Espiritu Santo

Espiritu Santo is a truly “away from the masses” experience. Take the opportunity to do as little or as much as you need to in this unrushed region of Vanuatu.

Espiritu Santo hosts a wide variety of adventures and experiences. It is truly one of the few places in the world where you can be on a beach alone, dive or snorkel with a thousand colorful fish, explore tribal and ritualistic cultural sites and follow it up with dinner on a jetty overlooking the South Pacific.

Espiritu Santo is the largest island of Vanuatu. Despite the passing of three centuries since its discovery by Europeans, Espiritu Santo's majestic beauty is little changed. It is perhaps best known as the inspiration for James A. Michener's classic "Tales of the South Pacific", written in World War II while the US Forces were stationed in Santo.

Scuba Diving

The island is also home to some of the best scuba diving experiences in the world.

SS President Coolidge
Considered by many divers to be the best wreck dive in the world, the SS President Coolidge was a luxury passenger liner converted to a troop carrier during WWII. While entering the Santo harbor she was hit by friendly mines, providing divers with a remarkable underwater playground.

Almost completely intact, you can swim through the numerous holds and decks viewing the reminders of her glorious days as a cruise liner and the remnants of her days as a troop ship. There are guns, cannons, jeeps, helmets, trucks and personal supplies left by some of the soldiers, as well as the beautiful porcelain statue of “The Lady,” chandeliers and a mosaic tile fountain. The wreck is covered in coral and is the home to a plethora of sea life such including turtles, barracuda, lion fish, and a host of reef fish.

If you want to see the whole wreck, you’ll need several days in Santo — she’s 650 feet in length and rests in 65 to 235 feet of water! — but you can certainly get a feel for her magnitude and majesty on even a few dives.

Million Dollar Point
At the end of WWII, thousands of tons of US military equipment was dumped into the sea. Named for its worth, there are a multitude of bulldozers, cranes, forklifts, and trucks piled upon one another in this unique dive site.

Cindy’s Reef
A beautiful and relaxing drift dive over a bed of bright, colorful coral and an abundance of fish life. Divers see a tremendous variety of staghorn corals, large plate corals and our very own “potato head” coral which is unlike anything you’ve seen before. There is also an abundance of fish life and turtles and sharks are often spotted.

SS Tucker
Struck by friendly mines, the SS Tucker is a US Destroyer resting in about 65 feet of water. The wreck is spread along the sea bed making it possible to swim from stern to bow stopping at "wreck bombies" along the way.

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