hi and arrived last night from a FAB trip to Vanuatu (our 6th)
for 3 dives per day (guided) plus shore diving plus night dive every mon, wed & fri go to Hideaway;
Hideaway Island Resort & Marine Sanctuary - Vanuatu - The diving resort (but insist you DONT get bungalow 9

). this is a small island about 15mins by bus and a small lagoon ride from Port Villa, meaning its easy to get to town when you want, the Mele village is across from the lagoon (and they have cultural walks) and the people of Vanuatu are simply lovely lovely people that you will see and meet everywhere you go. also, wander into the the main local market at port villa and you can buy yummy fresh fruit and meet more locals. (and hubby and I were married on Hideaway)
otherwise, we just spend 10 nights at Tranquility (i swear my computer monitor is still rocking from all the boat dives we did

)
South Pacific Dive & Cruise Vanuatu (will be doing a trip report with pics and youtube video in the next week)
warning - its
VERY basic!!!!! the room is a mosquito covered 4 wall hut with a local made bed (& mosquito net and even then im covered in mozzie bites!) generator power is only on for a few hours each evening (to charge up the batteries) BUT the food is yummy (no menu, you get what tommy makes but we were never hungry) and organic, there is 2 local villages and again the staff are lovely people.
the diving was FAB! we will be going back just for Owens Reef alone as we only just scratched the surface of that dive. we (hubby and i) did nearly 40 dives there and my list includes a nice wreck, lion fish, turtles, mantas, mantas LEAPING out of the water!, dolphins, eels, leaping out of the water turtles, giant napoleans, giant titan trigger fish and so many other things i need to think about to remember.
my only complaint about Tranquility (which i have told the managers) is for us, divers on a dive trip want to dive and their schedule is only 2 boat dives per day, approx 10.30am and 2pm.... BUT, they were happy for hubby and i to go out and do shore dives whenever we wanted
they (the managers) did initially insisnt that "every dive has to be guided" but after a single dive with hubby and I, we never used a guide again but all other divers were guided
if you were going to go to vanuatu, i suggest breaking the trip up for a bit of Santo (
Dive the SS President Coolidge in Vanuatu with Aquamarine) to dive the Coolidgee and then either hideaway or tranquility - and if you stay at Hideaway, you can go to Tranquility as a day trip
vanatu really is my fav place in the world so if you have any questions please ask
edit: oh, and Hideaway no longer has a annual photo-festival, 2006 was their last one. cheers