Commodore
July 8, 2025

Wednesday 9 July – exploring a blue hole up the river

After a few chores we headed down to the river mouth of the blue hole at the far southern corner of the bay, near where we crossed the shallow coral area yesterday. Typically we got there at low tide and Rowan had to tow the dinghy, I felt pretty lucky to be left in JeldiJeldi! The guy who owns the property at the entrance said we would not make it up to the blue hole as it would be too shallow to get the dinghy under the bridge. We said we would walk through. He promised us a bag of fruit on our return. We kept going up against the flow of the river and tide as it was still rushing out.

The river opened up to a huge lagoon that was very shallow, a fisherman had a huge net out. Rowan walked us through there too, then we came to the bridge. The water was being channelled into a small area under the bridge and moving at a pace. It took all Rowan’s effort to get us through, on a second attempt. So lucky he was wearing good shoes. Out the other side we had to pay the owner of the blue hole our entrance fee, about £12. They certainly need to earn money somehow.

After that the river was deep enough to have the engine down and working all the way to the Blue Hole. Stunning bush along the way, I will leave the description to the photos.

This area of land is mainly limestone, (coral rock) that is porous and dissolves slowly with rainwater over thousands of years. This creates underground caves and channels which collapse making sink holes. Water from underground rivers and aquifers rise through these sink holes making the deep blue holes, with mineral rich water. This keeps the water crystal clear and enhances the vivd blue colour. We had a wonderful swim and relax there.

On the return I wanted to row so that we could hear the bird noises and enjoy the tranquility. We were able to motor under the bridge, easier now the tide was rising. We had a quick stop to pay for our basket of fruit and headed back to PolePole.

We went to the resort for supper, quite a challenge finding a spot to land at high tide, luckily Rowan came up with a cunning plan to keep it off the rocks, with our stern anchor rope. A lovely resort with good food. We met a South African lady who is an accountant and lived out here and surrounding islands for nearly 20 years. Her husband is an ophthalmologist from Timor Leste. They have lived in Solomons and PNG, they were very reassuring about us going there.

Our location in the bay

Entrance to the river, you can see how low the water is and how clear the water is

River opens out into a big shallow lagoon that Rowan had to walk us across

A fisherman not having much luck

Looking back at the shallow lagoon

The blue colour develops as the water is channelled under the bridge

Rowan struggling to pull us though the strong flow of water

Out the other side of the bridge

Crystal clear water and magnificent trees, so lovely and shady in the intense heat

It doesn’t look real

Making our way slowly up the river

Certain areas the creeper has taken over. I’ve just looked up the creeper, it is believed to have been introduced to Vanuatu during World War II, by the American military for camouflage purposes. The creeper is a real threat to the forest