Scuba Diving in Vava'u

China Town: (Tu'ungasika island)
Named for it’s pagoda-like porite coral formations that are covered with multi-hued tube worms. An easy swim up a gully will get you to a bright red anemone, home to the clown fish family, nestled in a bed of green lettuce coral. At 27 metres (88-ft) the growth continues down and out as far as you can see continuing across a ridge with schools of large surgeonfish and species. The return offers plenty of tunnels and crevices to check for sleeping sharks, emperor angelfish and cruising harlequin or clown triggerfish. In the late afternoon scorpion fish can be seen in their full splendor.

Mariner’s Cave:
An airtight chamber which gets it’s oxygen out of a solution contained in the water. Fog is a feature in the cave formed on an outgoing surge as the pressure and temperatures drop. Divers can use the lower entrance at 16.5 meters or snorkel at the upper 2 meters and swim 6.5 metres in. A nice ledge on the outside offers small nudibranchs for aficionados.

Shark's Tooth Cave:
Three openings joined by a 16.5 metre tunnel gives access at 13.5 metres to this site. Inside are numerous chambers of which two are above sea level. The cave is full of several schools of cardinal fish. Usually a cray can be spotted in the large chamber. Catching the crays is discouraged as thoughtless divers have depleted the population. Outside is a point favoured by schools of pyramid butterfly fish that seem to like the afternoon sun. A ledge on the west side offers such a collection of nudibranchs that one enthusiast left behind his expensive camera in the excitement, fortunately it was found the next day.

No Lighthouse:
This dive site is clearly marked by a large rock with "No Lighthouse" dropping down the wall to 27 metres places us at the entrance to a 17 metre tunnel that goes right through the centre. A black coral bush marks the entrance and usually emperor angelfish cruises here. Swimming through the tunnel we exit at 40 metres on a sand bed where often barracuda can be sighted. Swimming back around the rock one comes on a sand bed covered with garden eels gently waving back and forth in the surge. When you try to get closer the front row sucks down into the sand, returning as one moves away. The wall is covered with purple soft corals, continuing to a ridge that connects the rock to the main island; large boulders are home for grouper and a good stand of gorgonians on the side of the ledge.

The Clan McWilliam:
This 128 metre (423-ft) ill-fated ship was launched, October 1918 as Clan Quehele and renamed in December. In June 1923 she damaged her propeller in Dunkirk and January 1924 was towed into Panama with engine trouble. She sank in the harbour of Neiafu on December 24th, 1927 due to fire in her forward hold and it is claimed that the Captain and Chief Engineer went down with her. She sits upright with her stern at 22 metres (72-ft) and is a haven for batfish, snapper, and small tuna and overgrows with corals, including goniopora with dandelion like long necked polyps.