Visiting the outer islands

I wanted to add a reply to Laszlo's post but it says it's blocked.

I'll be visiting Tuvalu in September and my main goal will be to reach one of the outer islands. Laszlo has written this bit about the outer islands

Trips to the outer islands by boat are unpredictable, in theory running fortnightly, but when I went, people up North told me that the previous sailing was a month ago. Schedules, as much as they exist, can and do change till the last minute. The first sailing of this year actually left days earlier than had been announced

• Where do the boats sail from? Is there a main harbour like Betio in Tarawa where you can go and ask people about schedules?
• How many boats reach the outer islands? Are there only government boats or there are small private ones as well? Is it possible to talk to people and offer them money to reach one of the closest islands? I reasonably think the only three islands that are reachable are Nukufetau, Vaitupu, Nukulaelae; how much time does it take to reach one of these three islands? If it takes like one night, it might not be unreasonable to offer money to somebody with a boat, paying fuel to go and back, in case I don't find any public transportation.
• How much time does the public boat stop in each island before leaving again?

Well, generally, if anybody has any information that might be useful, or any contact of somebody with a boat that I can get in touch once in Funafuti, that would be very welcome.

Thank you in advance for your help
Adriano

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There is only one harbour in Funafuti.
Only government ships go to the outer islands, and they typically stop for a long half day at each. Small private boats are only chartered to reach islands around Funafuti atoll. The outer islands would be too far for these.

Hi Laszlo!

So how did you visit the outer islands? Did you jump on one of those ferries that stop at several of them and then come back to Funafuti?

If yes, which islands did you visit? Did you stay for the night on at least one of them? How did you find out about the local dancing? Were they doing that during the daytime when the boat arrived?

Also, how much time it took to do the whole trip to go and back?

I cannot afford to stay three whole weeks in Tuvalu as you did, so I'll have less chances to make it, but I think I can spend there 10-14 days hoping I'll find a boat. I don't mind losing my fly back to Suva, if I do find a ferry a bit too late and it doesn't take me back to Funafuti on time

I mean, I cannot afford in terms of time, I have to go to other places as well and three weeks is too much; but if I book a flight to stay there for 12 days and I see that I'll miss the flight back, I won't mind to overstay a couple of days

I visited the 4 northernmost islands by taking a round-trip on the same boat.
You can't plan this, or catching a festival, it depends on luck.
Tuvalu is no place to hurry.

Thanks. And how many days it took to go to those four islands and back?

Just roughly, so that I know the chances I am going to bet against (if the trip takes 4 days, and I book my flight back after 12 days, then I know that, if I find the ferry after my 8th day of stay, I'll miss my flight back; if it takes 3 days, similar calculation, etc).

I know these calculations might sound weird, but I want to weight carefully my chances pro and against every part of my trip: I have in total 5 months for the whole trip in Melanesia, Eastern Indonesia and the Pacific, and there are other places where I'll risk as well. If I have enough knowledge regarding each place, I'll be in a better position to decide where I'll spend more time and risk less, and where I'll spend less time and risk more.

Thanks again for your help!

Maybe 5 days?
I don't keep records of these and can't remember exactly.

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