A recent trip to Vanuatu was a welcome respite from the cold, wet and
windy New Zealand winter. Thanks to some very efficient organisation
from our travel consultant, Nicole, Marie and I spent a week in 28-30
degree temperatures with an ocean temperature to match.
The Havannah Resort
Our first port of call was the Havannah resort in Havannah harbour,
about 25 minutes drive from Port Vila. The Havannah resort is simply
stunningly good. The food is excellent and the staff are friendly and
helpful. The resort is run by two kiwis, Tish and Owen and they will
make you very welcome.
Four blues and two mahimahi
In conjunction with the resort, Richard, a local Ni-Van runs a 7.4m HT
Lazercraft for light and medium tackle gamefishing and one of the first
jobs was to meet Richard and organise the adventure for the following
day.
We were up early and the lures were in just before sun-up. We had our
first bite within minutes and as Ian the crewman and I frantically got
the rest of the gear in, the water behind the boat was whipped to foam
by an energetic blue marlin of 100+ kilos.
Marie
did a fine job - stand-up TLD50 on a Kilwell live-fibre - & had it to the boat in about 20 minutes.
Unfortunately the fish still had plenty of gas in the tank and managed to win the tussle with Ian on the
leader to cut itself off neatly on the port trim-tab. 1/0 to the
marlin.
For the next few hours we enjoyed the company of 3 more feisty blues hooking themselves and jumping all over the cobalt blue 29.5 degree
ocean. Two jumped themselves off in spectacular fashion and another
jumped and landed on the line.
Four shots on blue marlin in one day is good fishing anywhere and while we didn't 'catch' any of our marlin as such, we did have
the pleasure of the best parts of any fishing action, the strike, the
hook-up and the frenetic, adrenalin-pumping frenzy that followed.
We needed some fish for dinner so it was over to the nearest FAD and I
dropped a jig hooking up on the first drop - a small football-sized
yellowfin of 3-4kg. Richard cut the belly strips into stripbaits and
these were a slow trolled round the FAD on a small recurve hook.
Bingo and we had two nice mahi in the bin within about 10 minutes.
Richard has plenty of experience and worked as crew for Bruce Smith on
the New Zealand Gameboat 'Striker' for a couple of seasons so he's
learnt from one of the best in the business. He’ll entertain you with
wonderful stories about the local history and culture while you’re
waiting for that next bite!
Dinner that night was sensational. Fresh mahimahi, superbly cooked in
the most idyllic of settings after a great day on the water. It just
doesn't get better than that and the Havannah Resort is on our list for a
return visit.
Deco Dive – Santo
We
then flew to Santo for three days and stayed with Ben and Kim at Deco
Stop in Luganville. This part of the holiday was to explore some of the
special attractions that Santo offered.
Ben and Kim were excellent hosts and we enjoyed a couple of sessions on
the water and while that was with limited success the water was a very
pleasant 29 degrees along with the air temperature.
The fishing in close to Santo can be variable but sailfish, mahimahi,
wahoo and YFT are all species that frequent the area. The water drops
off to heady depths close to the island and in a few minutes from terra
firma you can be fishing in cobalt blue water, hundreds of metres
deep.You’ll find GT’s on some of the reefs and drop-offs in closer and
dogtooth on many of the drop-offs and numerous seamounts.
There’s infrastructure for fishing in Santo itself revolves mainly
around a fleet of smaller boats and only larger charter boat was for sale when we were there. It would have been good to have more time on
the water as there is huge potential in the area and fair to say that
most days you can expect to catch something reasonable like Mahi,
Doggies, GT's or yellowfin. I caught up with James Brown who'd been working on Island Passage and they'd been running trips out of Santo and there's certainly some good fishing to be had in the area.
Santo
is certainly worth the visit for the diving (Coolidge, Million dollar
point and some pristine coral reefs) and the other amazing places like
the blue holes and idyllic places like champagne beach.
The diving is certainly world class and we had lunch with a couple who
are dive guides on the SS Coolidge, Tim and Jenny Ritchie and they had a
number of amazing stories to tell about the wreck, and it's vibrant
history. The keel of the Coolidge is at 70m but there are plenty of
options to explore other interesting areas of the Coolidge with
professional guides.
And you don't necessarily need to be a scuba diver to enjoy the diving.
Places like million dollar point are certainly worth
snorkelling/freediving (we had 25m vis) and some of the best coral reefs
are fine on snorkel too.
Aore Island
We had an afternoon and evening at Aore island resort which is just
across the channel from Luganville on Santo and were extremely impressed
with the immaculate gardens and the resort generally. There’s plenty to
do or you can just kick back and enjoy the sun, beautiful clear water
and relax. A week here would be
perfect in the NZ winter!
The Grand Hotel – Port Vila
We then travelled back to Vila for a look around and two nights at the
Grand Hotel. In the process of being done up, central to markets, shops
etc. It’s a very handy location and has it’s own small casino if you
fancy your luck.
Vila is an interesting place to spend a day or two and just take in the
history and enjoy the legacy of the multicultural influences that
linger after some fascinating history.
The food market is about 5 minutes walk from The Grand and is buzzing
from the wee small hours. There's a wide range of places to eat and just
about every type of food you can imagine.
In the evenings a trip to the waterfront bar which is a local
instituion is always guaranteed to provide entertainment in one form or
another. A great place to sit back, enjoy a couple of locally brewed
'Tusker' beers and cruise into the evening, island style.
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