Vanuatu anybody been there?

On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 05:57:49 -0700, Pat Payne wrote:

> What can you tell me about this place? Diving?

Yup, trip report on my website. Biggest draw is the wreck of the President
Coolidge.

Jason

--
See http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for UK diving reports and the UK
Underwater Visibility Database. View the database or add your own report

On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 05:57:49 -0700, Pat Payne wrote:

> What can you tell me about this place? Diving?

Yup, trip report on my website. Biggest draw is the wreck of the President
Coolidge.

Jason

--
See http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for UK diving reports and the UK
Underwater Visibility Database. View the database or add your own report

On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 05:57:49 -0700, Pat Payne wrote:

> What can you tell me about this place? Diving?

Yup, trip report on my website. Biggest draw is the wreck of the President
Coolidge.

Jason

--
See http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for UK diving reports and the UK
Underwater Visibility Database. View the database or add your own report

Over the years, I've had five trips to Vanuatu. That article by Jeffrey
Gettleman in the NY TIMES is a crock of shit! He never even got to the island
of Espiritu Santo yet he talks about Michener and that is where Michener was
stationed -- well, actually -- an island off Espiritu Santo that is across
from it...can't recall its name just now.

The diving aroud Efate (the capital) is not very interesting...poor viz and
all that! I have overnighted in Port Vila many times while waiting for the
flight to Espiritu Santo. I'm surprised he didn't mention that French
restaurant that serves up fruit bat...actually they do a pretty good job of
it...in French, its called "Rousette" I believe. The French chef serves it up
something like coq au vin. Not bad!

and another thing -- for some reason the people of Vanuatu -- dark skinned
Melanesians are not as friendly as the Fijians -- but who is? They are
shorter, darker people and generally not very friendly. and rather reserved in
their demeanor. Don't know why that is...maybe to do with the history locally
-- the tug of war between France and the U.K. when it was a condominium so
that the natives were sort of dragged this way and...that way and too
exploited.

Also, Vanuatu is known as the islands of "coral and ashes" which I don't
recall that Gittleman mentioned. A lot of seismic activity around there and
during my many visits, there was always a Earth tremor to shake things up a
bit. But the tremors at this location in the Pacific are deep in the Earth's
crust and generally don't do much damage. I recall getting up late at night
in Espiritu Santo to go to the bathroom and suddenly a tremor that knocked
lamps off the stand and into the floor of my room.

After one shock of temors -- the next dive at the Cooledge found the water
"rusty" colored where it had shaken things up a bit. In fact, the temor caused
one panel on the Cooledge to fall away, exposing a room that the dive master
said they'd never seen before.

Some dusty debris fell around the "lady" portrait in the smoking lounge at 140
feet with one of Alan Power's helpers (Alan always seemed to have a lot of
"hangers on" visiting from New Zealand) and one of the Kiwi guys took a
"feather duster" down on the dive and actually "dusted" off the lady portrait
in the smoking lounge -- can you believe that?

Nothing like "good housekeeping"..I always say!

Jason wrote:

> On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 05:57:49 -0700, Pat Payne wrote:
>
> > What can you tell me about this place? Diving?
>
> Yup, trip report on my website. Biggest draw is the wreck of the President
> Coolidge.
>
> Jason
>
> --
> See http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for UK diving reports and the UK
> Underwater Visibility Database. View the database or add your own report

Over the years, I've had five trips to Vanuatu. That article by Jeffrey
Gettleman in the NY TIMES is a crock of shit! He never even got to the island
of Espiritu Santo yet he talks about Michener and that is where Michener was
stationed -- well, actually -- an island off Espiritu Santo that is across
from it...can't recall its name just now.

The diving aroud Efate (the capital) is not very interesting...poor viz and
all that! I have overnighted in Port Vila many times while waiting for the
flight to Espiritu Santo. I'm surprised he didn't mention that French
restaurant that serves up fruit bat...actually they do a pretty good job of
it...in French, its called "Rousette" I believe. The French chef serves it up
something like coq au vin. Not bad!

and another thing -- for some reason the people of Vanuatu -- dark skinned
Melanesians are not as friendly as the Fijians -- but who is? They are
shorter, darker people and generally not very friendly. and rather reserved in
their demeanor. Don't know why that is...maybe to do with the history locally
-- the tug of war between France and the U.K. when it was a condominium so
that the natives were sort of dragged this way and...that way and too
exploited.

Also, Vanuatu is known as the islands of "coral and ashes" which I don't
recall that Gittleman mentioned. A lot of seismic activity around there and
during my many visits, there was always a Earth tremor to shake things up a
bit. But the tremors at this location in the Pacific are deep in the Earth's
crust and generally don't do much damage. I recall getting up late at night
in Espiritu Santo to go to the bathroom and suddenly a tremor that knocked
lamps off the stand and into the floor of my room.

After one shock of temors -- the next dive at the Cooledge found the water
"rusty" colored where it had shaken things up a bit. In fact, the temor caused
one panel on the Cooledge to fall away, exposing a room that the dive master
said they'd never seen before.

Some dusty debris fell around the "lady" portrait in the smoking lounge at 140
feet with one of Alan Power's helpers (Alan always seemed to have a lot of
"hangers on" visiting from New Zealand) and one of the Kiwi guys took a
"feather duster" down on the dive and actually "dusted" off the lady portrait
in the smoking lounge -- can you believe that?

Nothing like "good housekeeping"..I always say!

