Category: Diving

A day with Sailaway Cruises involved two dives and two snorkelling sites. As I’ve mentioned previously, the GoPro camera had been working well in the depths, however the lack of red light in the spectrum left the tones a little muted. Closer to the surface however the results are much more vibrant.

Above sea level, the Golden Wing Trimaran was our ride for the day, cruising though crystal clear waters bounded by pristine white beaches and dense rainforest coating the sides of imposing hills.

Sailaway Cruises, based in Port Vila, served as the dive guides for the day. Promising two dives, and three snorkelling sites they didn’t disappoint. Word of mouth had suggested the diving was Coral Sea-esque, what was certain was the protected waters off Hat Island and those surrounding Poole’s Rock yielded largely undamaged coral. Infrequent boat traffic, and consequently less fishing, had left the marine life more prevalent, and far more inquisitive.

With the entry to the wreck lying in 42 meters, and the bow in 60 meters there was limited time to explore the Semle. Once again Big Blue served as guides for the day, as I gained experience towards the PADI wreck specialty. The Semle Ferdersen was a freighter that served the archipelago until 1985, when she was purposely sunk in much shallow waters. It was the 1987 Cyclone Uma just two years later that dragged her to her current resting place, bow down with her propeller in 36m of water. Having been sunk in 1985, much of the superstructure’s interior is decaying, and light beams down from above, reaching as far as the engine room. With a limited bottom time, compounded by the tight quarters within some of the superstructure, I decided to shoot video of the penetration portion of the dive. Until that’s edited to remove the parts where my hands were required for manoeuvring and not holding the camera steady, here are the photos from the outside the wreck.