It was a big day today, we venture out from the resort and took the clockwise yellow Japanese imported bus around the island to town and did shopping, we got acquainted with the size and shape of the island. Its more or less round and just over thirty kilometres, the transport consists of lots of motorbikes and smaller cars. We saw many older bungalows in concrete and stucco surrounded in lavish bush and weeds as we journeyed around is lush tropical country side, plenty of family funeral plots with personal mausoleums sat adjacent these dwellings. Dotted with lots of single shops, the odd café and tourist accommodation the single main road runs close to the lagoon on its circuit of the island. A little further inland there is a less complete second road that connects with lots of small radial lanes, however is there isn’t much road really.

We snorkeled around the back of this island (motu)

On return from town we took the canoes out to the reef around the back of the middle motu named Oneroa, one of three motu (small islands) that are in this section of the lagoon. Chris and I went for a snorkel, there is the last semblance of a wreck here but we never got close to it for snorkelling, the water was too shallow. To start with the lagoon although extremely clear , was a bit dead and empty, a white sandy bottom littered in sea slugs and nothing more, but as we got closer interesting sea life started to appear, there were wonderful spiny corals, beautiful fish of all colours and blue and purple star fish. It was a great hour or so poking around the coral growths. As the holiday progressed we found that the back of the motus, close to the reef was the best snorkelling place.

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