Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
309km²
Area
88km
Coastline
797m
Highest point
Mount Gharat
2,491
People
29°C
Warmest sea
March
1,978km
To the mainland
When to go to Gaua
Best for the beach from January to May.
The sea is warmest in March (29 °C) and coolest in August (27 °C). You can swim comfortably all year (21 °C or more).
Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.
Island
Gaua is an volcanic island in Vanuatu. It covers 309 km², with 88 km of coastline. Its highest point, Mount Gharat, rises to 797 m. About 2,491 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 1,978 km away.
Getting there
- Santo Pekoa International Airport (SON)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 142 km in a straight lineCar hire at VLI airport (Port Vila)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- 1,978 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
- From January to Maybest months to go (from 30 years of averages)
Plan the trip
Ferries, stays and things to do
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
On the island
What you find on Gaua.
- 3viewpoints
- 1volcanoesMount Garet
- 2waterfallsSiri Waterfall, Drone Waterfall
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Gaua in our other atlases
Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Gaua, each with its own numbers.
3beaches and covesCoastya
5mountainsPeakyas
1lakeLakeyas
1waterfallCascadyas
Highest point
797m
Mount Gharat
prominence 797 m · according to Peakyas
Largest lake
17.8km²
Lake Letas
119 m deep · according to Lakeyas
Beach with the warmest sea
29.3°C
Baie Tabéloum
sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya
3 beaches
on Coastya, the beach atlas
- Baie Tabéloumcove29.3°C
- Baie Kwangcove29.3°C
- Baie Kircove29.3°C
5 mountains
on Peakyas, the mountain atlas
- Mount Gharatprominence 797 m797m
- Naen
- Makéwaréou
- Makenwen
- Lékouépwé
1 lakes
on Lakeyas, the lake atlas
- Lake Letas119 m deep17.8km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
1 waterfalls
on Cascadyas, the waterfall atlas
- Siri Waterfall
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
The shape of the land.
On average the island stands 298 m above the sea. 36 % of it is below 200 m.
- 8 %0–50 m
- 28 %50–200 m
- 49 %200–500 m
- 14 %500–1,000 m
Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).
Size, for real
Next to islands you may know.
20 km
All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).
Month by month
The weather on the island.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon high (°C) | 28 | 29 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 28 |
| Night low (°C) | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 27 | 27 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 27 | 27 |
| Sea (°C) | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 28 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| Rain (mm) | 249 | 248 | 254 | 268 | 191 | 151 | 113 | 99 | 100 | 178 | 192 | 214 |
| Wet days | 23 | 22 | 25 | 24 | 21 | 20 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 22 |
| Sun h/day | 7.7 | 6.9 | 7.0 | 6.2 | 6.2 | 6.0 | 6.2 | 6.7 | 7.3 | 7.3 | 7.5 | 8.0 |
| Wind (km/h) | 18 | 19 | 18 | 20 | 23 | 26 | 27 | 26 | 27 | 25 | 22 | 19 |
Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.
Recent years
Warmer and cooler years at sea.
Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | +0.2 | +0.4 | +0.6 | ±0.0 | +0.7 | +0.8 | +0.7 | +0.9 | +0.7 | +0.8 | +0.2 | −0.1 |
| 2021 | +0.3 | +0.2 | −0.1 | +0.4 | +0.3 | +0.7 | +0.8 | +0.5 | +0.7 | +1.2 | +0.9 | +0.7 |
| 2022 | +0.9 | +0.1 | +0.4 | +0.8 | +0.8 | +1.0 | +1.2 | +1.4 | +1.3 | +1.7 | +1.7 | +1.4 |
| 2023 | +0.5 | +0.5 | +0.3 | +0.8 | +1.1 | +0.5 | +0.2 | −0.1 | +0.6 | +0.3 | +0.4 | +0.1 |
| 2024 | +0.9 | +0.7 | +0.2 | +0.7 | +0.6 | +0.6 | +0.9 | +0.6 | −0.1 | +0.7 | +0.9 | +0.4 |
| 2025 | +0.9 | +0.2 | +0.4 | +0.9 | +1.0 | +0.8 | +0.8 | +0.9 | +1.0 | +0.7 | +1.2 | +0.7 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Photos
Seen by visitors.
Nearby
More islands nearby.
Vanua Lava
Vanuatu334 km²549 m52 km away
Mota LavaVanuatu32 km²192 m69 km away
UreparaparaVanuatu39 km²14 m84 km away
MaewoVanuatu303 km²795 m116 km away
Aoba IslandVanuatu404 km²1,496 m131 km away
Espiritu SantoVanuatu3,956 km²1,879 m144 km away
Malo IslandVanuatu182 km²163 m162 km away
Pentecost IslandVanuatu492 km²617 m180 km awayAbout these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q583383) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Outline | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Sea temperature | NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020 |
| Climate | NASA POWER · 1991–2020 |
| Relief, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Towns | GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfalls | Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas, Cascadyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST; HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0, LakeTEMP (Korver et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0 |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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