One month in Vanuatu - advice

Will be in Vanuatu for a month starting mid November and after doing some research still have many questions so am looking for previous travellers advice:

1) can you travel to Santo by boat and if so how long does it take and what does it cost?Do these boats travel to all the islands in Vanuatu?

2) would I be better off buying snorkel gear in Vanuatu or before I leave Australia as I am led to believe that I can buy it duty free in Vila but can I actually do that upon arriving in the country?

3) should I organise my accommodation and trekking tours to other islands ie. Tanna or Epi thru agents before I leave Vila or is it something I can arrange locally once I arrive on these islands?

4) Would like to relax for the first 5 days by a white sandy beach (don't mind which island) that is safe for swimming and where the accommodation is fairly basic ie. small thatched hut and not your resort type setup and where I can eat local meals/fruits - any suggestions?

5) can anyone recommend a good dive company for a beginner that they have had experience with - either on Santo or Vila?

Would be thankful for any advice, cheers

i dont dive so i cant answer those questions. However:

1)you can get to Santo by boat. It takes 24 hours and the price is about 9000 if I remember rightly. Thats the passenger boat. There are also lots of small cargo boats that go and you could pay much less for but they usually leave several days late and can be cramped, wet and VERY uncomfortable if there are rough seas. Most islands are served by passenger boats and all will probably have some cargo boats going to them, but a month is really too little time to consider visiting several islands by cargo booat. My advice would be to take a boat if there is one going when you need it, if not just get on a flight because otherwise you can spend more money just waiting for a boat than it would save you.

I arranged all my trekking and accommodation when I arrived at each place. I just took public transport to where I wanted to start my trek then found someone who wanted to guide me from there. Accommodation is no problem as lots of villages have some sort of guest house and even if there isn't one or it;s too expensive there will always be someone willing to let you sleep in their house. Granted, I speak reasonable Bislama but even in the remoter villages there is often someone who speaks English or French.

Great sandy beach - Champagne Beach on Espiritu Santo.

descriptions of all my travels in Vanuatu can be found at www.mytb.org/edvallance

Answer for question #5 - Aquamarine in Luganville on Santo does dives for beginners to the SS President Coolidge and Million Dollar Point, I did several dives to the Coolidge with them and they were great. Very experienced, competent and had good equipment. I was not a beginner and so did a deeper dive, but there was a group that left the same time as my from shore and there were only two newly certified divers with one guide, and the guide didn't take them down as deep.

The only trek I did in Vanuatu was up Ambrym volcano and we organized that locally with the chief Ranon village, the guide's name was Kelvin (if I remember correctly) and he was excellent as well. I think its best to arrange things locally anyways because then any money you pay for accommodation/trips/etc... will go directly to the locals, not to an agent in Vila.

I also found that finding accommodation was never a problem, even in remote areas. The Ni-Vanuatu are incredibly hospitable, I was always invited to stay with local families.

Check out http://www.positiveearth.org/bungalows!!!!!! It's a very informative website that lists only locally owned bungalows on all the islands, I occasionally contribute to the site and know the reviewer quite well, he is a very knowledgeable guy. I would recommend buying your snorkel gear in Oz, as a lot of the stuff I saw at the local shops was shoddy, though I didn't peruse the duty-frees. I also would second the recommendation for Aquamarine, that's who I always dive with. An easy, beachy, bungalow place would be at the Nguna-Pele Marine Conservation Area on the island of Nguna, just off Efate. There's beautiful views of the Shepard Islands there and an underwater trails system, not the most pristine coral, but still nice and there's some big marine life cruising the channel between Nguna and Pele. Champagne Beach is nice, but there are occasional land disputes, and I would check the status before making the drive up there. You might consider booking on Tanna or Epi ahead of time, as they are more developed and it's possible to do so, but if you don't, you'll be fine. Traveling on cargo ships in Vanuatu is truly a cultural experience, albeit an uncomfortable one, but their schedules change all the time and if the price is close, save yourself some trouble and just take a plane. If you do take a boat, buy a hand line for fishing and a rubber squid to pass the time. - M

Vanuatu is not a shopping destination (even though it's advertised as duty free). The shops are pretty dingy.

You'd probably be able to buy your snorkelling gear at the dive shop at Vanuatu, but I wouldn't do it. I expect you'd have limited choice, and you don't want to get there and find they don't have what you want.