Diving the Coolidge
12 September 2011 | Espiritu Santo
Theo
While we were visiting Luganville on the island of Espiritu Santo, we went diving on the President Coolidge wreck. The President Coolidge was a 200 metre super luxury liner that sunk during World War 2 when it hit American mines just metres from the shore of the island. There were 5000 people on board, only two lost their lives. Even though it is really close to shore, the wreck site is deep, between 80 and 200 feet. I was able to go down to 110 feet. Mom was my partner and kept a close eye on me. We saw the anchor which was about 10 feet in length and 5 feet in width, old fashion style. Marcello, our Italian friend from the boat Nausicaa had brought a dive light and we saw we I thought was the cargo hold. We also saw some torpedoes hidden in the sand and also some by the chain links. The air in my tank got down to 1500 psi, so we had to get back to let Simi have a turn. It was really cool to see such a big ship wreck.