Port Resolution, Vanuatu

Port Resolution was our introduction to Vanuatu and based on our experience, we’re excited to see more of the country. Port Resolution is a real gem.

Ashore there is the Port Resolution Yacht club consisting of a small hut and a few long tables under the cover of a thin roof. Most days the government officials drive the two hours from the Lanekel, the nearest customs port, and use the club’s facilities to clear boats in or out of the country. Other than that, we didn’t see much activity at the club. Still, much happens via the club. Stanley, the club’s commodore, coordinates trips to Lanekel, island tours and trips to Mt. Yasur the nearby volcano.

We had a slow start to our visit. We arrived on a Friday morning hoping to clear into the country that day. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to clear in until the following Monday morning. We spent the days resting up from our passage and watching men in dugout canoes paddle past on their way to the head of the bay to fish.

Once cleared in, we got busy. We enjoyed walking through the village and around the bay. People always greeted us with a smile. The village has a good sized school. Children are taught English and French as part of the curriculum so we enjoyed chatting with the children we met on our walks.

Houses were simple, built almost entirely from local materials. I think it’s the first time we’ve seen this as we’ve crossed the South Pacific. Most houses are the quintessential thatched hut that I imagine were very common across the region in the past.

On one of our walks we found ourselves on the stunning White Beach where we met Suzanne who owns the White Beach Restaurant. We arranged to return the next day for lunch. There isn’t a menu. Suzanne prepares a meal with what she has available. It was delicious. We enjoyed a meal of cassava, taro, banana (plantain maybe), omelette and a salad. It was a great meal and we had far more food than we could possibly eat. We enjoyed visiting with Suzanne and learning about her family and life in the village.

The main draw to Port Resolution for most boaters is the nearby volcano, Mt. Yasur. It is one of the few active volcanos in the world where one can peer over the edge and see the lava bubbling and spewing below. It was the reason we chose to make landfall at Port Resolution.

The best time to see the volcano is at night, so late one afternoon we and some folks from other boats climbed into a pickup truck and bounced our way along a jeep track for about an hour to the base of the mountain. Once there we met our guides, listened to a short safety lecture and climbed back into the truck to make the drive up the volcano. After a short hike up from the parking area, we reached the rim of the smoke-filled volcano. The winds were strong and would occasionally clear the smoke so we could see the molten rock below. As the sun set and the sky grew darker it became easier to see the lava. Periodically we’d hear a loud explosion and see molten rock globules shoot into the air from one of the vents. None of the rock reached the crater’s rim where we stood but I understand that sometimes it does. Most of the time the wind blew the volcanic gasses away from our vantage point but occasionally a cloud of noxious fumes would reach us and everyone would quickly move away from the edge in order to find some fresh air. After one final spectacular explosion that sent lava balls high up into the crater, we made our way back to the truck in the dark.

On the drive back we passed by villages that were now completely dark. We were surprised that in most villages we saw no visible light. As we arrived back within sight of Port Resolution, we saw far more lights from the boats at anchor in the bay than we saw from the homes on shore.

Port Resolution is beautiful and its people were kind and welcoming. I think it would be hard to find a better place to start one’s visit to Vanuatu.