Ratua is a private island located in the northern group next to the largest island in Vanuatu, Espiritu Santo. It’s truly an epitome of luxury defined at next level: Why?

• Limited hand-crafted Javanese teak villas. These antique villas were exported from Indonesia to Ratua to preserve its uniqueness and provide the guests with undefined luxury. (I also got to know that there is a special technique involved in making these villas. These wood pieces are stacked in such a manner that uses NO NAILS)

• The villas are spaced appropriately to give every inhabitant their own private Island time with your own private beach and private space.

• Next thing you would care for your holiday is of course good food. The food is of amazing quality with variety and taste. The staff is extraordinarily caring. They are appropriately trained, synced and coordinated in their hospitality to ensure a great dining experience.The food is also catered as per your dietary requirements.

• The rooms are well made by the housekeeping when you mess up your space in the morning. However, something that  still arouses curiosity in me is that , during evenings when we were busy with island activities and get would back to our villa, our bed drapes were done with mosquito coils lit already. How do they get to know when we leave the room in the evenings 😊

• Every evening is jam packed with some or the other local island activities like the bamboo band, water music by local woman, local Island Band, Traditional dance . But what stole my heart away was the Island Night- drink kava, dance with the other guests, make friends and just enjoy underneath the stars and beside the ocean

• Activities: There are plenty of activities that you can enjoy in your Island time. The unguided activities are free like snorkelling, kayaking. However, guided activities are paid. One thing to note here is that because the island has less guests, every activity that you choose to do , is not overcrowded with people and ultimately you end up in your own space enjoying your own time in the amazing island. The activities that stole my heart was the Malo Blue hole and swimming with the horses. Did I say that the turquoise water is so clear that I saw so many Turtles dancing their way out. Well I literally didn’t need to snorkel as I was able to see so many fishes, turtles just with the naked eyes when the ocean was calm.

• Coral Spa room: Who wouldn’t like to relax listening to the music of ocean, the cool blue vibes of the coral spa villa overstanding on the ocean. While you relax and unwind, remember that there are tropical fishes and corals enjoying their way out around you.

• Ratua Foundation: The goal is to improve the educational conditions of the Children in Vanuatu. The Ratua Foundation actively supports different projects like providing free bags to school children, education, medical treatment. The best thing to know is that if you stay at Ratua, you are already an active member of Ratua foundation.

Our experience:

We had a flight from Port Villa to Santo which was delayed by 4 hrs and we reached Santo by around 1 AM. The staff transferred us from Santo to Ratua in a motor boat. It was a 30-35 min boat ride to Ratua and this in itself was an experience, riding the ocean at jet speed under the starts and Moon- Bish and I also noticed bio-illuminance on the splashing water. We reached Ratua at 1:40 AM and we were welcomed by Bong (the Manager) and some staff with fresh juice. Bong was really kind to ask us if we were hungry and immediately arranged dinner for both of us. The staff were kind to keep fruit platter at our Villa to have something to munch on if we wake up at night. We stayed at the Deer Villa.

The usual day for Bish and I would begin with rising early in the morning. Having a cup of Tea on the stairways that leads to our private beach and see the fishes in the ocean. Post that, we would create some content as this Island has endless spots that are unique and Instagramable. (We didn’t want to miss that). The breakfast time is from 7 to 10 AM. We would have our breakfast at around 8 . Ah ! the best part of the breakfast was the fresh coconut water. I miss that already.

After breakfast, Bish and I would go Turtle hunting in the paddle boat and enjoy the visuals of the sea creatures. Bish spent more time on his Drone and Go Pro than me (bitter truth), but I was happy for him as he loves nature and enjoyed to his fullest.

We would then have our Lunch and have some or the other activities planned like The Malo Blue Hole Adventure, Swimming with the horses. We also did the relaxing spa 1 day.

Getting super tired by now, we would head to the room and then get ready by 6PM when the Resort would have organized some or the other kind of activities for its guests, followed by dinner from 7PM. Being dead tired by now, we would head to our villa by around 9 PM just to notice the bed drapes done and the mosquito coils lit. Bish and I would then head to the deck and talk to each other under the dark sky adorned by the tinkling stars and Moon, unnoticed when I would fall asleep and he had to drag me to bed for an early start.

Bong and Aliyn (managers) are super warm and hardworking. The Staff are warm and most of them , by now had become our friends. If I had to conclude in just 1 line, I would say, we would not just miss our stay at Ratua but would also miss  Bong and Aliyn and the staff.