The blue hole

The thing to do here at Oyster Island, a bit north of Luganville on Santo's east coast, is to take your dinghy up the river to the Blue Hole, a deep, clear freshwater spring. We haven't done too many touristy things yet, but the mouth of the river is just opposite where Kukka is anchored. It would have been perverse to have ignored it.

If we'd never got to the Blue Hole, the sleepy, slow tropical river would have been enough. John and Ange, from the Hobart yacht Nada, offered to take us up in their hard-bottomed dinghy (oh, do we love a hard bottom when we can find one!). The river winds through rainforest and coconut palms. Huge thick-thighed trees with tangled veins drop down into the water.

We did get to the Blue Hole. The water was soft, limpid and, in places, the most exquisite acquamarine colour. You could see all the way to the bottom, way way down. There was a rope waiting to be swung on - here's John doing something he said he hadn't done since he was a kid. Good for body and soul.