SS President Coolidge

The SS President Coolidge was a 654ft (200 metre) 22,000 ton luxury liner converted to a military transport vessel at the beginning of WW2 making several successful voyages in 1942

In October of that year she departed San Francisco for New Caledonia and Espiritu Santo with over 5000 troops and equipment onboard

On the morning of 26 October 1942 after misunderstandings in regard to sailing instructions she struck two mines deployed at the entrance to Luganville Harbour

Hopelessly disabled her captain ordered the vessel to be run aground and all personnel to immediately abandon ship, with the intention of salvaging their equipment later. However after a short while she was claimed by the waters of the Segond Channel sliding backwards from the shore and rolling on her port side

The Coolidge remains in her final resting place to this day, only metres from the shore with the bow at 20 mts and the stern at 65 mts, she’s the largest most accessible wreck dive in the world

Divers can explore, with local guides, through many of her compartments to see the amazing array of artifacts and military equipment left behind

Million Dollar Point

Espiritu Santo was occupied by the Americans during WWII to launch their attacks on the Japanese in the Pacific. On their departure from the island they left behind infrastructure like roads and runways, and even buildings, with army built Quonset huts still standing and being used in Luganville

The biggest legacy is Million Dollar Point, both historically fascinating and a diver’s paradise with equipment, corals and fish

Named for its worth at the time, there are a multitude of bulldozers, cranes, fork lifts and trucks piled upon one another in this unique dive site

The two ship wreck Dedele and El Retiro are also still identifiable

Depth ranges from 3 mts down to 40 mts and it’s a dive not to be missed

Tutuba Point

This dive is located on the northern tip of Tutuba Island with depth ranging from 8 to 24 mts

Drop into the water from the boat and enjoy a vista of canyons and coral ,caves and swim through’s and unbelievable visibility makes this dive a “must do” with the possibility of sighting reef sharks, lobsters, turtles and an abundance of fish life that needs to be seen to be believed

Cindy’s Reef

Located at the end of Aore Island this dive ranges from 5 to 30 mts and is surrounded by a steep drop off into 100 mts, this reef has large areas of hard corals scattered amongst bombie heads and is home to thousands of fish providing fantastic opportunity for photographers

Fan Garden

Large gorgonian fans and surrounding corals with colourful fish life again makes this dive a photographers delight

Situated off the end of Aore Island at a depth of 30 mts this is a great dive in a nice sheltered location and is situated close to the old submarine net that protected Luganville harbour

MacDonald Douglass Plane

A Dauntless dive bomber rests in 26 metres of water and is now broken into 3 main pieces

There are also many other artifacts from WWII scattered on the nearby reef, it is very close to shore and even though visibility can be down from time to time, it makes for a different very sheltered dive

There is a large resident moray that can usually been seen on most dives

Depth from 22 metres to 28 metres

Snorkeling

Snorkel at Million Dollar Point where the Americans dumped massive amounts of war surplus in 1945

Bulldozers, forklifts, shipwrecks – it has the lot including great corals and fish life

Go snorkeling with the divers if you don’t scuba dive, there’s always room and you’re welcome to visit the pristine reefs

We have some snorkeling available near the resort on a old, wrecked island trader – the visibility’s not always perfect but the water’s warm and shallow

Complimentary snorkeling equipment is available at reception