Kick back & relax

For visitors to Vanuatu who are looking to travel beyond the beaten path, a 40 minute flight connects Port Vila to Tanna’s White Grass Airport. Located in the far south of the enchanting archipelago, travellers to Tanna are amply rewarded by an island steeped in traditional kastom culture and reverence towards their iconic natural landmark; Mount Yasur Volcano. The wild frontier of Tanna is home to a myriad of landscapes; the island’s interior boasts verdant jungle highlands, coffee plantations and soaring cascades, bookended to the east by black-sand beaches and vast expanses of pristine coral reef to the west. 

Situated on an idyllic coral bluff overlooking the South Pacific Ocean is Tanna’s leading Resort, White Grass Ocean Resort and Spa.  Offering guests the creature comforts of home whilst embracing the charm of the South Sea, the 18-room resort is home to Melanesia’s first PADI ECO Dive Centre, Volcano Island Divers. The ocean-forward Dive Centre has opened up Tanna’s untouched reefs to the world of scuba. With virtually nil freshwater run off, the gin-clear waters are home to diverse marine species and vibrant corals. Perhaps the key charm to the rugged beauty of Tanna is its uncharted nature, allowing divers the rare opportunity to have world-class dive sites, all to themselves. 

The island’s dramatic underwater landscape features caves, caverns, reef walls, bommies, swim throughs and grottos to explore. For wreck divers, the MV Jean Percy lies in 14m (46ft) of water, offering divers the intricacies of wreck-diving at an entry level depth. Sheer reef walls prove perfect for observing passing schools of barracuda, trevally, yellowfin tuna, wrasse and parrot fish. Muck divers delight in playing hide and seek with macro critters including spider crabs and anemone shrimp and various nudibranchs in the sandy bottoms of the aquamarine Blue Holes.  

Pods of dolphins and curious green sea turtles are regulars on the resort’s House Reef. The resort “Adopted The Blue” with the PADI Aware foundation for their House Reef, which is part of a canvassed 5km marine protection area. 

The reef is accessible by a purpose-built jetty, perfect for shore dives, and offers experienced divers multiple swim throughs to an interconnecting network of blue holes. Late August and early September divers are greeted by the ethereal whalesong of the seasonal humpback migration. Keen photographers who are fortunate to photograph the visiting humpbacks are encouraged to submit their images for fluke identification, as part of a citizen science initiative to help track the migratory patterns of the majestic mammals. 

Tanna’s most popular snorkel and scuba site is undoubtedly the Lemnap Blue Cave. Located 20 minutes by boat to the north of the Resort, the cathedral-like cave is accessible by a quick duck dive under an obscured entrance for snorkelers, or can be enjoyed at depth as a scuba experience. Upon surfacing, guests marvel at the vast grotto with sunbeams bathing the azure waters from a natural opening in the ceiling of the cave. The resident school of yellow striped goat fish dart around divers as they explore the turquoise waters.