Blue Hole

Except for diving we did two excursions. The first one was to a freshwater spring called the Blue Holes. We asked to rent the guides car as we thought it would be more fun to go by ourselves. The only problem was that there were no road signs or notices once you got in to a certain area, so it took us a little while to find the water in the middle of the jungle. Going around Santo there were quite a few signs of WWII. The roads that were now rather bad seemed in fact to have been pretty good in the past, judging by the concrete marks. We also saw several supply sheds and landingfields. Even more clear was the effect on the natural environment. The whole rainforest was covered in "military cover leaves" and mostly looked like a large Paintball zone. Anders and Markus were both running around checking the roads and surroundings while I and Annika were sitting in the car eating cookies. We dived in the holes and the visibility was really amazing. You could in fact see the leaves in the trees when looking up from 18 metres depth. Above you can see some of the photos on Anders practicing UW photogtraphy, as well as a self portrait by Markus.

After the Blue Holes we drove on to a beach called Champagne beach, which is on the north-eastern side of the island. The beach is supposedly one of the most beautiful beaches in the Pacific and the sand grains were very small and white. It was really nice to go for a swim!