[password] zmu3791nzl9424
[position] 16 28.965S 167 26.934E
[status] Espiritu Santo has been our cruising ground for almost 3 weeks now. We have really enjoyed the things on offer to do here. We went half way up the east coast up as far as a place called Port Olry. We stopped at anchorages along the way that had difficult Reef systems to navigate through, but it all adds to the adventure. We anchored outside a resort on Malparavu island, called Oyster Bay Resort but unfortunately it was closed. There are two blue water swimming holes in the area. The most southern of these is called Forest River. It was a really pretty dingy boat ride with a stunning swimming hole at the end. The other swimming hole is called Nalaiafu River Springs. This one was not quite as inviting but still worth the trip by dingy. Glen and Kristy swam at both. Kristy enjoyed her birthday with champagne (unfortunately only Lindauer) on Champagne Beach. This beach has natural springs coming running down the beach and close to shore. You could see the fresh water mix
ing with the salt water, almost like a clear stained glass window. There must be hundreds of litres of fresh water going into the sea from non stop flowing springs. Glen and Kristy had 4 dives each on the SS President Coolidge wreck in Santo. Both had dived on the Coolidge 9 years ago. This time was even better and a new record depth of 46 metres for them both. They saw 'The Lady' that had previously been too deep at 60 metres for most people to dive to. She was shifted to a depth of 45 metres after she had fallen down. They also went through the pharmacy, where lots of medicine bottles are still clearly visible. Both Glen and Kristy were just as fascinated by a dozen toilets all in a row still in tact. They also went into the ships water tank. We spent about six nights on a mooring off Aore Island Resort and went in for a few meals, the food was very good there, unlike the food at Ratua Resort on the other side of Aore Island were we spent three nights. We have two other Ra
lly boats sailing with us. One from USA and the other from Australia. We have started to move south and spent last night at Malua Bay on Malakula. When we got here we had two canoes coming out to meet us before our anchor was down. There was a steady stream of locals wanting to trade fruit for things like rope (for tying up his cow), children's clothes, fishing line and stationary things. Today we have travelled another 30 mn south to South West Bay or Metenovor Bay. We are looking for a good weather window to travel the next 90nm south to Port Vila in the next week.

[END]