The capital of Vanuatu, Port Vila, provided the excitement of a bustling, though not overwhelming, city. Centered around an almost perpetually busy produce and handicraft market, the city offered diversions such as kava bars, multicultural events at the University of the South Pacific, Emalus Campus, a cultural museum, nightclubs, touristy shops, and a French café with tasty croissants and other goodies. A few miles away from our anchorage, we enjoyed beautiful diving in the marine protected area off of Hideaway Island, while every evening stunning sunsets appeared across the bay.

While in Port Vila we met with three representatives from the Vanuatu Environmental Unit and two members of the Peace Corps who coordinate the Vanuatu Coral Reef Monitoring Network and Reef Check in this country. After an introduction in which we talked about the expedition and explained our study methodology, they expressed enthusiasm over our study plans for Vanuatu, hopeful that our results could contribute to a database of information on marine resources countrywide they were trying to establish. They suggested additional areas for us to observe and assess and provided us with contacts to further assist our efforts.

meeting with the Environmental Unit aboard the RVH

Leaving Efate, we stopped briefly at Eretoka Island, just off the mainland. This island, also known as “Hat” Island due to its hat-shaped appearance from afar, is culturally significant as the burial site of Chief Roy Mata, an historically important chief. The island retains spiritual significance today and is up for review as a World Heritage Site.

We completed a number of observational dives around the island, exploring the interesting volcanic topography and reef ecosystem. Find our observations here.

Continuing our journey north we spent a few days in the quiet anchorage at Lamen Bay, Epi Island. Lured by reports of a friendly resident dugong, we were delighted to observe not only the dugong but a great number of hawksbill and green turtles, as well, sighted almost hourly around the ship. The beaches surrounding the bay gave gorgeous evening views of the sunset. We made a few dive and snorkel excursions to the reefs in the area but were disappointed to find little coral and fish life.

sailing, Vanuatu style

In the Maskelyne Islands a group of islands off the southeast coast of the Malakula mainland, we anchored off Sakao Island, adjacent to a quiet beach inhabited by a few families. The island, now mainly used as farmland for communities on the surrounding islands, was the site of an old European-owned coconut plantation before Vanuatu achieved independence in 1980. Throughout this area we enjoyed exploring small bays tucked in amongst mangrove-skirted islands, often spotting dugongs surfacing. Outrigger canoes fitted with sails were a common sight around all the islands, unlike any place we had been previously.

Our main purpose while in the Maskelynes was to complete a science study, which we conducted on portions of the Sughulamp Barrier Reef and fringing reef of Sakao Island. For full results of the study, click here.

During our three weeks at this anchorage we became fairly well acquainted with the people from the surrounding villages, enjoying our time spent onshore. We shared kava with the local chiefs and people at a welcoming ceremony during which we were given permission to conduct the study; we watched a traditional men’s dance, complete with nambas (penis sheaths); we attended two weddings, lively and colorful, each time celebrating the marriage of two couples; we toured a giant clam farm and marine reserve area, established in 1991 by a local family; we exchanged weaving techniques with local women, learning their traditional way of weaving pandanus mats and teaching them to weave coconut palm fans in the style we picked up in Tokelau a year earlier; and we shared meals, time, and created friendships with many people of these islands.

The local enthusiasm and concern we encountered for the protection of marine resources was striking—a Reef Check program had been established earlier in the year, chaired by Setla, of the family responsible for establishing the clam farm. Two Peace Corps volunteers, Rob and Glenis, had been involved in bringing this program to this area and continued to provide the villages with support and training. Local chiefs of the islands had established a number of protected and tabu areas to regulate fishing. We were able to support their efforts by setting a mooring off Sakao Island, near our anchorage, and by locating and recovering an anchor lost by a ship whose owners offered to buy the anchor back from the local villages if recovered, with the stipulation that the money go towards the newly-established Reef Check program.

When the time came, we enjoyed one last afternoon of kava and food with the local villages before waving goodbye to these islands.

In Luganville we enjoyed the opportunities afforded by a bustling town, including Chinese shops, Internet cafes, kava bars and restaurants. Contrasting the commercial side of town was a large, grassy park with sports playing fields, a covered community stage broadcasting music over loudspeakers, and individual stalls offering delicious and cheap meals. We stocked up on fresh food at the local produce market, offering the same variety of produce as elsewhere in the country.

Onboard we took the opportunity to complete some ferro-cement patching work on the deck. After a day and a half of chipping, grinding and cementing we had repaired many of the small cracks that accumulate with normal wear on the deck.

As in many of our destinations, one of our main objectives while in Luganville was to dive, dive, dive. The area boasts two world-class dive sites including Million Dollar Point and the SS President Coolidge, both consisting of wreckage left over from World War II. Million Dollar Point, so named for the millions of dollars worth of trucks, tanks, ships, and other equipment dumped at this point by the US military during the war, provided a fascinating yet sobering underwater junkyard of tangled metal and rubber remains reminiscent of an earlier era. The Environmental Unit had asked us to comment on the number of Crown of Thorns starfish and the damage they were causing to the reef in this area, but we were glad to find very few of these coral predators and their effects minimal. Near to Million Dollar Point we dove on the wreck of the SS President Coolidge, an American luxury liner built in1920 and outfitted for military use during World War II. Here we explored the promenade, cargo holds, engine room, and salon, deep inside the hull. Gas masks, hard hats, handguns, jeeps, upturned toilets, medicine bottles, the brilliant “Lady” sculpture, and other debris silently provoked imaginations of the past as we navigated our way by torchlight. All too soon, the time came to seek the eerie blue glow of the outside world, creeping in through windows and openings, calling us back to the present.

the Coolidge Lady

After loading some fresh food and supplies, we were ready to leave Luganville and head to Uri Island, Malakula.

During our time at Uri Island, the Heraclitus welcomed on board returning friends, Kevin Driscoll and his son Conor, along with five other young students from California plus Neil and Carol, parents of two of the group. Their main objectives were to learn to dive, to understand the scientific mission of the Planetary Coral Reef Foundation and to experience how the crew of the Heraclitus gather valuable data during the course of our reef studies.

the group learns to dive first...

...then begins to get to grips with coral identification

During this time we also completed a science study of the Uri fringing reefs. Click here for the results of this study.

village on Uri

Once more we found ourselves in Luganville, this time to prepare the ship and ourselves for the coming voyage to the Solomon Islands. The day before we left we docked to take on fuel and food, but not before a round of lasts—last dives on the Coolidge wreck, last emails and phone calls home, last look around town and shops—until we reached the Solomons.

RVH at Ureparapara Island

As one of our last stops in Vanuatu, we anchored inside the crater of Ureparapara Island, a partially submerged volcano open on one side to the ocean. Smiling, curious faces greeted us in outrigger canoes, the people later inviting us to explore their village and land. From the bay a jungle hush seemed to emanate from the green, towering walls of the crater, creating a peaceful atmosphere reminiscent of Tanna. We had come full circle in our tour of this country.

A short trip brought us to the island of Vanua Lava, where we completed our official clearance out of the country. From there we headed north, making a brief stop at the nearby Reef Island, a coral atoll, for one last afternoon of diving before the voyage.

the island of Vanua Lava