Suggestions/critiques of my trip to Ile de pins/Port Vila/Fiji wanted

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After you do Mount Yasar (and you really should) if you have time spend the night at the treehouse on the volcano flanks - if you can manage to swing it so you're over that side of the island on a Thursday check out the cargo cult dance and ceremony. Enjoy :)

Stop it! You make me want to go back...
 
Just back from Vanuatu, what a great place to visit! Of all the three places we went, we thought we would like Eratap the best--not true. I honestly would skip it and had straight to Santo. The location of Eratap is lovely, the people are nice, but the price of the room (something like $500/night), we didn't feel relaxed there. There was signs in the room warning you of theft by local kids who can't get jobs, security guards walking around with flashlights at night that would enter the room's windows, no activity list in a hotel compendium (which I think is pretty standard for a luxury hotel), but rather a wall of brochures from tour companies--it all just felt kind of lacking. Our room (Honeymoon Villa 11) is located in a gorgeous setting, with wonderful outside seating area, but inside needs some updating. The room had plastic lime decorations, the mini fridge kept empty, and you're given two plastic water bottles on your first day, which you can refill at the restaurant. I would rather they give us larger, reusable containers that we could take with us on excursions.

You could go snorkeling at the beach, but there are signs up at Eratap warning you that a current might drag you out to sea, which made my partner (a nervous swimmer) rethink getting in the water. We had 4 nights here, and felt it was too long. Vila has some beautiful places, but you will have to seek them out for yourself. I'd give this place 4/5 stars.

The diving was arranged for me to go with Big Blue. I did two dives, both reef dives. The dives were easy, but there really wasn't much to see. Second dive was at Two Bommies, which had better coral. You can request to dive other locations, but on that particular day, they had open water students on the boat, so they couldn't take us to the wrecks. One guy got off the boat onto a smaller boat to be taken to a different site since he had already done Two Bommies. They did offer it to me, but I declined because I'd rather look at coral than do a cavern dive.

Next we went to White Grass in Tanna, a 30 minute flight. It's not the same caliber as Eratap, the location, that sunset, the people. Plus there's an adorable border collie. Loved this place. The dives are easy. I did three dives, Blue Hole 2, House Reef, and Blue Cave. I enjoyed them all. Mt. Yasur was a treat, but I'm not sure how I feel about the guided tour. One company controls the entrance to the volcano. However you arrive there, you will take their trucks up to the summit and walk the remainder of the rim. The railing is broken at the rim, and it's very windy there. Once you're up there, the guides sit back and basically wait until everyone is done watching or it's 6:30pm, whichever comes first. You're left on your own to watch the eruptions. Please don't misunderstand me, the guides are very nice, but you should use your common sense when viewing the volcano. Bring a jacket or a warm sweater so you can spend a long time at the top. It's incredibly beautiful to watch the plumes of smoke rising from the crater as the sun set, and pulling apart into air in the gold glow of the fading light.

Activities were easy to arrange and there was a bound book of activities in the room. They do a great job advertising what's available, and are honest. I had inquired about the authenticity of some of the cultural tours and were given honest replies.

Last we went to an island in Santo, called Ratua. Santo is 45 minutes by plane from Vila, then it's another 50-60 minute boat ride to Ratua. Ratua claims it's 30 minutes, but it's not. I was a little apprehensive about the place since the buildings are from Indonesia, it looks dark inside the rooms, and it seemed a little quirky. We loved this place. It was by far our favorite accommodation. The rooms are quirky, but we spent most of our time outside. There are sheltered bays for snorkeling--I even saw a cuttlefish snorkeling in a shallow area. I saw turtles from the surface, but not while I was in the water.

Diving from here is quite expensive. You have to take a boat shuttle from the resort ($50USD roundtrip) to the dive shop, and then pay the dive shop for the dives (about $200). I went with Aore Divers ran by Paul. They are one of the few operators who do boat dives on the Coolidge. They also have a house rental right next to the shop that looks very nice. The day we went to the wreck, a cyclone came nearby, causing choppy water and reduced visibility. I was already anxious about the decompression diving, so having to kit up in the choppy water, and not being able to see as far as I'd like heightened my anxiety even more. I also couldn't understand how to read the decompression diving on my computer, it kept saying 6-7 minutes, but I didn't know at what depth. That's my fault and I should have learned how to read this better. As a result, I wanted to sit out the second dive because I was not comfortable, but Paul suggested I go back in, shallower, and it would just be the one of the guides and me. This made me feel a lot better as I didn't want to hold back the other two divers, who both used to work as dive guides in various locations, and they wanted to penetrate the wreck. I did not feel comfortable going that deep again and going into deco, and certainly not entering.

I wish I had more time on Santo, so I could have dove the wreck more. There were a lot of fish that came by, and it would have been nice to see more coral on it, but the wreck itself is pretty neat to see. I'm not big into wrecks, but I would have liked more time to get comfortable diving the Coolidge.

I also loved the freedom of roaming about on Ratua. We rode horses, bikes, paddle boards, walked, and combed the island. On Vila, everywhere belonged to a village, so you have to pay for entry. I don't have a problem with that, I just didn't know where I could go and how much cash I needed to bring. I think that if you could swing it, I would skip Vila. The international airport is right next door to the domestic one--you really can comfortably walk from one to the other, and I would suggest going to Santo for your husband to dive. There's plenty there for you to do while he does so. If you go with Aore, Paul does two morning boat dives, so the divers will be back by 12pm. If you stay on Santo, the shore dives are done at 10 am and again in the afternoon, I think around 2 or 3pm. We will not return to Vila, but we would consider going back to Santo. I hope this helps your trip planning.
 
Glad you loved your holiday in Vanuatu - beautiful world out there isnt it. I agree diving in Vila harbour is pretty average. Two Bombies didnt make it onto the list of "would like to do again" dive sites and Im glad you had a good time on the grand old Dame - im not a real fan of wrecks but in those odd lust for rust moments shes one of the wrecks I head for.

Isnt Yasur the greatest show on earth btw - and Aore is beautiful.
 

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