Vanuatu - short break, worth it?

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bracko

Contributor
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Location
sydney, Australia
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Hi, I've had a look around at as many reviews as I can and recently always have trouble getting past travel agent sites and that rather large holiday "advisor" site, so I thought I'd ask up front.

we happen to have a week off (my girlfriend and I) and were wondering how Vanuatu stacks up? the flights are still cheap if we book soon, we're wanting to go near the end of Nov. A few points thought,

1. my partner has some but little interest in diving wrecks and I don't want to find out inside the Coolidge that she suffers from underwater claustrophobia. As competent a diver as she is, I don't want to take her deco diving for the first time there, so Santo is probably out, which leaves Vila or the new island Tanna (??).
2. we've dived some pretty good places between us, Raja, Komodo, Sipadan, GBR (me Palau, Chuuk and Red Sea too among others), if we just potter around in Vila (or somewhere else someone is more than welcome to mention) will we be satisfied?
3. I notice most places only offer two dives a day, we're more a 3 or so dive couple, so is there an opportunity to do night dives, or is this not a thing in Vanuatu?
4. Nitrox?

cheers for any help offered. I have visited the MF site which is always great information but difficult to compare to other places.

p.s. if anyone has any other suggestions I would be more than happy to hear them. The general requirements are, not to far from Sydney, not Thailand/Bali, not complex connections. Not ridiculously expensive.
 
For a week only, I would say just do Port Vila. Nautilus is my recommendation. There are a few nice wrecks to do as well as plenty of reef dives. Most people only do two dives a day there and on all my trips there this has been sufficient as there are lots of other things to do (unlike many dive locations). I would really recommend a day trip on Golden Wing to Havannah Harbour where there is excellent diving. See my web site for details of dive sites. www.michaelmcfadyenscuba.info/viewpage.php?page_id=10#vanuatu
 
I dived quite a lot of places in SEA and South Pacific.
Normally I am biased towards Vanuatu because I grew up there, but in terms of diving, Back 5 years ago, I found Efate The island where Vila is located) a little disappointing while I thought the Coolidge on Santo was totally worth it (and I am NOT usually a wreck buff).
I dived north Efate too (Hat island and Moso), stayed at Tranquility dive (in front of Port Havannah), it was still disappointing in my book. If you have dived Indonesia, Philippines or Fiji, you'd be disappointed..

On the other hand, leaving the diving apart, Tanna (not a new island : i used to climb mount Yasur when I was 10 yo, I am now 50) is a fantastic island for the extraordinary Yasur volcano, easiest in the world to reach 24/7 action (climb up with a car, walk 50m and enjoy the show), for the tribal culture, for the nature and the Kava drinking.

For week stay,diving I'd say go to Fiji, 3h hours ride north of Nadi and stay at Volivoli. Best coral in the south Pacific.
 
thanks for the reply Luko and Michael. We have decided to head to Port Villa and stay around Hideaway and use their dive facilities. given the short trip I think we'll be happy with what's on offer. While we will not be going to Santo, I will spend the few (precious) weekends preparing her for a good dive (or two?) on the Star of Russia which seems to be a great dive on its own and if all goes well, a good and comfortable gateway for future trips of wreck diving to Vanuatu.

Luko. the comment onTanna was more pointed at the recent development of dive centres and connectivity rather than the island actually existing :wink:
 
I did the Star of Russia about 6 weeks ago along with Twin Bombies in Vila, the Coolidge and Tanna (can't recommend the diving there but def go and check out Mt Yasur. If you want to stay on Tanna overnight local ni van owned bungalows at Rocky Ridge are my recommendation.

I'm not a wreck person and hate shore diving with a passion but the Coolidge absolutely rocked. DIve Op Coral Quays Absolute Adventures.

In Vila I was very satisfied with Big Blue.

Get a few dives in like Star of Russia, the flying boat and some reef sites and look for geothermal bubbles in the substrate and leave yourself free to do lots of stuff on land....or....fly up and do the Coolidge, overnight after seeing Millenium Cave and the Blue Holes (Stunning as opposed to the ones on Efate) for your no fly time. It's a very special wreck and there is reef diving close by in Santo if your plans are not set in stone yet
 
we will be back for the coolidge, but not this trip. we're only going for 5 days so just want to make the most of the sun and water. staying just near hideaway island resort.

I will take my partner on the Star of Russia for a dive or two and see how she likes it. the only wreck we've dived was off phuket and was a disaster due to ridiculously high current.
 
You shouldn't encounter any current in Vila of note...there are several really easy no penetration wrecks to give your partner some nice confidence building dives.
 
On the other hand, leaving the diving apart, Tanna (not a new island : i used to climb mount Yasur when I was 10 yo, I am now 50) is a fantastic island for the extraordinary Yasur volcano, easiest in the world to reach 24/7 action (climb up with a car, walk 50m and enjoy the show), for the tribal culture, for the nature and the Kava drinking.

LOL Luko how old are you? Yep, Tanna is not new, the first recorded visit was 3300 years ago :D - Although, it is still growing so its young but not new, definitely not new :D

Re Tanna: Yes, definitely go and climb Ol Man Yassur - the show is spectacular. Again..Id caution against diving there. PM Me if you want reasons why.
 
LOL Luko how old are you? Yep, Tanna is not new, the first recorded visit was 3300 years ago :D - Although, it is still growing so its young but not new, definitely not new :D

Re Tanna: Yes, definitely go and climb Ol Man Yassur - the show is spectacular. Again..Id caution against diving there. PM Me if you want reasons why.
I was refering to the OP's quote "...the new island Tanna".

That said you probably haven't seen Yasur in a 35 years span, it's incredible how it changed. There was a lake 30 years ago, it's now gone replaced with crevaces. I am not sure you could drive to the top from the back side at that period, you had to walk it from the lake/ash plain side..
 
Surprisingly Luko, I do know what you mean...the first time I was in Vanuatu was over 30 years ago while sailing around - I climbed it then..it was a lot harder to climb twice in a 24 hour period even with easier access from the Resolution side and vehicles in September - or maybe I just got 30 years older :D (Its my field of study, watching the reef cracks flex and open during the week last year with the standard thrice a week quakes was hugely interesting - the reason I dived there, not for fish)

ETA - I dont suppose you have any photos of Yasur back then Luko? Unfortunately the boat I was crewing on sunk so the three photos i did have were lost
 
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