Around Wallis itself there is mainly sea grass, and it is no good for snorkleing. Further out in the lagoon, the water is clear and there are many coral reefs to explore. We enjoyed snorkeling the reef at the southern end of Faioa Island, at the SE edge of the Wallis lagoon. Pretty coral, teeming with fish, clear warm water. It is very warm here. 30 degrees today and the water is 29 degrees. When swimming or snorkeling it feels like you can stay in the water forever without getting cold. We both stayed in for far too long this morning and got sunburned backs! Have now moved to another island in the Wallis lagoon, called Nukuaeta. Manta rays were frolicking about as we came in to the bay. The coral garden here is the most magnificent we have ever seen. About 2km long and 200m wide, it covers the full length of the E side of the island - and then some! We snorkeled (with shirts on this time!)in amazement at the variety of different sorts of coral, some gigantic structures, larger than we have seen anywhere else. Everywhere you look you see purple, pink, yellow, green, blue, white, grey, brown coral in every size and shape you can imagine. While snorkeling we spotted a turtle near by. He swam off in a great hurry once he realised we were close. Last night we enjoyed a balmy night, sitting in the cockpit chatting away until almost midnight. There was a full moon so it seemed almost as light as day. Very nice to sit outside all evening - we totally lost track of time because it was warm and so light. Ended up going for a midnight swim in the moonlight to cool down a bit before going to bed. A very nice way to round off the day!