We are driven by few things more pressing than the quest for unlimited underwater visibility and new fish. And so it was that we loaded up the dinghy and sped through ocean rollers out into the south pass on a flooding tide.  

The pass appeared to be about 20 feet deep but was actually more than twice that. The bottom looked near enough to touch in 45 ft of water . 

 

The north pass was almost as good.

 

After ticking off this box in our criteria for an excellent anchorage we searched for new-to-us fish on the reefs of Falefatu.

We found this fangblenny…

some chummy goatfish with bloodshot eyes

 

chummy milkfish who look like minnows but are a meter long

lots of redbreasted wrasses…

a surge damoiselle…

an arc-eye hawkfish…

redlip cleaner wrasse…

a blue-spotted damsel (we made this one up)…

 

a red-speckled blenny…

a yellow speckled grouper (we made that one up too)…

and a few dotted butterfly fish.