Discussion:
Vanuatu
(too old to reply)
no one
2004-11-16 00:59:22 UTC
Permalink
Hi all,
Will be in Vanuatu in May '05 and was looking for some opinions on the accom
and dive operators on Santo (the President Coolidge beckons). Have googled a
bit and Aquamarine give themselves a good report, but thats the nature of
the beast! Comments and opinions welcome.
TIA
Max
Kevin Nugent
2004-11-16 01:23:34 UTC
Permalink
Post by no one
Hi all,
Will be in Vanuatu in May '05 and was looking for some opinions on the accom
and dive operators on Santo (the President Coolidge beckons). Have googled a
bit and Aquamarine give themselves a good report, but thats the nature of
the beast! Comments and opinions welcome.
TIA
Max
Dunno if Dave Cross still works there, but if he does - he's brilliant. Try Pro
Dive
Santo.

Regards

Kevin
unknown
2004-12-28 01:00:15 UTC
Permalink
http://www.prodive.com.au/?pageid=118
Post by Kevin Nugent
Post by no one
Hi all,
Will be in Vanuatu in May '05 and was looking for some opinions on the accom
and dive operators on Santo (the President Coolidge beckons). Have googled a
bit and Aquamarine give themselves a good report, but thats the nature of
the beast! Comments and opinions welcome.
TIA
Max
Dunno if Dave Cross still works there, but if he does - he's brilliant.
Try Pro
Post by Kevin Nugent
Dive
Santo.
Regards
Kevin
Talem
2005-01-25 09:34:58 UTC
Permalink
I dived the President Coolidge last September & loved every minute of it. I
dived with Allan Power & stayed at the Deco Stop Lodge. I would recommend
both with no hesitation. And you MUST do the night dive on the Coolidge too.
Pretty spectacular. Enjoy your trip. Wish I was going again!!! Hmmmmm......

Emma
Post by no one
Hi all,
Will be in Vanuatu in May '05 and was looking for some opinions on the accom
and dive operators on Santo (the President Coolidge beckons). Have googled a
bit and Aquamarine give themselves a good report, but thats the nature of
the beast! Comments and opinions welcome.
TIA
Max
Warren Jiear
2005-01-25 21:29:45 UTC
Permalink
My wife and I have dived with both Pro Dive Santo and Aquamarine. As Kevin
has said in an earlier post, Dave Cross from Pro Dive is excellent, as was
Kevin at Aquamarine (although I have heard that he has sold out).

When we dived with each of Aquamarine and Pro Dive, we had great service and
attention and small groups which on a wreck I think is quite important.

While the dive to the Lady is now anticlimactic (it is moved and has nowhere
the atmosphere it used to) it is still interesting as are the engine room
and the night dive is really cool. You should also try to do a night dive
on the Henry Bonneaud (not sure if that is how you spell it).

We have stayed at each of Aore (reasonable but can be annoying travel to the
ship and the service was sadly lacking when we stayed there), Bokissa
(supposed to be much nicer now that they have finally spent some money on
it, repaired the pool and can give you hot water in your room) and
Beauganville Resort - which was excellent.

Happy Diving

Warren
Post by no one
Hi all,
Will be in Vanuatu in May '05 and was looking for some opinions on the accom
and dive operators on Santo (the President Coolidge beckons). Have googled a
bit and Aquamarine give themselves a good report, but thats the nature of
the beast! Comments and opinions welcome.
TIA
Max
Kevin Nugent
2005-01-27 00:54:26 UTC
Permalink
Post by Warren Jiear
When we dived with each of Aquamarine and Pro Dive, we had great service and
attention and small groups which on a wreck I think is quite important.
I think that was what made Dave's service so good. We were his only clients
then,
and we had Dave plus two very capable dive masters as well. We virtually didn't
have
to lift our gear once.
Post by Warren Jiear
While the dive to the Lady is now anticlimactic (it is moved and has nowhere
the atmosphere it used to) it is still interesting as are the engine room
and the night dive is really cool. You should also try to do a night dive
on the Henry Bonneaud (not sure if that is how you spell it).
I'd probably rate the night dive on the Henry Bonneau as one of my nicest. The
flashlight
fish were amazing. The circling school of barracuda were "stimulating" too!

http://www.hideawayholidays.com.au/son_bokissa.html has a few details.
Post by Warren Jiear
We have stayed at each of Aore (reasonable but can be annoying travel to the
ship and the service was sadly lacking when we stayed there), Bokissa
(supposed to be much nicer now that they have finally spent some money on
it, repaired the pool and can give you hot water in your room) and
Beauganville Resort - which was excellent.
Aore was nice, but the owners had just taken over when we were there, and things
were a little hit-and-miss really. We were in holiday mode so didn't worry too
much overly. The coconut crab at dinner made up for a lot. The only thing I
didn't like about Aore was once you were on the island there was no way to get
across to Luganville unless they made a run in the big game fishing boat. And if
they were out fishing, it was bad-luck for you! Hopefully they've sorted that
out.
Dave always picked us up for our dives in his banana boat.

Even still ... I'd go back tomorrow in a heart-beat! :)

Kevin
Jason
2005-01-28 23:23:41 UTC
Permalink
Post by Kevin Nugent
I think that was what made Dave's service so good. We were his only
clients then,
Only trouble with Pro Dive is that they dive the Coolidge by boat. And
when I was there, they managed to get the boat out about 2 days out of 10.
We dived it every day from the shore, no problems. A couple of guys doing
their DM with Pro Dive were so bored, they paid to come out with
Aquamarine.

Jason
--
http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for Aussie diving reports including
Cape Tribulation, Cairns, Airlie Beach, Exmouth and the HMAS Swan
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