The morning after the pot-luck gathering (Sunday, September 10th), we moved from Port Maurelle to Kenutu Island (anchorage # 30) with SV French Curve following us. Although only about 8 nm, this trip involves going through a tricky Z-shaped pass in the reef near Fanua Tapu Island. We did this without incident in 2015 but we think that there were navigation aids to help mark the route then. There were none there now and the route between the shallow reefs is fairly obvious and deep except at the very beginning. At this west end, there is a short section that is quite shallow with only 3 - 4 m (9 - 13 feet) of water depth. Our chart-plotter put us a little bit to the north of the best route so when I saw a shallow coral-head directly ahead of us, both we and French Curve had to veer quickly to the right to get back into the sandy channel.

When we arrived at Kenutu Island, our chart did not show a shallow area at the end of the approach into the anchorage. While we were able to just slip over the shallow sands, French Curve (which has a deeper draft/keel than us) had to back-up and change directions to maintain deeper water. It was a salutary lesson about being skeptical of the charts if the water looks shallower than the surroundings. However, all was well once we dropped our anchors and joined our friends Gail and Dean on SV Local Talent.

A boat that we did not know, SV Sagamo had followed us into the anchorage and they too turned-out to be friends of Gail and Dean. The latter had been at Kenutu for a few days and had thoroughly explored the area by kayak and dinghy. So that afternoon, we all joined them to go snorkeling at a pass through the fringing reef south of Kenutu and Lolo Islands. There was a bit of current to swim against at first but we eventually got out to deeper water where we enjoyed seeing some larger fish and a much healthier crop of living corals than we had seen elsewhere in Vava'u.



A small, swimming banded sea krait (sea-snake - flattened tail at top of the picture)

Over the next couple of days, I returned with Gail and Dean two more times to the outer area around the pass, as it seemed to have the best corals and most interesting topography. Although I missed seeing the leopard shark that Jennie found, we saw a large school of graceful circular spadefish, a huge (1-m or 3-feet long) Napoleon (or humphead) wrasse, a spotted eagle ray, several turtles, a swimming banded sea krait, and, briefly frolicking in the bow waves of the dinghy, a pair of small spinner dolphins.

We also snorkeled at some other deep spots outside the fringing reef but they were not quite as interesting. However, in the relatively calm sea conditions we were able to explore the shallow, wave-washed bowl between the south end of Kenutu Island and the tiny Lolo Island, which was full of interesting fish. Some of these were species particularly adapted to marine habitats with surging water, such as white-spotted surgeonfish, surge wrasse, and convict tangs. Thus, I was a bit surprised to see an adult emperor angelfish, a species that is usually found on reefs between 6 and 60 m deep (20 to 200 feet). Within a few minutes, I was thrilled to find a juvenile of the same species which looks quite different from the adult but both have a very striking appearance. It was a charming coincidence that at the time of seeing the Napoleon wrasse and emperor angelfish, I was reading a fascinating historical account of the relationship between Napoleon and Josephine.



Juvenile (4 cm 1.5 inches) and adult (38 cm or 15 inches) regal angelfish as seen between Kenutu and Lolo Island

In addition to snorkeling, I also walked with Cheryl, Mark, Jennie, and Murray (SV Sagamo) across Kenutu Island to see the view of the open ocean from the jagged and undercut volcanic cliffs. At low tide, we also picked our way across the crescent-shaped, exposed, dead coral to get from the south end of Kenutu Island to Lolo Island. We followed the shoreline around the west side of Lolo Island to its southern end. Murray was keen to follow the shoreline as far as possible then cut back over Lolo. However, with the sharply jagged volcanic rock and areas with deep layers of entangling vines, it was too difficult to navigate so we ended up retracing our shoreline route.



Rocks visible through the clear seawater on the ocean side of Kenutu Island

At the south end of Lolo Island, we heard the hisses and felt the puffs of air being blown through cracks in the rock with each of the small waves that rolled against the undercut shoreline just below us. From the dinghies in open water, when there had been bigger waves, we had seen small blow-holes with spouts of water along the island's outer shore. However, despite seeing this and knowing what was happening, each time we heard the hiss (a little delayed after the spout due to the distance), we still found ourselves looking for marine mammals because the sound was exactly the same as a whales or dolphins exhaling.

In addition to snorkeling and exploring the islands, we also had plenty of time to enjoy the company of Mark and Cheryl, Gail and Dean, and to get to know Jennie and Murray who are from one of our favorite New Zealand towns, Dunedin. Sadly Jennie was suffering from a sore back, a condition with which Randall and I could thoroughly sympathize.



One of many undercut mushroom rocks exposed at low tide around Kenutu Island

With the calm weather, we were not the only cruisers to have decided to visit Kenutu. There were up to 11 boats in the anchorage and for Saturday through Tuesday morning we enjoyed splendid sunshine and calm winds, the most prolonged, best weather we could recall from the whole winter. The weather on Tuesday afternoon, however, returned to the more typical conditions with a trough hovering over Tonga and bringing rain and stronger southeasterly winds.

The anchorage was well protected from waves by the islands and reef, so it was quite comfortable but we did no snorkeling on Wednesday when it was so overcast and blustery. This gave me a chance to catch-up on my fish identification which was greatly enhanced by borrowing Gail's massive tome, Reef and Shore Fishes of the South Pacific by John Randall. The most satisfying discovery was finding a name for the damsel fish with black rear fins and tail that we had seen all over the reefs at Pangaimotu and in the Ha'apai Islands and which Randall had dubbed the "common-as-mud-fish". I should have guessed that it would be called the blackfin damsel but it had not been listed in my, nor Marisa's, books probably because it only occurs in Tonga.



Blackfin damsel (13 cm or 5 inches) endemic to Tonga at Ha'afeva, Ha'apai Group

Wind, rain, and overcast skies continued for several days but after all that we had heard about Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, we hardly felt in a position to complain about the weather. So far, news from our friends in Florida and the Caribbean has been encouraging and we are hoping that no news about our house, is good news.