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  Luganville, Sanma, Vanuatu
Monday, October 26, 2009

Friday 23nd October 2009                    Solomons
The whole day is spent at sea coming down through the "Slot" through the Solomons, with photos of chains of islands either side, extreme rainy weather, and course details. We have Destination lectures by Dr Dean Papavassilio (not so good), Enrichment lectures by Leonard Werman (great storyteller talking about Australian history and  telling jokes) and World War2 history by Gary Shahan (excellent) in the theatres. Murray also has his first Engineers get-together.


Saturday 24th October 2009                    Solomons and Honiara Medivac
We are on deck early to take more photos and video of the Solomons, coming down the centre of the “Slot”. We find out that we will be making an unscheduled stop at Honiara to medivac an idiot teenager who broke his ankle in three places. No-one on the boat was surprised when they found out who it was.  He'd been running wild the whole time. Take photos of Savo Island, scene of a crucial battle, before running down the coast of Guadalcanal to Honiara, getting a running commentary from Gary Shahan, the American who has been conducting history lectures in the ship. There are a lot of wrecks along the shore, but most of them are recent. We stop just off the harbour at Honiara while the transfer of the patient and his father is taking place, and are able to get a pretty good look at the town, which looks remarkably civilized. There is an Australian patrol boat in the harbour as a reminder that everything is not rosy in the garden. We get a lot of photos of the significant areas in the battles of WW2, and the current harbour, boats and foreshore. After we get under way, there is a wreath laying ceremony off the point south of Honiara. The Battle of Guadalcanal was fought between 7th August 1942 and 9th February 1943 on and around the Island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theatre of World War2.  Considered a turning point in the War, this fiercely contested campaign marked the first significant strategic combined arms victory by Allied forces over the Japanese in the Pacific.  Quite a few people on this cruise have some connection with the war in this area.

There are islands all around the horizon, and some serious rain falling over the land and sea.

At night we have the second Formal night.  We spend most of the afternoon during the Jigsaw, and are still in our casual gear when we have to hurry past the formally clad people in the first dinner sitting (which is 5.45pm – ours is 8pm).



Sunday 25th October 2009                        at sea
Most of day is spent during the communal jigsaw, interspersed with eating, an exercise class for Dianne, and a tour of the engine control room with the group of engineers for Murray. It was pretty impressive as it was like running a small town, with its own electricity plant, sewage plant, desalination plant and enough airconditioning for a large city building.



Monday 26th October 2009                    Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu




