Million Dollar Point

Million Dollar Point is a popular shore dive in the southeast corner of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu. The site gets its name from the “million dollars” of U.S. Army materiel dumped into the ocean at the end of the war, consisting of trucks, diggers and bulldozers, among other things. The equipment was dumped for a number of reasons, including the cost of transport back to the US being more than it was worth, and agreements with war-time manufacturers stipulating that the equipment could not be gifted or resold after the war, in essence flooding the market with materials that would impact their future sales. Today, divers can see the amazing remnants of this equipment dump by either snorkeling or diving. The complex reef shelters a host of marine life, all of which is accessible mere steps from the sandy beach. The slope itself descends beyond recreational limits, but there is plenty for divers to explore between the depths of 50 and 120 feet (15 and 36.5 meters), including the wreck of the MV Dedele, an 85-foot-long (26-meter) coastal trader resting at a jaunty angle with its bow reaching as shallow as 43 feet (13 meters).