Jason wrote:

> On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 05:57:49 -0700, Pat Payne wrote:
>
> > What can you tell me about this place? Diving?
>
> Yup, trip report on my website. Biggest draw is the wreck of the President
> Coolidge.
>
> Jason
>
> --
> See http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for UK diving reports and the UK
> Underwater Visibility Database. View the database or add your own report

Over the years, I've had five trips to Vanuatu. That article by Jeffrey
Gettleman in the NY TIMES is a crock of shit! He never even got to the island
of Espiritu Santo yet he talks about Michener and that is where Michener was
stationed -- well, actually -- an island off Espiritu Santo that is across
from it...can't recall its name just now.

The diving aroud Efate (the capital) is not very interesting...poor viz and
all that! I have overnighted in Port Vila many times while waiting for the
flight to Espiritu Santo. I'm surprised he didn't mention that French
restaurant that serves up fruit bat...actually they do a pretty good job of
it...in French, its called "Rousette" I believe. The French chef serves it up
something like coq au vin. Not bad!

and another thing -- for some reason the people of Vanuatu -- dark skinned
Melanesians are not as friendly as the Fijians -- but who is? They are
shorter, darker people and generally not very friendly. and rather reserved in
their demeanor. Don't know why that is...maybe to do with the history locally
-- the tug of war between France and the U.K. when it was a condominium so
that the natives were sort of dragged this way and...that way and too
exploited.

Also, Vanuatu is known as the islands of "coral and ashes" which I don't
recall that Gittleman mentioned. A lot of seismic activity around there and
during my many visits, there was always a Earth tremor to shake things up a
bit. But the tremors at this location in the Pacific are deep in the Earth's
crust and generally don't do much damage. I recall getting up late at night
in Espiritu Santo to go to the bathroom and suddenly a tremor that knocked
lamps off the stand and into the floor of my room.

After one shock of temors -- the next dive at the Cooledge found the water
"rusty" colored where it had shaken things up a bit. In fact, the temor caused
one panel on the Cooledge to fall away, exposing a room that the dive master
said they'd never seen before.

Some dusty debris fell around the "lady" portrait in the smoking lounge at 140
feet with one of Alan Power's helpers (Alan always seemed to have a lot of
"hangers on" visiting from New Zealand) and one of the Kiwi guys took a
"feather duster" down on the dive and actually "dusted" off the lady portrait
in the smoking lounge -- can you believe that?

Nothing like "good housekeeping"..I always say!

Jason wrote:

> On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 05:57:49 -0700, Pat Payne wrote:
>
> > What can you tell me about this place? Diving?
>
> Yup, trip report on my website. Biggest draw is the wreck of the President
> Coolidge.
>
> Jason
>
> --
> See http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for UK diving reports and the UK
> Underwater Visibility Database. View the database or add your own report

Daniel Kessler avait soumis l'idée :
(snip)
> Some dusty debris fell around the "lady" portrait in the smoking lounge at
> 140 feet with one of Alan Power's helpers (Alan always seemed to have a lot
> of "hangers on" visiting from New Zealand) and one of the Kiwi guys took a
> "feather duster" down on the dive and actually "dusted" off the lady portrait
> in the smoking lounge -- can you believe that?

Sorry the comments are in French !
Here is what she loks like, now ...
http://www.premiumwanadoo.com/photo-...ge-TheLady.htm
Enjoy.
P.

--
(pas de plouf pour m'écrire !)
Photo sous-marine : http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pnoel/
Photo voyages : http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pnoel2/

Daniel Kessler avait soumis l'idée :
(snip)
> Some dusty debris fell around the "lady" portrait in the smoking lounge at
> 140 feet with one of Alan Power's helpers (Alan always seemed to have a lot
> of "hangers on" visiting from New Zealand) and one of the Kiwi guys took a
> "feather duster" down on the dive and actually "dusted" off the lady portrait
> in the smoking lounge -- can you believe that?

Sorry the comments are in French !
Here is what she loks like, now ...
http://www.premiumwanadoo.com/photo-...ge-TheLady.htm
Enjoy.
P.

--
(pas de plouf pour m'écrire !)
Photo sous-marine : http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pnoel/
Photo voyages : http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pnoel2/

Daniel Kessler avait soumis l'idée :
(snip)
> Some dusty debris fell around the "lady" portrait in the smoking lounge at
> 140 feet with one of Alan Power's helpers (Alan always seemed to have a lot
> of "hangers on" visiting from New Zealand) and one of the Kiwi guys took a
> "feather duster" down on the dive and actually "dusted" off the lady portrait
> in the smoking lounge -- can you believe that?

Sorry the comments are in French !
Here is what she loks like, now ...
http://www.premiumwanadoo.com/photo-...ge-TheLady.htm
Enjoy.
P.

--
(pas de plouf pour m'écrire !)
Photo sous-marine : http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pnoel/
Photo voyages : http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pnoel2/

you can still see (if you look carefully) that the someone is still "dusting her
off."

Patrick NOEL wrote:

> Daniel Kessler avait soumis l'idée :
> (snip)
> > Some dusty debris fell around the "lady" portrait in the smoking lounge at
> > 140 feet with one of Alan Power's helpers (Alan always seemed to have a lot
> > of "hangers on" visiting from New Zealand) and one of the Kiwi guys took a
> > "feather duster" down on the dive and actually "dusted" off the lady portrait
> > in the smoking lounge -- can you believe that?
>
> Sorry the comments are in French !
> Here is what she loks like, now ...
> http://www.premiumwanadoo.com/photo-...ge-TheLady.htm
> Enjoy.
> P.
>
> --
> (pas de plouf pour m'écrire !)
> Photo sous-marine : http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pnoel/
> Photo voyages : http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pnoel2/