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Papua New Guinea Papua New GuineaLouisiade ArchipelagoVolcanic island

Vanatinai

830 km² rising to 806 m out of the Solomon Sea.

When to go

Vanatinai seen from space, cut out from the sea (Sentinel-2)
N 10 km

Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.

In numbers

830km²

Area

196km

Coastline

measured on a simplified outline

806m

Highest point

2,440

People

29°C

Warmest sea

February

930km

To the mainland

When to go to Vanatinai

Best for the beach from January to May.

The sea is warmest in February (29 °C) and coolest in August (26 °C). You can swim comfortably all year (21 °C or more).

Sea temperature (the water level) Air: night low to afternoon high Wet days Best months

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

Vanatinai is an volcanic island in Papua New Guinea. It belongs to Louisiade Archipelago. It covers 830 km², with 196 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 806 m. About 2,440 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 930 km away.

Read more on Wikipedia

Getting there

  • Gurney Airport (GUR)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 363 km in a straight line
  • 930 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 Vanatinai.

  • 8named peaksMount Riu, Mount Ima, Mount Imau and 5 more

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

Vanatinai in our other atlases

Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Vanatinai, each with its own numbers.

  • 10mountainsPeakyas

10 mountains

on Peakyas, the mountain atlas

  1. Thenaki
  2. Mount Sola Duaga
  3. Mount Pabui
  4. Nurava
  5. Mount Jira
  6. Mount Ima
  7. Mount Gangulua
  8. Mount Arumbi

2 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

The shape of the land.

On average the island stands 107 m above the sea. 86 % of it is below 200 m.

  • 29 %0–50 m
  • 57 %50–200 m
  • 14 %200–500 m
  • <1 %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.

Vanatinai830 km²
Tenerife2,038 km²
Madeira Island742 km²

50 km

All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).

Month by month

The weather on the island.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon high (°C)292929282827262627282829
Night low (°C)282828282726262526262728
Sea (°C)292929292827262626272829
Rain (mm)18419523219616414410282106133146133
Wet days232325232221181716191920
Sun h/day7.26.66.46.36.25.76.06.76.87.47.98.2
Wind (km/h)171817212527302828242116

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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2020+0.1±0.0+0.9+0.2+0.3+0.5+0.6+0.6+0.5+0.3+0.4+0.7
2021+1.1+0.3+0.5+0.5+0.5+0.3+0.9+1.5+1.3+1.4+1.2+1.0
2022+0.3±0.0+0.8+1.1+1.5+2.1+2.2+2.1+2.3+2.1+2.0+1.4
2023+0.2+0.2+0.5+1.1+1.3+0.7+1.0+0.5+0.4−0.2−0.3−0.1
2024+0.7+0.2+0.6+0.9+0.1+0.4+0.4+0.5+0.7+0.6+0.7+0.8
2025+1.6+0.9+1.0+1.3+1.3+1.1+1.4+1.5+1.4+1.1+1.3+1.1

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

About these numbers

Names, area, populationWikidata (Q477164) · CC0
OutlineNatural Earth · public domain
Sea temperatureNOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020
ClimateNASA POWER · 1991–2020
Relief, 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
TownsGeoNames · CC BY 4.0
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfallsPeakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · 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

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.You are here
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit