Forecast wind and visibility on each boat route from Luganville — Aore, Malo, Ambae, the Banks and Port Vila — with a link to VMGD's official marine warning.
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From Town Tools. For the current version, visit https://www.towntools.org/luganville-sanma-vu/boat-weather
The channel in front of town is sheltered water. The sea east towards Ambae, north towards the Banks and south towards Port Vila is not, and it can be rough out there while the channel in front of you looks flat. Wind below is given in km/h, while VMGD's warnings are in knots: 20 knots is about 37 km/h, and 30 knots about 56 km/h.
No one publishes which boats are sailing
The small boats to Aore, Malo, Ambae and the Banks, and the ships to Port Vila, have no status page and no notice line between them. The wharf is where you find out whether a boat is going today. VMGD's page, linked further down, carries marine warnings for Vanuatu's waters; it does not carry boat cancellations.
Right now
Always check VMGD marine warnings before you travel.
The weather on the crossings
Luganville to Ambae — across the open channel
The boats to Ambae leave the shelter of the Segond Channel and cross about 70 km of open water to the east-north-east. The forecast point is roughly halfway across. The wind and the sea here can be nothing like what you can see from the wharf.
Right now: a moderate breeze (about 26 km/h, gusts to 34), clear (over 10 km).
When
Strongest wind
Lowest visibility
Today · Fri 23 Oct
a moderate breeze (about 26 km/h, gusts to 34)
clear (over 10 km)
Tomorrow · Sat 24 Oct
a moderate breeze (about 22 km/h, gusts to 29)
clear (over 10 km)
The day after · Sun 25 Oct
a moderate breeze (about 26 km/h, gusts to 34)
clear (over 10 km)
Forecast updated .
Luganville to Aore and Malo — the Segond Channel
The short hops across the channel in front of town. Aore and the hills of Santo take the worst of the wind out of this water, which is why the harbour is here. The Malo boats carry on past the western end of the channel, where it opens up and the sea is bigger than the figures below.
Right now: a light breeze (about 7 km/h, gusts to 15), clear (over 10 km).
When
Strongest wind
Lowest visibility
Today · Fri 23 Oct
a gentle breeze (about 16 km/h, gusts to 38)
clear (5 km)
Tomorrow · Sat 24 Oct
a gentle breeze (about 19 km/h, gusts to 44)
clear (5 km)
The day after · Sun 25 Oct
a moderate breeze (about 19 km/h, gusts to 44)
clear (6 km)
Forecast updated .
Luganville to Port Vila — the first open water south
The passenger ships leave the channel and head south down the east side of Malekula. The figures below are for that first open stretch, between Santo and the top of Malekula; the rest of the run is a day's sailing further south.
Right now: a strong breeze (about 40 km/h, gusts to 53), clear (over 10 km).
When
Strongest wind
Lowest visibility
Today · Fri 23 Oct
a strong breeze (about 40 km/h, gusts to 53)
clear (over 10 km)
Tomorrow · Sat 24 Oct
a fresh breeze (about 38 km/h, gusts to 50)
clear (9 km)
The day after · Sun 25 Oct
a fresh breeze (about 37 km/h, gusts to 49)
clear (over 10 km)
Forecast updated .
Luganville to the Banks — the open water north
North along Santo's east coast, then out across fully open sea towards Sola and the Banks, with nothing to the east to break the trade wind. Taken where the boats clear the island and the shelter runs out.
Right now: a fresh breeze (about 33 km/h, gusts to 42), clear (over 10 km).
When
Strongest wind
Lowest visibility
Today · Fri 23 Oct
a fresh breeze (about 35 km/h, gusts to 45)
clear (over 10 km)
Tomorrow · Sat 24 Oct
a fresh breeze (about 37 km/h, gusts to 48)
clear (over 10 km)
The day after · Sun 25 Oct
a fresh breeze (about 36 km/h, gusts to 47)
clear (over 10 km)
Forecast updated .
The official word
VMGD has the official word on the weather at sea. When a marine warning is in force for Vanuatu's coastal waters it stands whatever the figures above say — those come from a forecast model reading one point on a route, and a warning is a judgement made by forecasters who can see the whole picture. Whether a boat sails is the operator's call and the captain's, and there is no published wind or sea limit they work to, so this page cannot tell you that a crossing is running, or that it is safe to make. In September 2026 the MV Matui left the Luganville wharf overloaded and without its pre-departure inspection, into a marine warning, and sank. Two things are worth doing before you travel: read the warning, and ask at the wharf about the boat.
VMGD issues a marine warning for Vanuatu's coastal waters early each morning, Vanuatu time, for that day and the next, and updates it when conditions change. The phone number is the forecast desk VMGD puts on its own warnings.
Wind and visibility are open-water model forecasts for each crossing, not readings from a boat — conditions near the shore and in the channels differ, and the figures come on a coarse (~25 km) grid. The wind follows the Beaufort scale and the visibility the WMO/NWS fog scale; they describe the air and water, and are never a judgement that a crossing will run or is safe. Weather data by Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0).