Today was our first full day in Santo. We started with a great breakfast overlooking the lagoon, and I particularly enjoyed the local passion fruit. As we ate we discussed our plan for today: exploring some of the island. Santo is actually a fairly large island, spanning more than 1,500 square miles, making it more than 65 times the size of Manhattan. However, only a relatively small part of the island can be reached by road – really just the east and southeast. The much larger northern and western portions can only be reached by boat and are very wild (alluringly wild to be honest but that might have to wait for our next trip to Santo). That meant that we would stick to the eastern edge, starting with a nearby beach — Champagne Beach — before continuing on to the small village of Port Olry.

In getting ready for the day, we were impressed by the support from Turtlebay.  Need water shoes?  We’ve got loaners.  Have some stuff that can’t get wet? Here are some dry bags.  Need sunscreen?  We sell a locally-made all-natural reef-safe product.  Need recommendations?  We know all the best places. And when I asked if we needed to worry about our things being nicked while we were swimming, they told us that even petty crime is rare in these remote parts of the island.

Well supplied and well advised, we were ready. So how did we intend to see the island? In an open air buggy. With four wheel drive. And monster shocks. And neon orange accents. Basically a life-sized toy.

It really doesn’t make much sense for there to be a buggy like this on the undeveloped island of Santo. As near as we could tell, it’s the only one on the island. Apparently, the owner of Turtlebay came into some money speculating on cryptocurrency and decided to invest it in the lodge, including in some kind of crazy ways. He ordered this buggy straight from China. I was dripping with excitement to drive this thing.

We set off down the lodge’s dirt road and turned onto the mostly-tarred road we’d be taking for most of the drive. As we drove, the ni-Van waved at us, particularly the children.

We suspected that some folks waved because of our unusual car. But more importantly people in Vanuatu are just friendly. We had begun to see that in Vila, and here in the more remote Santo it was doubly true. And as near as we could tell the smiles we saw reflected the genuine happiness of the ni-Van. I know that there’s always a risk that strangers in a strange land will misunderstand the realities and perspectives of the local citizenry, whether because of ignorance or cultural distortion. But it’s not just me saying that the ni-Van are particularly happy.

Every year, the Happy Planet Index is published by a collective partnership of various nonprofits. The Index evaluates happiness with a deceptively simple formula: Self-reported happiness times life expectancy divided by carbon output. The idea is that happiness should be sustainable, not based on slash-and-burn efforts to amass wealth. Since 2006, Vanuatu has consistently ranked high in this index, twice coming in first.  

Back to the drive! The dense jungle along the road was amazing. We saw huge vines, giant elephant ears, waving banana trees, and coconut palms towering above it all.

We also passed massive trees, like this gargantuan Banyan.

Here and there, we also saw small signs of the local people. We could smell woodsmoke and passed a few roadside stalls selling produce.

Altogether, it felt a little surreal to be exploring this exotic island in our cartoonish buggy. But we needed those crazy shocks, as the road was riddled with deep potholes.  After about 45 minutes we turned off of the main road onto a rugged dirt road with big rocks and oversized pot holes. We were even more glad to have the shocks and four wheel drive!

At the end of that road, we reached Champagne Beach, which is probably the prettiest beach I’ve ever seen.  The water was an unreal turquoise color. 

We parked and took a quick swim in the water to cool off. To get a sense of the space, we decided to walk to one end of the beach to check out the jungle — towards the left in the picture above. We soon reached an area where huge trees loomed out over the water.

As we walked back the other direction, we marveled at how empty the beach was. There were maybe 1 or 2 other small groups of visitors, as well as a few ni-Van who maintain the beach. And there were 5 dogs, much to Team Hubbard’s delight. As we walked, we marveled at how soft the sand was. This is not my first beach, dear reader, so believe me when I say this sand felt different — almost like confectionary sugar.

The Turtlebay had recommended that we check out the snorkeling in the area, so Lydie, Cassie, and I got on our masks, snorkels, and flippers to see what we could see. The sea life was impressive! We saw huge clams, 7-pointed snails, amazing corals, and tons of tropical fish.

Interestingly, the water was cloudy and cold near the top, but crystal clear and warmer further down. Apparently this is because freshwater percolates up through the beach and then sits on top of the salt water. Sometimes this freshwater has some little bits of gas in it, making the sea bubble — hence the name Champagne Beach.

We didn’t expect to stay as long as we did at the beach, but it was just too pretty to leave. The girls decided to relax and read a bit, with some of the local dogs joining them.

Julie and I explored the tropical trees at the other end of the beach.

The trees were huge! And covered in mosses, ferns, and orchids.

Many of the trees were Fish Poison Trees. These trees drop cube-like pods that are highly toxic to animals, including Hubbards. Indeed, crushed pods can be dumped into water to kill and catch fish, hence the name.

The trees also produce a steady stream of flowers.

They’re pretty, but we wisely didn’t eat any. Instead, we had some leftover pizza from the Turtlebay restaurant, though we had to eat it standing in the water because our new canine friends *really* wanted to share. We waited until we were about to leave to share some scraps, after first checking with the local ni-Van to make sure it would be okay. Then, it was time to get back in our buggy. Game on!

Once back to the main road, we continued north to reach Port Orly. We passed through the town to reach another little beach, again taking advantage of the four-wheel drive. This beach had great coral and shells to investigate.

From here we could also look back at the small beachy “port” of Port Olry.

We hopped back in the buggy and returned to “downtown” Port Olry, where we decided to get a lime juice refresher at the Chez Louis Restaurant, a place locally famous for its views and incredibly slow service.

The ocean views were indeed spectacular, and the service was indeed sloth-like. After finally getting our drinks, we drove home, waiving at the people we passed and dodging the unending potholes the best we could.

We had another great dinner at the Turtlebay restaurant with the sun setting behind us.

I want to take a moment to thank my family for letting me drive the buggy. It was more fun than I could possibly express with words. We went to bed early after a full and fun-filled day.

-Will