Out on deck when we are in Segond Channel between low, mangrove covered islands to the left, and the main Island to the right, passing what we later find is Million Dollar Point and the President Coolidge wreck site, the local commercial shipping wharf and coming up to the Santo main wharf and the start of the town proper. Take photos and videos all around.
Segond Channel was the Allies’ base for their war efforts against the Japanese advance during WW11. For three years to September 1945 more than half a million military personnel, mainly Americans, were stationed here waiting their turn to head into battle in the Pacific. At times there were as many as 100 ships moored off Luganville. There were more than 40 cinemas, four military hospitals, five airfields, a naval repair centre, a torpedo boat base, jetties and market gardens. Quonset huts were erected for use as offices, stores, workshops and servicemen’s accommodation. Over 10,000 islanders also came to Santo to work as labourers or servants for the troops.  Today, Luganville has a population of 12,200!
The weather is pretty ordinary, so we pack wet weather gear to head into town to the bank to get some local currency, the Vatu. Pass the traditional dancers, trinket stalls and locals displaying anything they thought may attract a tourist, including green lizards, tiny black birds, turtles, coconut crabs, personal hardship stories, children in native costumes, coke bottles from the 1940’s, and young girls in strange blonde wigs made of coconut fibre.  End up stopping to internet on the way, using Aussie Dollars, to find what has happened to the house sale, and the world in general.
 Armed with information from an expat woman in a ute at a service station, we are able to tell from the number plates what sort of vehicle we can expect to stop for us, but settle for a taxi to Million Dollar Point for 1000 Vatu, about $12. Our driver doesn’t seem all that sure where we are going, and follows another taxi over the rough road beside the ocean. Thinks we want to go to the airport when we ask if the turnoff leads to it. Thinks we want the Pres Coolidge when we ask about it, but at least points out the entrance to the dive site.
At Million Dollar Point, we are charged $5 each for entrance, then are driven to the point. The weather doesn’t look all that flash, with wind and scuds of rain, but the beach looks ok, so we decide to go in snorkeling.
Once the fighting in World War11 was over and the Americans were to return home, there was the problem of all the surplus war equipment. The USA offered local planters and the Condominium government the chance to buy the equipment and supplies. But they stalled, hoping, perhaps, to get it all for nothing. Their plan backfired, because the Americans dumped the lot. Everything from bulldozers, aero engines, trucks and jeeps to crates of Coca-cola and canned food went into the sea at what is now Million Dollar Point. We’re going in to see what is left of this. Decide not to risk leaving the gear, so go in one at a time, MP first, straight off the beach, then around the point to see a sunken steel boat and a variety of machinery items encrusted with coral. DP changes in the loo, then we try further up the beach, before coming back to the point, where DP finds better examples of machinery, including an upside down tank, complete with caterpillar tracks. MP has to go in again to check it out. We talk to others from the ship, and quiz their guide as to whether you can walk along the beach to the President Coolidge. He tells us yes, it is possible, and there is no problem with “tapu” (taboos). Unfortunately we don’t ask if people DO walk along the beach.
It is quite a pleasant walk at first, along coarse coral gravel (with LOTS of broken glass, especially the old coke bottles) and under overhanging trees, but as we progress, it becomes more difficult, with coral cliffs right down to the water. We can walk around some of the headlands in knee-deep water, but at other places we have to rock-hop, or head inland through the scrub, with hanging vines, loose dirt and leaves and spider webs. There seems to be some sort of rough path around the problem areas, but it is pretty rough.
The  USS President Coolidge site is marked by a couple of sea walls, an offshore coral rock platform, and a landscaped path with wide steps leading to a small beach. On the morning of 26th October 1942 the USS President Coolidge sank after hitting two “friendly” American mines in Segond Channel. A luxury liner, she had been refitted as a troopship and was carrying over 5,000 men. The captain tried to run the stricken ship onto the nearby reef, but it slid backwards into deep water. All but two of the crew managed to reach shore safely. It is now one of the world’s most famous wreck dives. We think we’ll at least have a snorkel. Again we have to go in separately, which tends to limit how ambitiously you swim. It is a long way out to deep water (it’s high tide) through low visibility, with rock outcrops to make it interesting. Out at the dropoff, the water is clear and very blue over a sandy bottom. There are anchored cables on the bottom, and a massive rope leading down at an angle, presumably to the bow of the wreck. Even though the water is pretty clear, the overcast sky limits visibility, and we will have to take the word of others that the wreck actually exists. There is an interestingly anchored scuba bottle on the bottom, presumably some sort of safety backup.
Back on the shore, we take photos of the landscaped garden, and find we are not in a resort, but just in a small park beside the road. Back towards town there is a monument, decorated by the locals with flowers and banners. It is dedicated to the Captain of the Coolidge, who was one of the two casualties of the beaching, lost looking for survivors. We make a contribution, take photos, and head on into town, knocking back taxis while we look for the cultural village. There are no obvious signs, and the only possible candidate is a long way down a side road, so we finally flag down a taxi and head back to the ship, for 1000 Vatu.
After lunch, head out without the snorkeling gear. Run the gauntlet of cultural attractions, and walk through town, past the market and pretty riverbank. Take photos of local produce, including muddy-looking kava root bundles. Walk as far as the Sarakata Bridge to take photos of the river, then back for a rest in the main park. Take photos of a classic Quonset hut, Pidgin English signs, and the waterfront. Get rid of the last of our small change to the most deserving of the local mini-entrepreneurs, then back to the ship for a before-dinner rest. After dinner, finally finish the jigsaw about 11pm.

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