Black Pearl Resort

Location, staff and restaurant

The villa with its own private pool is perfectly located but is a bit worn down and needs to be refreshed

Great location on Santo island East coast. 15 min from town and 50 min from Port Olry at the end of the road. Nice snorkeling spot right in front of the property. Our host was very accommodating with the date adjustments following Air Vanuatu flight updates.

The main building with the dining area is a lovely space.

The photos are significantly photoshopped - the villas look very tired, not glamorous - we were in the 2 bedroom villa with the pool and two bungalows. I thought the quality of the room fitout (not even knobs on the fans) was poor for the price. The resort is very exposed to the weather, so the beach is not particularly inviting and there is no pool, as one would expect in a resort marketed in this way. It is a long way from town - when we asked for a taxi into town, we were given a card to arrange a driver for the day, which was not what we were after. We were then told we could go out to the road to look for taxis - there are limited taxis or buses coming past on the main road - we waited for about 20 minutes and caught a lift in the back of a truck. We had the restaurant food on the first night, it was charging Australian fine dining prices without delivering the quality of food. Overall, I can appreciate that there was an original vision to this place, with grand intentions with the buildings, but it just can’t deliver the experience that one can get in other resorts for the same price.