Air Coconut

In the general scheme of things the island of Epi in Vanuatu is quite well endowed with facilities. The community at Lamen Bay, for instance, despite the absence of any sealed roads, does have a Primary and High School, a hospital and one of the two airstrips on the island. There are a couple of scheduled flights per week but the majority of flights seem to be random 'taxi' style flights aboard what looks to be an 8 seater.



We took a stroll along the roads and beach along Lamen Bay to take a closer look at the set-up. The community is split by a river which was silted-in at this time of year (dry season). Walking or driving required a deviation onto the beach that had formed at the river mouth.



It appears that the sand at the river mouth is worth bagging and we observed a couple of young fellows spading some into bags each evening.

Storm damage from cyclones clearly set back community development. The High School, the wharf and Airfield check-in all showing signs of damage, repair and even upgrade.










Observations of flights in and out from the anchorage vantage point would suggest that being a passenger is not for the feint of heart. The airstrip is the only flat bit of land for as far as the eye can see and there's not much if it.















Incredibly the pilots negotiate the little strip banking this way and that to plant their landings on the grass runway bordered by white painted car tyres. Then they taxi down to a passenger terminal adjacent to a turning circle. Hopefully they have their own drop down steps because the bottom step of the steps stored at the terminal was smashed through. The baggage handlers must have a powerful voice here because the most modern and serviceable item on display was the luggage trolly. Coconut Airlines thinks of everything!