In 15 to 20 knot winds, late on Thursday morning (September 14th), we decided to leave Kenutu Island. Sagamo, French Curve, and Local Talent had already left but we waited for an approaching high tide to go through the Fanua Tapu pass, which luckily coincided with some dry, brighter weather. However, unlike Local Talent who had left the anchorage earlier in pouring rain, we did not see a manta ray swimming through the pass.

We held a better track at the west end of the pass avoiding the shallow section of solid coral reef but it was still not very deep and there were small coral-heads scattered across the sand bottom to be avoided. After leaving the pass, we turned north to enter the bay just to the north of Tapana Island (anchorage # 11). After making a couple of unsuccessful attempts to set the anchor on the east side of the bay and not wanting to hook onto any coral, we noticed an available mooring so we took it.



The Ark - a former floating art gallery

These moorings are now run by Tropicana Café in Neiafu and they are next to a floating building that used to house an art gallery called The Ark. We had heard about this in 2015 and had intended to visit on our return but it was sold last year and is now closed. Murray from Sagamo paddled his kayak over to greet us and bring us up-to-date on the comings-and-goings of The Ark's former owners and some of the other long-term users of the moorings.

There are 10 moorings and all of the other moored and anchored boats were facing into the southeast wind. Oddly, Tregoning faced in the opposite direction during the much of our stay. We have also had virtually no wind to turn Wendy (wind turbine), so we concluded that the trees on the tiny island immediately to our south (between Tapana and Pangaimotu Islands) deflect the wind over the top of Tregoning and back-eddies of wind (and perhaps some mild water currents), were just enough to keep us facing away from the wind. For some reason, it is slightly disconcerting when your boat is behaving quite differently from all of the others, although the moorings are well-spaced so there is no danger of collision with other boats or The Ark. Murray said that this was a typical feature of the moorings closest to shore so that, at least, removed my nagging concern that something was not quite right with our particular mooring,



Tregoning's bow is defiantly facing in the opposite to all other boats at Tapana

Not long after arriving, I snorkeled off Tregoning to check the mooring (it looked very robust) and found a thriving community of myriad tiny fish of a variety of species under the two pontoons of The Ark. These included new species to me: orbicular cardinalfish, high-fin fang blenny, stocky anthias, two-spot snappers, white streaked grouper, and many fish that appeared to be swimming quite permanently up-side-down. A couple of days later, Randall and I set-off in the dinghy to look for a snorkel site that Cheryl and Mark had mentioned off Maungaui Point, at the southwest end of Pangiamotu. We found some interesting, quite deep coral-heads but the water clarity was not quite good enough to allow a good view of them.



Orbicular cardinalfish under The Ark

Rather than persist around the north side of the headland (which Murray later told us had interesting underwater topography), we headed back to Afo Island which we had looked at briefly on our way out of Tapana Bay. The south side of this island had a few interesting coral-heads but the main treat was on the west side. Here the bottom sloped away quite steeply with a few coral-heads and fish scattered around but at the shoreline there was a shelf about 4 m (13 feet) wide that was covered in a charming nursery of colorful, small clumps of hard and soft corals.

With the water less than 1 m (3 feet) deep and with rocks and overhanging trees providing some shade, the area was also a nursery for many young fish. It is fascinating to me how many of us find miniature life-stages so much cuter than the adults even if they did not differ otherwise in appearance. But it was not all about small creatures. Crawling between the clusters of coral, I spotted a bright red and white nudibranch. We only knew that this was a Spanish dancer because Gail had shown us her photos of one that she had seen at Hunga Haven and we had identified it online. She also had a video of its strange undulating swimming motion in the open water that is its response to being disturbed, and is the origin of its rather romantic name. They are typically nocturnal creatures so we were all very lucky to see one.



Spanish dancer nudibranch (head is to left) in coral "nursery" on Afo Island

Randall and I are used to seeing cold-water nudibranchs ("soft-bodied marine gastropod molluscs which shed their shells after their larval stage" a.k.a. sea slugs) that are only about 4 cm long by 1 cm wide (about 2 inches by 0.5 inch) but this one was much bigger, about 15 cm by 4 cm (6 by 2 inches) and they can grow up to an amazing 60 cm (24 inches) in length. With its two rhinophores (chemosensory "antennae") waving on its head and a frilly mass of gills at its rear, it is a striking creature. We managed to resist the temptation to poke it to make it swim...but only just.

In a strange way, this nudibranch foreshadowed how we would spend the following evening, which happened to be my birthday. It was a gloriously sunny day and in the morning, while Randall enjoyed listening to the UF Gator football team winning against Tennessee by a touchdown on the last play of the game, I luxuriated in a very leisurely two hours of snorkeling from the north side of Tapana Bay (where Randall had dropped me off during half-time). I stayed mostly in shallow water with sea grasses and occasional small coral-head, where the water was particularly warm. I also floated over a couple of banded sea kraits, the larger of which was about 1 m (3 feet) long. They seemed to be completely oblivious of, or unconcerned about, my presence and continued to move in fluid sinuous motion from one crevice to another where they briefly poked their heads in, looking for small prey. I suppose that having deadly venom reduces the fearfulness of such creatures. Suspended over the top of these kraits, which apparently lack the instinct to immediately hide, it was a far more satisfying experience to watch these sea snakes that it would be to try to observe terrestrial ones.

But back to the Spanish dancer connection...

On the little island of Tapana there are only one or two houses and La Paella Restaurant. Run for many years by a Spanish couple, for 100 Tongan Panga (about US$50 and bring your own drink) you receive seven tapas courses, paella, and dessert. Up a short but steep path from the beach, the dining room constructed of local wood overlooks the bay. Although the room and furnishings are rustic, the table is neatly set with cloth napkins and delicious, beautifully presented food.

Cheryl and Mark on French Curve, who had passed along birthday wishes on the VHF radio that morning, were on the wrong side of the shallow Fanua Tapu pass. With high tides in the early morning or evening we completely understood why they could not join us. But Jennie and Murray, who were still in the Tapana anchorage and had highly recommended the restaurant, kindly accompanied us. In addition, having established that the cook, Maria, was willing to prepare a vegan version of the meal, Gail and Dean returned early from Neiafu to join us.



The rustic charm of La Paella restaurant...



...but gourmet tapas presented elegantly

The group brought with them, Happy Birthday balloons, a glittery greeting card, jasmine soap and wash-cloth gifts, and a vegan birthday cake so it really turned into a party. The excellent food was accompanied by recorded music but, afterwards, Maria's husband played the guitar and sang lustily in his native tongue while the six of us became our own version of Spanish dancers. What a memorable birthday treat!