Vanuatu
Port Resolution
Beach hot springs at Captain Cook's 1774 anchorage, where Yasur paints the night sky orange.
Sail or drive into Port Resolution and the volcano announces itself before the village does: a pulsing glow over the ridge after dark, a light dusting of ash on deck by morning. Along the bay's western cliffs, steam from hot springs hisses into the air above the tide.
Captain Cook anchored HMS Resolution in this east Tanna bay in 1774 and left the ship's name on it, but the anchorage was somebody's seascape long before that: the village above the bay keeps fishing knowledge the community still celebrates in shared harvest feasts. The official Tanna guide puts the island's whitest beaches and bluest water here, with coral reefs off Yewao Point and the Iwea hot springs within a walk of the sand. Around twenty yachts can swing at anchor below the little yacht club, which stands on the site of the old mission with Yasur smouldering behind it. Thermal ground is real ground: ask your hosts which pools are safe before entering any hot water. Then stay for the evening ritual, the volcano's glow rising and falling above a bay that has watched it for centuries.
Couple
Take a bungalow deck over the water and let the bay run its full cycle past you, morning trade wind, dusk glow, ash-soft starlight.
Family
Use only the thermal pools and swimming spots your hosts point out, and let children count the volcano's pulses from the beach after dinner.
Friends
Pair the bay with a Yasur rim visit when conditions allow, and split the days between reef, springs and the walk to the village.
- Cook anchored HMS Resolution here in 1774, and the bay has carried the ship's name ever since.
- Hot springs steam along the western cliffs, and the Iwea springs sit within a stroll of the beaches.
- The official Tanna guide places the island's whitest beaches and bluest water here, with coral reefs off Yewao Point.
- Yachts still ride Cook's anchorage, and Yasur's glow pulses over the bay after dark.
Sea Breeze's seafood platter is the bay's plate: lobster in season and fish drenched in coconut milk, served on a deck above the water.
Around the bay, kitchens cook what the village boats land; Port Resolution's tribes still mark their fish-harvest traditions with shared feasts.
Watamu
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Nungwi
Tanzania
Dhow builders hammer hulls on a beach that dines at its fish market by night.
Tarrafal
Cape Verde
A palm-shaded swimming cove shares its town with the prison called the Camp of Slow Death.
Gothenburg Archipelago (Southern)
Sweden
Granite islands polished by ice, where the swimming happens off sun-warmed rock shelves.
Port Vila
Vanuatu
A capital where France and Britain ruled at once, and kava quiets the harbour at dusk.
Vao Island
Vanuatu
Giant tam-tams boom across a ten-minute strait; on Vao, rank is earned, never inherited.
Ambae
Vanuatu
Every soul left Ambae twice when the volcano stirred; its crater lake still shifts colour.