Adventure Magazine Issue 220

Tranquility Island Reef Dive
Banner fish and butterfly fish at Twin Bommies, Efate
Diving Efate Hideaway Island Bonzer Wreck
SS President Coolidge, Santo
Big Blue Cathedral Cavern, Efate
Million Dollar Point, Santo
Located off the southern end of Santo,
just 6 kilometres from Luganville, is
Million Dollar Point. After World War II,
this was a dumping site for thousands
of tonnes of US Navy equipment, said
to collectively be worth a million dollars.
Trucks, forklifts and bulldozers are all
slowly being covered by the corals. Pacific
Dive can provide you with equipment hire
and all the information you need to dive
both Million Dollar Point and the nearby
shipwreck of SS President Coolidge.
SS President Coolidge, Santo
The wreck of the SS President Coolidge is
one of the world’s most talked-about dive
sites. The Coolidge is a former US Naval
vessel sunk by mines in 1942. With the
hull almost completely intact, divers often
spend multiple days at this site traversing
the plethora of corridors, decks, guns and
discarded relics that litter this 200-metre
long troop carrier. Don’t miss 'The Lady'
(a beautiful statue of a woman riding a
unicorn) which can be found in the main
dining room, the highlight of the dive for
many visitors.
Cindy’s Reef, Santo
A dive not to be missed, there is a huge
variety of corals to be found here, from
staghorn corals to large plate corals and
even ‘potato head’ coral, which has only
been identified in Vanuatu. A relatively
simple dive that’s great for beginners,
Cindy’s Reef is also home to an
abundance of marine life, with a myriad of
tropical fish as well as turtles and sharks.
Tutuba Point, Santo
This reef is found off the northern end of
Tutuba Island, just a short boat ride from
Santo. Depth starts around 6 metres and
descends the wall to a maximum of 30
metres, with visibility at this site often
outstanding. As well as spotting an array
of crayfish, divers at Tutuba Point also
have the opportunity to explore plenty of
underwater caves and chasms. Both Aore
Adventure Sports and Santo Island Dive
and Fishing provide regular dive trips to
the sites off Tutuba Island, including both
Tutuba Point and Cindy’s Reef.
Blue Hole One + Blue Hole Two, Tanna
The volcanic island of Tanna offers a
dramatic underwater landscape with blue
water caves, swim-throughs and reef
walls. Opened in 2015, Volcano Island
Divers provides access to the dive sites
located off the island. Blue Hole One
consists of four connected sinkholes.
Access between them and (and to the
outer reef) is via swim-throughs and
tunnels, providing an exhilarating dive.
If you’ve got time, Blue Hole Two is also
worth a visit. At low tide, this dive site
is accessible from shore with another
array of interconnected tunnels as well as
intricate caverns and grottos to explore.
Throughout your dives in Tanna, keep
your eyes peeled for turtles, moray eels,
reef sharks, blue-spotted ray and even the
elusive dugong.
Tasman, Efate
Shipwrecks are one thing, but how about
the opportunity to dive a plane wreck?
The Tasman offers just that. This is a deep
dive, down to 40 metres, and visibility is
often not the greatest, so the Tasman is
best tackled by experienced divers. For
those willing to take it on, the wreckage
of the ill-fated Qantas S26 Sandringham
Flying Boat (which hit the reef on takeoff
in 1951) is mostly intact, and divers can
climb through the cockpit, making this dive
one for the bucket list.
Hideaway Island, Efate
Hideaway Island is a marine sanctuary in
Mele Bay, just 30 minutes from Port Vila.
With a certified PADI dive resort situated
on the island, this is definitely a beginnerfriendly
dive, with training courses also
available through Hideaway Island Dive.
Calm waters provide crystal clear visibility
and a great variety of brightly coloured
corals are on show here surrounded by
prolific marine life.
Ollies Lolly, Efate
Not far from Hideaway Island and just
beyond Blacksands Reef is Ollies Lolly.
This large reef is only nine metres down
and houses an abundance of soft corals
as well as huge red anemone with playful
clownfish darting in and out of them.
This dive boasts excellent clarity, and its
shallow depth and vivid colours make
Ollies Lolly a paradise for photographers.
Twin Bommies, Efate
This popular dive site about 15 minutes
from downtown Port Vila consists of two
large coral ‘bombora’ as well as a steep
wall peppered with brightly coloured
coral formations. There’s a huge variety
of fish here to keep you company as
you explore, including butterflyfish,
lionfish, leaf scorpionfish and colourful
nudibranchs. Dive trips to both Twin
Bombies and the Tasman seaplane wreck,
as well as many of the other dive sites off
Efate, can be arranged through Big Blue.
MV Semle Federsen, Efate
This cargo trading vessel was sunk off the
Pango Coast and now forms an artificial
reef located not far from Port Vila. This is
another deep dive at between 40 and 60
metres but offers spectacular visibility the
whole way. If getting a spectacular view
of the whole ship as you descend isn’t
exciting enough, making your way through
the cabins and stern of the wreck certainly
will be.
The Cathedral, Efate
Located just off the Pango Peninsula, to
the south of Port Vila, The Cathedral reef
is a must for avid divers while in Vanuatu.
This dive site offers a vast cavern filled
with shafts of light, from which it gets
its name, and the effects created are
truly fascinating. As well as marvelling
at the optical effects, divers also get the
opportunity to explore a ‘chimney’, which
extends up to a large pool on the surface
inside the reef.
Mele Reef, Efate
Off the coast of Mele Bay sits a sizeable
reef that offers divers a vast range of
corals and marine life to explore. The
main reef rises to around 6 metres below
the surface and a dive here is ideal for
beginners. The bay that surrounds Mele
Reef is also home to two major wrecks,
both worth exploring while in Vanuatu,
the MV Konanda and the Star of Russia,
with Nautilus Watersports coordinating
dive trips to both. The MV Konanda was
purposely sunk, creating a safe diving
experience that’s ideal for those new to
wreck diving. Exploring the cabins and
holes and bridge areas makes for a fun
dive. For the more experienced wreck
divers, the 90-metre long sailing ship Star
of Russia sits 30-metres down in Mele
Bay. This grand vessel was crafted by the
same builders as the Titanic and it is now
home to schools of tropical fish.
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