Espirito Santo, Vanuatu

We have spent the last month or so on Espirito Santo Island, the largest of the Vanuatu chain of islands, and probably our favourite. We’ve had tons of fun exploring the different attractions and hanging out with friends new and old. I’ll do a few separate posts in no particular order about some of our activities as I have lots of pictures to share.

One of the attractions of Santo is the numerous Blue Holes; we have visited three different ones at different times as they make a glorious day trip with beautiful scenery and fresh water swimming. As far as I can tell the blue holes are formed from an underground fresh water spring. A deep hole is formed and for some reason the water is incredibly clear, of course the water leaves the area via a river and empties into the ocean, hence a convenient dinghy trip for the cruising sailor. The rivers are easily deep enough to dinghy up and the jungle on the way up is ever changing and extremely green and lush, probably something to do with the constant supply of fresh water.

The first trip was on a small island off the main island and we went with Kat and Seiorse and our new friends Rick and Lara. Rick is from the states but lives in the Philippines with his Philippine wife, they are travelling on a cat so most of the potlatches we had were on their boat, having a small boat can have its benefits, like not having to clean up after the party. It rained all day taking away some of the beauty but we found solace in the fact that we could be out in the rain all day and not be a bit cold or uncomfortable. The second trip was with Kat and Seiorse again and our friends Nick and Ellen who we had met briefly on Efate and where happy to see again on Santo. Nick and Ellen are a wonderful young couple who sailed up from Tasmania on a 28’ boat. And the last one was with Kat and Seiorse.

I hope you enjoy our pictures, cover photo credit goes to Nick, or Ellen, not sure, the rest, in no particular order, someone took.