million troops and 100 boats.

During the ride up to Santo we were often protected by islands we were passing, so overall the ride was calm and smooth, though when we were out from under the protection of the islands it got a bit rough. Many moons ago, Christi had written a blog about how the food in the refrigerator jumps out and attacks you while at sea . Jaime had posted a comment saying what she had written was hilarious. His comment must have angered the refrigerator god, because as soon as we got to a rocky stretch Jaime opened the refrigerator and a pile of food fell on the floor in front of him. A bottle of teriyaki sauce broke, which he quickly cleaned up. Cruisers, wet/dry vacs are essential on board!

A few hours later Christi did an engine room check. Her heart stopped when she saw big brown spots all over the engine. Good God, the oil must have exploded. She quickly checked for the source of the explosion. Seeing nothing, she went upstairs and casually approached Eric “Hey, what are those huge brown spots all over the engine?”. Eric’s eyes almost popped out of his head and he bolted down the stairs. For the first thirty seconds he also thought it was oil. After touching it, he realized it wasn’t oil at all it was teriyaki sauce that had dripped through the floor. Phew.

The ride was pretty with the islands on the horizon. We saw a good sized pod of spinner dolphins, which was exciting, especially when they jumped for us. We must still be going against the current, because we continued to have slow speeds considering the RPM.

Santo became visible to the eye around noon. Much like Efate, it is very green, with low hills near the shoreline and higher mountains that look like they are set back in the center of the island. Directly across from the southwest corner of Santo is another small island, called Aore. Aore is pretty flat and green. The two islands create a relatively narrow channel. Here is Santo on the left, Aore on the right.

As we headed through the channel, we could see that Santo had lots of grassland, presumably for cattle farming. Santo is supposed to make the best beef in Vanuatu. The beef we have had so far has been outstanding it’s hard to believe it could get better. Aore is dotted with small homes along the waterfront, with big stretches of foliage in between. About three quarters of the way up the channel we picked up a mooring at Aore Resort, which we were told is the most comfortable anchorage in the area. Like most of the resorts we see, the waterfront was lined with tiny bungalows. Aore resort is directly across the water from downtown Luganville. From where we were moored we could see lots of structures, none that looked very big.

Instead of celebrating our arrival by eating out, Jaime made us a big meal onboard Kosmos. He made a beef stew, with plenty of leftovers to freeze for passage food. It was great.

We also made arrangements to do several dives. Tomorrow we are going to dive to see the USS President Coolidge. The Coolidge was a luxury liner that was commandeered by the American military and turned into a troop ship. She sunk in 1941. The Americans had planted mines in the bay near Luganville and had not told the captain of the Coolidge about the mines. He hit a mine at 18 knots and the entire enormous boat sank in only 30 minutes, thankfully, with only two lives lost. She is 200 meters long and 25 meters wide. She sits mostly intact on her port side, leaning against a reef. Her bow sits in 20 meters of water, and her stern is at 60 meters. Many artifacts lie where they were left, including shells, gas masks, and guns. The most famous is the “Painted Lady”, a sculpture that used to adorn the first class dining room. “The Lady” now lies in the center of the ship 36 meters down (130 feet).

On Wednesday we are going to see “Million Dollar Point”, the biggest military junkyard in the world. After WWII ended, the American Military threw everything they had brought into the water. They literally drove jeeps and tanks and trucks and right into the sea, along with tons of other equipment. We have heard two versions of why. The first version is that America asked the English/French if they wanted the stuff and they got no response so they just dumped it. The second is that America asked the English/French to buy the equipment at a seriously discounted rate and they said no, so America dumped it. Either way, millions and millions o f dollars of brand new equipment was deliberately ruined.