Close to Australia, but Pacific paradise still feels like a secret

There’s something that reminds me of America’s wild west in Espiritu Santo: I half expect to see a cowboy ride into its sleepy capital, Luganville. But when I walk between the town’s historic timber buildings and up its extra-wide main street – there’s nothing moving at all.

I’m barely 50 minutes by plane from Vanuatu’s bustling capital, Port Vila (still recovering from December’s earthquake), but around here, most locals still live off the land and the sea. At a produce market, I see bare-chested local men covered by not much more than grass and bark, carrying banana knives.

Nowhere in Vanuatu offers better beaches.

During World War II, Santo was a base for more than 100,000 allied soldiers, mostly Americans. But it’s impossible for me to imagine this sleepy island as a thriving metropolis. Writer James A Michener based his book Tales of the South Pacific on his time here during the war. The utopia he conjured – dubbed Bali Hai – is said to be an island visible off its east coast.

I first came to Santo in 2002. I fell for its sleepy charm then; 22 years on, not a lot of the charm’s gone. You can fly direct from Brisbane today, but locals still sleep outside Santo’s airport, under coconut trees. It may look a lot like it, but Santo is hardly a backwater. It’s home to some of Vanuatu’s prettiest resorts. But they’re low-key affairs – you won’t find five-star chain hotels. Or cocktail bars. Or restaurants with degustation menus. The island offers some of the South Pacific’s best diving, with arguably the world’s best dive-able shipwreck (SS President Coolidge, sunk during WWII sits just offshore at depths of 21 to 70 metres), but it’s all I can do to find a dive shop to take me there.

I’m staying on a tiny island, just off Luganville, reachable by small motorboat. My one-bedroom bungalow at Aore Island Resort isn’t extravagant, but it looks directly across the water. On my first evening I dine out at a table under a sky of stars and eat wahoo caught that morning by local fishermen.

Matevulu Blue Hole. The blue holes are waterholes full of electric-blue, crystal-clear water created by mountain water filtered through kilometres of underground caves.

For a sleepy place, there’s plenty to do. More than 40 per cent of Santo is covered in wild forest. There’s a network of inland waterways within it: hidden rivers flowing through the wilderness that connect to the island’s iconic blue holes – waterholes full of electric-blue, crystal-clear water created by mountain water filtered through kilometres of underground caves.

While there are kayak and canoe tours available, I prefer to rent my own and explore, finding blue holes where kids swing from ropes tied to the tallest tree. There are day tours too where I walk through rainforest to caves hidden deep in the island’s interior, climbing down bamboo ladders in the pitch black to find 50-metre-high chambers lit up by filtered sunlight.

Most locals still live off the land and the sea.Credit: Supplied

But I’ve come just for the beaches: for nowhere in Vanuatu offers better. The best of them I find at the end of the island’s sealed road on its east coast: the tiny fishing village of Port Olry is where a spectacular white-sand bay faces three offshore islands I can reach with an outrigger canoe. A fringing reef offers near-transparent water full of fish. When cruise ships come to town, impromptu souvenir stands open, but today all I can find is a simple seafood restaurant: a timber shack serving lobster straight from the sea. Ten minutes closer to Luganville, I find Santo’s most famous natural attraction, Champagne Beach, a horseshoe bay of powder-white sand beach frequented by the odd wandering cow, and turtle.

The world we travel in modernises at a rapid rate, and off-the-beaten-path destinations become mainstream the moment airlines start flying anywhere near them. But Santo – the biggest island in Vanuatu, easily accessible by air to Australians – manages to remain a secret.

THE DETAILS

FLY
Solomon Airlines (flysolomons.com) flies once a week to Espiritu Santo from Brisbane; Virgin Australia (virginaustralia.com.au) flies seven times a week to Port Vila from Brisbane; Qantas (qantas.com.au) flies three times a week to Port Vila from Brisbane with connections from Sydney and Melbourne, and Jetstar will fly once a week to Port Vila from December, then fly to Espiritu Santo with Air Vanuatu (operated by Solomon Airlines, airvanuatu.com)

STAY
Sleep in a one-bedroom or studio bungalow beside the sea at Aore Island Resort, with traditional Melanesian meals served in an open-air Nakamal house; from $340 a night. See aoreislandresorts.com

TOUR
Most tours can be booked through your accommodation. Take a full- or half-day guided tour of Santo, see paradisetourssanto.com, take a dive aboard Santo’s famous SS Coolidge World War II wreck, see pacificdive.net, take a tour to Millennium Cave, see millenniumcavetour.weebly.com

MORE
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The Australian government’s Smart Traveller website advises that normal safety precautions apply in Vanuatu (the minimum alert level). Parts of the Port Vila CBD remain closed due to damage from the earthquake. The vast majority of resorts and hotels are now operating.

The writer travelled courtesy of Vanuatu Tourism Office.