Photo Tour of Espiritu Santo Island in Vanuatu

After our epic adventures on the islands of Efate and Tanna where we lived with locals, met a black magic healer and came face-to-face with an erupting volcano, we were pumped to be heading north to the island of Espiritu Santo to dive the most accessible wreck of her size, the S.S. Coolidge.

Now, although the diving was spectacular as the wreck was in fantastic condition and old artefacts from the physicians quarters, weapons room and kitchen can still be seen in the same spots they were when the ship sank, the island itself proved to offer much more than just a diving hot spot.

First off, we were lucky enough to be in Luganville, Santo’s capital city, during their Independence Day celebration kickoff and had front row seats to one of the coolest parades we’d ever seen. The first day of the celebrations is Children’s Day, which is exactly as it sounds, a day to celebrate children! We took part in as much of the celebrations that we could, first watching the kids sing and perform along the parade route, then mingling with the crowd as they watched local performances on the main stage in the park, and then stuffing our bellies with delicious traditional food. We loved every minute of it!

Over the next few days we explored this stunning island which has been gifted with some of the most, if not he most beautiful beaches in the entire world. Imagine the finest powdered white sand you’ve ever seen, add in some crystal clear, florescent blue water with visibility of over 50 metres and water warmed to just the right temperature and you’ve got Champagne Beach.

After seeing and experiencing the natural beauty of Espiritu Santo, we were hungry for some real human connections with locals. We asked our driver for the day if he could take us to a village. He said he would on the grounds that we agree to tell the Chief of the village that we are members of the same Christian church back home. A bit of a strange request but if it would get us into a traditional village we were totally cool with it.

We lucked out as we had the Chief give us a personal tour of the entire village, we saw their homes, their classrooms built under branches and of course, their church. The villagers were incredibly friendly, waving to us as we walked by, some of them posing for the camera and every one of them smiling from ear to ear.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, the people of Vanutau may be the friendliest people in the entire world.

I hope you enjoy this photo tour of the island of Espiritu Santo.