Vanuatu: Lazing on lovely Bokissa
Elisabeth Easther took her family to the Vanuatu island of Bokissa -
a mini paradise
Peering into the clear depths at Bokissa Private Island Resort off Espiritu Santo.
Photo / Elisabeth Easther
Espiritu Santo, the largest of Vanuatu's islands, is a tropical cliche,
with
palm-fringed beaches, white sand and clear blue water teeming
with
aquatic life created, one presumes, when God was on acid.
For divers,
In addition to coral reefs, there are also countless curiosities
left over
from World War II, including the wreck of the SS President
Coolidge, a
22,000 tonne luxury liner turned troop ship turned wreck
diver's dream.
There are turtles, bats, coconut crabs and dugongs. If you haven't
seen
a dugong before, picture an underwater sea cow, grazing on the
greens
on the ocean floor. Santo also has waterfalls, extensive caves,
mountains,
forests, rivers and blue holes.
Dotted around Santo's mainland are smaller islands, and they're what
appealed most because, when travelling, the further I am from the
beaten
track, the better I like it.
Our voyage to Bokissa Island Resort took two planes (Auckland-Vila,
Vila-Santo), a spin in a car and a 30-minute boat ride, and the beaten
track
was nowhere to be seen.
On Bokissa there are no cars, no TVs, no irritations, just wall-to-wall
paradise,
with sweet little beachfront fares for digs.
The 71ha forested island is home to about 100 people, and although
there are
no shops or roads, there is a kindy and a small school for
children up to the age
of 12 - which means readymade playmates for
the younger members of your
party, a highlight for my boy.
Leilani, 5, showed us how to blow bubbles through a flower stem,
and Nathan,
7, a budding aeronautic engineer, made splendid paper
darts. The boys shared
a wavelength and, when not flying planes,
spent happy hours spying on lizards
and crabs.
On Bokissa, with its beachfront massage parlour (therapeutic),
extensive library,
pool, jungle paths and doorstep coral reefs, you could occupy
yourself
for weeks
without leaving. They're properly live
coral reefs, too,
the sort with twinkling
blue LED lights
installed by nature.
Bokissa also has a Padi dive centre, as well as visiting dugong.
Every morning at breakfast, tropical fruit a speciality, guests were
shown a menu
with two choices each for lunch and dinner, and
everything was delicious. If you
like fish, you're in luck, and if you
don't, there's plenty for you, too.
And there are numerous excursions if your hammock releases you.
One day we
went by motorboat to another island where we
paddled up a mangrove studded
river, swam in a striking blue hole
then enjoyed a barbecue on the beach. On the
way home we
occasionally cut the motor to reel in fish.
Another day we returned to mainland Santo to snorkel at Million
Dollar Point over
mountains of dumped war surplus, utterly eerie to
see in the sea - especially the
forklift - now home to fish.
Aaron, our tour guide, was fabulous and full of information.
At the height of
World War II, Santo hosted more than 100,000
Allied troops. At one point there
were more than 40 cinemas,
five airstrips and four field hospitals. The crashed B17
bomber strewn through the jungle was a harsh reminder of war's
reality.
Champagne Beach, where cruise ships park, with its pink
sand and sparkling
water, is as pretty as a postcard.
In Port Orly, Aaron showed us coconut crabs with nippers so strong
they can
snap your fingers off. We stopped at a coconut processing
plant, a little shack
with roaring furnaces. This is backbreaking work.
The locals earn a pittance for
each tonne they produce, while
offshore entities sell it on for a fortune. Back on
Bokissa,
things are more egalitarian and, whether you're a diver, history buff,
hiker, caver, angler or just idle, Bokissa makes a heavenly base.
CHECKLIST
Getting there: Espiritu Santo is a 50-minute flight from Port Vila. Air Vanuatu
flies this route daily.
Accommodation: Bokissa Island Eco Resort is great for families, adults, lazy
people, busy people, all people.
Source: The New Zealand Herald.
Euro Exchange Rate
Entradas
