During WWII, the US had a military base in Luganville and were concerned about a Japanese invasion. Lacking the proper equipment to transport their artillery before the attack, the US decided to dump everything in the ocean rather than let the Japanese obtain it. All of this now makes up an artificial reef. Many new diverse corals have colonized the shallower region of the reef, and many bright red lace corals were found among the wreckage. Snappers, fusiliers and many other reef fish were seen in the area, as well.

The Vanuatu Office of Environment recently told us that the area has been infested with crown of thorns starfish (Acanthaster plancii)  but local dive operators currently are removing them from the reef. During our dives, we noticed that the local intervention drastically has helped to control the crown of thorns infestation on the reef. During our three dives, we noticed only four crown of thorns. 

Another relic from WWII is the USS President Coolidge, a luxury liner refitted as a troopship. The boat hit two "friendly" mines in the channel on October 26, 1942. Everyone escaped safely except for two people. The 205 meter long ship sat on the reef on the side of the channel for a little over an hour before completely sinking. Now it rests in between  20 meters and 60 meters and is a world-famous dive spot. Its claim to fame is that it is the biggest wreck dive within recreational diving limits. Current legislation requires all divers to dive with an experienced, licensed guide. A dive master from the Alan Power's Dive Shop lead us through the wreck.

On our first dive, he showed us around the exterior of the ship, the promenade deck and then through the fore cargo hold. Many gas masks, trucks and luggage littered the wreck. In the wreck, a resident giant moray eel, named Nessie, greeted us.

The second time we visited the wreck, we dove into the engine room. Inside here were massive engines. Then, we slithered into a tight room containing all the gauges and levers to operate the engines. After exiting, we swam through some tight areas and wound up in the dining saloon. In the dining saloon were scattered plates and light fixtures. Up on the wall was the statue of a lay and a horse, which is the emblem of the Coolidge. After visiting the dining saloon, we swam through more tight hallways and then exited through the fore cargo hold. Beneath the hold we saw a huge anchor and some gun turrets. During our decompression stops we could reflect upon what we had just seen.

The Reef Islands is an area of uninhabited atolls just North of the Banks Islands, a very remote part of the country. The bottom composition consisted of sand and hard substrate. Acropora and Porites were the most abundant coral colonies and were in good condition. However there was a lot of algal growth at 10m. All of the common reef fish were abundant and a huge ray and Hawksbill Turtle were also present.