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Espiritu Santo

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Vanuatu’s largest island, where Luganville grew into a wartime base in 1942 and the sea around it still holds what the Americans left behind.

Fly to Espiritu Santo All of Vanuatu
Arrival
Santo-Pekoa International · SON
To Luganville
Airport 4 km east of town
Private jets
Customs at SON; handling mandatory
Best time
May to October

The city

Wrecks, springs and a wartime town.

Luganville is Vanuatu’s second town and the working centre of Sanma province. In 1942 Santo became a major American base and tens of thousands of troops passed through. When they left, the surplus went into the sea at a spot now called Million Dollar Point, and the SS President Coolidge lies in the Segond Channel. Divers come for both.

Inland, freshwater springs rise through the limestone into the blue holes, and several are an easy day out from town. The island is wet all year. From May to October the summer heat and the cyclone months are over, and the evenings cool.

  • SS President Coolidge The ship that sank in the Segond Channel, one of the two wartime wrecks that bring divers to Santo.
  • Million Dollar Point The shore where unused American equipment was pushed into the water after the war, now a dive site.
  • The blue holes Spring-fed pools in the limestone, several within a day trip of Luganville.

Arriving

Through Port Vila, or straight in.

Santo-Pekoa lies four kilometres east of Luganville and is an airport of entry, with customs.

Business & First Class Scheduled flights International flights land at Port Vila, and a domestic flight of about an hour continues to Santo. Business & First fares Private Jet Private jets A jet from abroad can clear customs at Santo-Pekoa and avoid Port Vila altogether. The asphalt runway is 2,000 metres long, jet fuel is listed, and the tower works from seven in the morning to five in the afternoon. Handling is mandatory; slots are not required. Charter a jet
Approximate flying time by midsize jet
  • Nadi 1 h 50
  • Brisbane 2 h 55
  • Sydney 3 h 40
  • Beijing 10 h 45 long-range jet
  • San Francisco 12 h 25 long-range jet

When to go

May to October.

Highs run from 27 to 30 °C and every month brings well over 150 mm of rain. December to April is the wettest stretch and also the cyclone season. From May to October the days are a little cooler and the sea stays between 26 and 28 °C.

  1. 30° J 334 29°
  2. 30° F 301 29°
  3. 30° M 376 29°
  4. 29° A 253 29°
  5. 28° M 217 28°
  6. 28° J 179 27°
  7. 27° J 194 27°
  8. 27° A 173 26°
  9. 28° S 199 27°
  10. 28° O 182 27°
  11. 29° N 236 27°
  12. 29° D 244 28°
Best months weather2travel.com, long-term averages

Elsewhere in Vanuatu

More reasons to come.

All of Vanuatu

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Business & First Private Jet