Vanuatu scatters eighty-three islands across the South Pacific, and the largest of them is Espiritu Santo: just over four thousand square kilometres, most of it lifting into mountains. I based myself near the main town for a week and lost count of how often the landscape interrupted my plans. This is what I would show a first-time visitor.
An island with a long memory
Europeans stepped ashore here first in the seventeenth century, liked what they found and settled in; two centuries later the island turned into a military base holding well over a hundred thousand troops. Two enormous arrivals, and still the ni-Vanuatu kept their own language, ceremonies and daily customs, which you can witness today if you time a village visit properly.
The backbone of the island is a chain of mountains running west along the coast, crowned by Tabvemasana, an inactive volcano and the highest point in the country at over eighteen hundred metres. South and east the ground eases into plains and crop plantations. Rainforest fills the rest, sheltering more than 170 kinds of bird and over ten species of orchid, while huge kauri trees stand in the southwestern ranges. The scenery does the selling on its own: coconut palms framing white beaches, ocean blue against dark green slopes, and caves hidden in jungle that has been growing for centuries.
Luganville, the working base
Luganville is the capital and the second largest city in the country, and it still carries a bunker mood: wartime headquarters and hangars, low houses, nothing grand. The places I ended up in were the nakamals, the small bars where you order kava, and the market, which has its own smell and its own pace. Neither takes long, and both tell you more than a museum would.
The town is also the jumping-off point for trips north into the archipelago, with boats toward Pentecost, Maevo and the Torres Islands. Honestly, the prettiest bits sit outside the city limits, and a shared taxi or a hired driver will reach most of them in under an hour.
Million Dollar Point and the wrecks
The strangest dive I have done anywhere lies a few metres off the beach. At Million Dollar Point, in about thirty metres of water, trucks, SUVs and bulldozers sit mineralised in the coral, furred with algae, with fish now living in the cabs and engines. The story is blunt: in the final months of the war, American troops pushed the equipment they no longer needed into the sea because dumping was cheaper than shipping it home. What became a rubbish tip is now one of the most unusual dive sites I know.
You are not limited to that one. Two more wrecks rest nearby: the USS Tucker and the USS President Coolidge, while older hulls lie along the east coast. Segond Channel, about ten kilometres from Luganville, gives easy access to several sites. The island of Bokissa, a short hop away and a pleasant spot in its own right, makes a good second stop in the same day.
Beaches, reserves and inland water
For something quieter than a tank dive I walked in the Watte Nature Reserve, where the birds outnumber the people. Water is the island's other habit: Red Lake, plus the Saracata and Jordan rivers, and the last two are worth carrying a fishing line for. In the north, Big Bay protects the country's first national park and a famous cascade of waterfalls, which is the main reason this coast should keep its original look for years to come.
Even the hills keep wartime secrets. Ruined super-fortresses stand under the trees, concrete and rusted steel, worth a photograph and ten minutes of imagining. When you want salt water instead, Champagne Beach, White Sands and Lonnock were the three I would go back to.
Getting there
You reach Espiritu Santo by air, full stop. The airport on the island handles domestic carriers only; the international gateway is Port Vila, which takes flights from several Australian cities. Coming from another continent, plan a connection through Sydney, which is exactly what I did and what most visitors do. Once you land, buses and shared taxis cover the island cheaply, and hiring a driver for a day costs less than you would expect.