Port Olry tide times

Port Olry is a small village on the northwestern coast of Espiritu Santo, 65 kilometres from Luganville along the western coast road. The settlement has French colonial origins — a Catholic mission station was established here in the early 20th century, and the mission building remains on the hillside above the village. The bay is protected by a limestone reef on its outer face, creating a calm lagoon inside that is the centre of community life: outrigger canoes, fishing nets hung to dry, children swimming after school.

The tidal regime at Port Olry is mixed semidiurnal, with a spring range of approximately 1.2 metres. The limestone reef on the bay's outer face is exposed at low water springs, providing a platform walkable in dry conditions — the rock is pockmarked limestone with a rough, dry surface that gives adequate footing in flat calms but is slippery when wave-washed. The reef flat between the shore and the outer reef crest crosses 80 to 120 metres of inter-tidal zone at low water springs. The community fishes and harvests shellfish from this flat under traditional tenure, and visitors should ask before collecting anything.

The inner lagoon is protected from all but northwest swell and is calm for swimming and kayaking at most tide states. Visibility in the lagoon is best on incoming tides when water from the outer Pacific floods through gaps in the reef crest. The reef wall on the outer face of the limestone reef is not well-documented by dive surveys; the few visiting divers who have explored it report undisturbed coral communities on the outer slope in 10 to 30 metres.

Community-run tourism at Port Olry includes guided village walks, traditional cooking demonstrations (laplap — taro or manioc cooked in leaf parcels in an earth oven), and boat trips on the lagoon. These are arranged informally through the community and provide direct economic benefit to the village. The road from Luganville is unsealed west of the main northern trunk road junction and requires four-wheel-drive in wet season.

Birds in the coastal forest above the village include the chestnut-bellied kingfisher (found only on Santo and adjacent small islands), rainbow lorikeet, and Pacific swallow. The beach at low water attracts migratory waders in the northern winter (November to March): common sandpiper, whimbrel, and wandering tattler have been recorded on the reef flat.

Fishing in the outer waters beyond the reef targets coral trout, grouper, and occasional wahoo on the flood tide. The lagoon itself is relatively shallow (3 to 8 metres) and the fish community is managed by the village qoliqoli equivalent under custom law — commercial and sport fishing in the lagoon requires village permission.

Predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model. Accuracy is typically within plus or minus 45 minutes on timing and 0.2 to 0.3 metres on height — model-derived, not from a local gauge. The local tide authority is the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department (VMGD).