Overview
The archipelago of Zebryde Islands has the shape of a wishbone with an orientation from NNW to SSE, forming two branches openning to the North in the direction of the Lesser Curry-Beans. The archipelago extends from the tropical zone in its Northern part to the equatorial zone in its Southern part.
The Western branch includes Badyglue and Zebra Islands, where the name of the whole archipelago probably comes from, though that latter island does not seem to be particularly integrated among its neighbours. There are many islets close to the coastal lines of those two islands, promising the Sailor a very dangerous navigation in these parts…
The islands of the Western branch are not of volcanic origin and, in that, they are different from the other Zebryde Islands.
The Eastern branch is composed of smaller and generally lower islands. Spray Island is distinguished by its shape of a shark tooth, be it seen on a map or from the sea level: its tapering profile reaches significant heights (up to almost two thousand meters at its top, appropriately named The Shark's Tooth). Numerous islets, as well as shallows, are menacing navigation in all parts, not only close to the coasts of the main islands.
At the junction of the two branches of the « Wishbone » (the name is given in many a Log Book), Phony Island spread its round and potbellied shape, even if it remains relatively low (about seven hundred meters). It is also tucked with wide lowlands and has been colonised in a more important manner than the other islands of the archipelago. Its main harbour is Port-Vila, about five thousand inhabitants.
The Southern branch of the Archipelago of Zebryde Islands is composed of three islands of various dimensions, high and festoned with cliffs battered by strong streams and biting winds. Despite a localisation right in the equatorial region, wind and salty spray dry up those emerging rocks so much that plants are sparse there. That is paarticularly true of the smallest island at the Southern end, also the highest and the least hospitable, the Island of the World's End.
Tanna Isle has got a harbour, Lenawich, where a sculpture in the shape of a Ship indicates the Equator and embodies the imaginary line. It is a rather unimportant harbour but Tanna Isle has an astronomical observatory atop its highest summit, about one thousand meters above sea level.