I just got back from my trip to Vanuatu where i stayed at the Grand Hotel Casino, due to commitments and lack of time i didn't venture too far away from Port Vila so i had Thomas from vanuatu-kitesurfing.com/ drop me off a NSP 11'6" board to the hotel and i ventured out for a paddle every morning and afternoon before and after the wind kicked in, mostly i paddled around Iririki Island just across from the hotel and out to the 75 metre yacht Phocea en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phocea 
to see the bunch of nude Russian models sunbathing on deck (that's what i told everyone was out there when they asked me 
) The Phocea was the worlds largest yacht from 1976 to 2004 and its an amazing sight to see up close.
On my final day a massive cruise ship sailed into port and i paddled over just before sunset only to find it was about to leave and i had to quickly turn around and bolt before it ran me over! 
All in all i highly recommend Vanuatu for flat water paddling/touring and downwinding but IMHO its not the go to place for SUP surfing although i know some on here have surfed over there, the water is so clear and amazing, plenty of brightly coloured fish everywhere and some bad ass looking sea urchins so look out for your feet in the shallows, booties would be handy at almost any beach as its usually dead coral on the shoreline .
If you are going there definately make sure you contact Thomas, the French guy who runs the Kitesurfing/Surfing/SUP over there vanuatu-kitesurfing.com/, hes a top bloke and nothing was too much trouble for him, he even dropped me off another fin when i requested one, if i had longer than the 6 days i would have done a few more activites such as kitesurfing and probably looked for some SUP waves. 
The price was 3000 Vatu a day for 4 days which is approx $30.00, for longer periods i am sure you can get a deal from Thomas, just ask. I chose the longest possible size board Thomas had BTW because i was only going to be paddling on the flat and the wind can be up a fair bit during the day.
If you get out a magnifying glass you can see me just in front of the Phocea with its 4 masts!
The Australian Navy was in town and you can see how big the Phocea is compared with the Navy ships!
Launching from the Grand Hotel Casino
Morning paddle
Afternoon paddle
The veiw from my room 
Nice one
I was in Port Vila about 3 weeks ago and I stayed at the Holiday Inn which is on Erakor Lagoon. Fantatsic protected spot and the Resort had SUP's for use (crap blow molded plastic things). I wwould have liked to have paddled through all the boats on the Vila side but ran out of time.
We talked to some locals about Phocea and aopparently it has been the centre of a lot of contraversy about gun running and money laundering and involved a few local politicians. They are in an election run up so the political involvement is causing a stir.
www.rnz.co.nz/international
megayachtnews.com/2012/07/yacht-phocea-vanuatu/#axzz28HQU5GKG
I would of loved to get down to Erakor myself, maybe next time, yes i was told a few stories about the Phocea, that's also what i read www.rnz.co.nz/international When i was out there the 3 times it was deserted yet the cabin door was open, was quite spooky actually, the boat has quite an aura about it IMO.
