RTW - Vanuatu - Tanna & Port Vila
Door: Bart De Coster
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Bart
15 December 2017 | Vanuatu, Port Vila
The reason we were going to Tanna, was because they have an active volcano (Mt. Yassur) that you can safely climb up, and witness the rawness of nature.
When we arrived in Tanna, John, the owner of our accommodation was waiting for us to pick us up.
As soon as we left the airport (close to Imanaka) we experienced the really bad roads of Tanna.
Luckily they get some Australian support to construct a decent ring-road around the whole island. But that will take a few more years. :)
After a bumpy 1,5 hrs we arrived at the accommodation.
Volcano Eco Treehouse
Yes indeed, a room about 12 meters above ground.
We knew in advance that we took a pretty basic room, but when we arrived we found out that is was even much more basic then we could ever expected.
And we didn’t know in advance that it was such a long drive from the airport.
So, instead of staying for 3 nights, we decided to stay only 2 nights, and stay the 3rd night close to the airport.
John was trying his best to make everything as good as possible for us.
Unfortunately there were also a lot of mosquito’s the whole time.
And a few things he put on the Booking-website were totally untrue.
Probably because his English isn’t that good, and because he saw certain things with other Accommodation-owners.
(He didn’t have a swimming-pool, no Wifi, no restaurant with à-la-carte menu, no horse-riding, etc...)
So, we tried to help him a bit.
The next morning we just relaxed a bit, and in the afternoon we went on a tour up the Volcano.
What a great experience !! You could walk on the crater-rim, and watch all the small explosions, accompanied with a lot of noise.
In our group were also some guys with a nice, light drone.
(We have been doubting already for a long time to buy one ourselves, but this footage on top of the volcano convinced us to also buying a drone, once we arrived in Port Vila ;) )
You climb the volcano just before dawn, so you can experience it first in daylight, and then when it gets dark you get the real spectacle.
Really nice !!
The next day we travelled back to Imanaka.
There we relaxed another day, before we took our flight back to Port Vila.
The first afternoon we had a stroll around the small city-centre.
We had a first look to buy the drone we wanted, and luckily we found 2 places that sold the Mavic Pro.
And we booked 2 dives for the next day.
So, on Tuesday, we did 2 dives not so far out from Port Vila.
The first dive was a wreck-dive to the Semle Federesen.
This inter-island cargo vessel was deliberately sunk in 1985 in approximately 30m of water. Cyclone Uma in 1987 moved her down the reef to her present position. She now lies in sand between 38 and 55m with the top of the wreck at 30 m. The visibility on this dive is often spectacular sometimes reaching 40 to 50m. It is an stunning dive.
The 2nd dive is the well-known Cathedral.
An amazing cavern dive, wide and open and with awesome shafts of light filtering down through the open roof.
The shafts of light cascading from the ceiling into a vast cavern makes this is a particularly enchanting dive. You swim through a chimney to enter the amazing cavern to explore the walls and enjoy the internal fish life and enjoying the amazing visibility along the sheer wall of Pango Peninsular.
When we entered the Cathedral, there was a bit of a current.
But when we came out, the current was stronger than expected, so our guides decided to start drifting. It turned out to be a drift-dive like no other before.
Really felt like flying in the air, with our arms wide open.
(Also for our guides this was only the 2nd or 3rd time they experienced anything like this)
We came out of the water about 500m away from where we went in.
Luckily the 2 watch-men on the 2 boats were really experienced, so they were able to follow our air-bubbles all the way.
What a great dive !!
The next day we paid a visit to the Pacific Mini-games, a kind of Olympic Games for this region.
(23 Nations - 2000 Athletes)
First we watched some boxing, before we went to watch some Track & Field.
And we finished our day with some Beachvolleyball.
Was really nice to experience this.
The next day was a rainy day, so we just relaxed some more :-)
Then we continued our journey to the Solomon Islands.
When we arrived in Tanna, John, the owner of our accommodation was waiting for us to pick us up.
As soon as we left the airport (close to Imanaka) we experienced the really bad roads of Tanna.
Luckily they get some Australian support to construct a decent ring-road around the whole island. But that will take a few more years. :)
After a bumpy 1,5 hrs we arrived at the accommodation.
Volcano Eco Treehouse
Yes indeed, a room about 12 meters above ground.
We knew in advance that we took a pretty basic room, but when we arrived we found out that is was even much more basic then we could ever expected.
And we didn’t know in advance that it was such a long drive from the airport.
So, instead of staying for 3 nights, we decided to stay only 2 nights, and stay the 3rd night close to the airport.
John was trying his best to make everything as good as possible for us.
Unfortunately there were also a lot of mosquito’s the whole time.
And a few things he put on the Booking-website were totally untrue.
Probably because his English isn’t that good, and because he saw certain things with other Accommodation-owners.
(He didn’t have a swimming-pool, no Wifi, no restaurant with à-la-carte menu, no horse-riding, etc...)
So, we tried to help him a bit.
The next morning we just relaxed a bit, and in the afternoon we went on a tour up the Volcano.
What a great experience !! You could walk on the crater-rim, and watch all the small explosions, accompanied with a lot of noise.
In our group were also some guys with a nice, light drone.
(We have been doubting already for a long time to buy one ourselves, but this footage on top of the volcano convinced us to also buying a drone, once we arrived in Port Vila ;) )
You climb the volcano just before dawn, so you can experience it first in daylight, and then when it gets dark you get the real spectacle.
Really nice !!
The next day we travelled back to Imanaka.
There we relaxed another day, before we took our flight back to Port Vila.
The first afternoon we had a stroll around the small city-centre.
We had a first look to buy the drone we wanted, and luckily we found 2 places that sold the Mavic Pro.
And we booked 2 dives for the next day.
So, on Tuesday, we did 2 dives not so far out from Port Vila.
The first dive was a wreck-dive to the Semle Federesen.
This inter-island cargo vessel was deliberately sunk in 1985 in approximately 30m of water. Cyclone Uma in 1987 moved her down the reef to her present position. She now lies in sand between 38 and 55m with the top of the wreck at 30 m. The visibility on this dive is often spectacular sometimes reaching 40 to 50m. It is an stunning dive.
The 2nd dive is the well-known Cathedral.
An amazing cavern dive, wide and open and with awesome shafts of light filtering down through the open roof.
The shafts of light cascading from the ceiling into a vast cavern makes this is a particularly enchanting dive. You swim through a chimney to enter the amazing cavern to explore the walls and enjoy the internal fish life and enjoying the amazing visibility along the sheer wall of Pango Peninsular.
When we entered the Cathedral, there was a bit of a current.
But when we came out, the current was stronger than expected, so our guides decided to start drifting. It turned out to be a drift-dive like no other before.
Really felt like flying in the air, with our arms wide open.
(Also for our guides this was only the 2nd or 3rd time they experienced anything like this)
We came out of the water about 500m away from where we went in.
Luckily the 2 watch-men on the 2 boats were really experienced, so they were able to follow our air-bubbles all the way.
What a great dive !!
The next day we paid a visit to the Pacific Mini-games, a kind of Olympic Games for this region.
(23 Nations - 2000 Athletes)
First we watched some boxing, before we went to watch some Track & Field.
And we finished our day with some Beachvolleyball.
Was really nice to experience this.
The next day was a rainy day, so we just relaxed some more :-)
Then we continued our journey to the Solomon Islands.
-
28 December 2017 - 10:10
Van Saet Hendrik:
Leuk Bart,
lijkt wel een hele belevenis daar!
Geniet er van.
Grtz Hendrik
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