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After Santo, I disappeared into the remote jungles of Vanuatu (and believe me, they were remote). First came the island of Pentecost (named after the day Captain Cook sighted it), known throughout the world for its tradition of naghol, or land diving. On Pentecost, I spent five incredible days hanging out with Peace Corps volunteers in the villages of Ranwas and Pangi, and each deserves a post to itself.

At this point, one might wonder how I got in touch with the Peace Corps volunteers. The answer is as simple as CouchSurfing and making one lucky (and expensive!) phone call to Pangi’s village phone to contact Mary, the Peace Corps volunteer stationed here since 2006.

I’ve spent the past week or so doing some diving and taking some courses at Aquamarine in Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu. Most of my dives were on the SS President Coolidge. It’s an amazing wreck, and some of the swim-throughs are quite spectacular…

One of the courses I took was my Wreck Specialty, which involved laying line through the Coolidge’s chain locker, taking my mask off (i.e., blinding myself), and navigating my way out. On another dive, I logged my deepest depth yet: 53 meters (174 feet). Great fun!

Beqa Lagoon, home of The Shark Dive, was our next stop. This thing is not for the faint hearted – a total of eight different species of shark are hand-fed over two dives, including Whitetip Reefs, Blacktip Reefs, Lemons, Bulls, and yes, sometimes even Tigers. No cages are used, and so far there haven’t been any accidents.

We were lucky enough to see all of the above mentioned sharks, including the Tiger!

Jimmy and I made a special trip to Taveuni, here in Fiji, for the world-class scuba diving. There’s nothing quite like diving in Fiji – the crystal clear warm water, lots of fish, and many, many corals. While here we stayed at Tovu Tovu Resort and dove with Vunibokoi Divers, which is led by Tyrone Valentine, who has logged more than 15,000 dives.

Some more photos from the Yasawas.