From Fiji To Micronesia

Lautoka is situated on the western side of Viti Levu, the largest island in Fiji, and just 20 km north of Nadi. The Fiji archipelago lies just to the western side of the International Date Line. Lautoka is Fiji's second largest city. Read more about Lautoka, Fiji

Ambrym is an island in the archipelago of Vanuatu (formerly known as the New Hebrides) in the South Pacific. It remains volcanically active, with two volcanic cones Benbow and Marum that still rumble away, and smaller vents and fractures that ooze steam and lava. The centre of the island is dominated by a massive 1900 year old 12 km diameter desert-like caldera that hosts multiple craters. Read more about Ambrym Island, Vanuatu

Luganville is a port on the south coast of Espirito Santo, the largest island in Vanuatu. It belongs to the archipelago of Vanuatu (the New Hebrides before 1980) in the Pacific region of Melanesia. Luganville on the SE coast is Vanuatu's second-largest settlement, and the provincial capital. Read more about Santo (Luganville), Vanuatu

Santa Ana Island is a raised coral atoll in the Makira-Ulawa Province of the Solomon Islands, east of Papua New Guinea. Port Mary, situated on a small bay of the same name on the SW of the island, is the main town. Each cruise ship Zodiac that arrives at the beach landing is greeted by a fierce “welcoming committee”, composed of local men, masked and mud-smeared, dressed in warrior costumes and brandishing spears, shields, and machetes. Read more about Santa Ana Island, Solomon Islands

Honiara, located on the northern coast of the island of Guadalcanal, is the capital of the Solomon Islands, which lie between Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea. Pijin is the principal language. The climate is tropical, and while the most pleasant time to visit is winter, July to September, the cooling sea breezes temper the humidity and heat along all coasts year-round. Read more about Honiara, Solomon Islands

Rabaul is a town on the Gazelle Peninsula in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. A busy commercial centre, it is situated on Simpson Harbour, a sheltered inlet of Blanche Bay. Almost the entire old town of Rabaul is buried under volcanic ash, the result of a volcanic eruption in 1994, and one is in awe of the scenery, which resembles an alien prehistoric landscape. Read more about Rabaul, Papua New Guinea

Chuuk (‘Mountain’ in Chuukese) is an island group in the south western part of the Pacific Ocean. (It is on the same longitude as Sydney, but lies 820km N of the Equator.) It comprises one of the four States of the Federated States of Micronesia, and geographically it is also part of the larger Caroline Group. The main population centre of Chuuk State is the Chuuk Lagoon, a large archipelago with mountainous islands surrounded by a string of islets with an undersea coral reef beneath clear waters. Read more about Chuuk, Micronesia (Federated States of)

Pulap Atoll consists of three islands – Pollap in the north, Tamatam in the south, and Fanadik to the central west – spread N-S over 10 km, to the north of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean. Pulap is part of the widely scattered Caroline Islands. The Atoll belongs to the state of Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia, and has a population of around 1300. Read more about Pulap Atoll, Micronesia (Federated States of)

The island of Yap, which actually consists of four continental islands that are very close together and joined within a common coral reef, is the most intriguing island in Micronesia. Scattered throughout the island are huge, ancient, stone money discs that are very heavy and are never moved around. They are still used for ceremonial exchanges, such as transfers of land titles. Read more about Yap Island, Micronesia (Federated States of)

Gaferut Atoll is an outlying atoll of the State of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia, Western Pacific Ocean. It lies 470 km S of Guam. The pendant-shaped atoll is just 500 m long by 150 m wide, situated inside a much larger reef. Read more about Gaferut Atoll, Micronesia (Federated States of)

The Island of Guam, the western-most (or should we say eastern-most?) territory of the United States, is an island in Micronesia in the western South Pacific Ocean, about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines. Along the Tumon Bay beachfront, the island's glitzy duty-free shopping centre is a shopper’s paradise, while the gleaming white sand and crystal clear, warm waters for swimming, snorkelling, or just relaxing, are equally as appealing. In Tumon visit the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica, and the National Museum of the Dulce Nombre de Maria that features changing displays of inspirational art created by local artists. Read more about Guam, Guam