martes, 5 de febrero de 2013

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.