Monday 25 October 2010

Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu; Monday 25 October 2010 בס"ד

Went back ashore in the morning, with the taxi now taking us directly to and from the ship without the Aore stop. Went straight to the Hotel Santo, and split a room with Dapper. He went diving at the Coolidge wreck, a crazy dive on the wreck of the USS Calvin Coolidge, which during WWII hit a mine, grounded itself on a reef, evacuated with everything still in it, but before they could recover the cargo and personal effects, it slid off the reef and sank full of tanks, jeeps, and all sorts of other crazy things. I hung out with Davey, and sat at the hotel gazebo catching up on typing logs, an arduous task. Had lunch, then continued typing when some guy named Seamus O'Brien showed up. Turns out he is sometimes a mate on the Alvei, a tall ship that sails around Vanuatu and New Zealand delivering goods. We “spun yarns” I guess, telling stories about our respective ships and adventures on them for a while before he left. More people showed up, and hung out at the gazebo drinking wine. Of course, it's hard to type while your friends are hanging out, so I joined them. Had dinner, chilled more, and went to bed. An uneventful day, but cool nonetheless.