It's difficult to name the menu, but there was roasted pork, freshly picked coconuts, bananas, mangoes and other fruits, and all sorts of wonderful tasting foods which can't be duplicated, except perhaps by another Tongan. We never did master the art of sitting comfortably cross-legged as the Tongans do. After the feast was music and dancing, first dancing by Tongan youngsters and then older girls and women. These are not the hip-shaking dances of Hawaii, but slower, gentler dances, with graceful shoulders, arms, head and hand movements to tell a story. Their bare feet keep a gentle rhythm.
Visitors place paper money on the dancer's oiled arms as a gift for their charming dancing.
On our return to Neiafu the next day we stopped at Mariners Cave. The cave is on the western shore of Nuapapu Island and is known for its charming legend and its entrance, which is always below the ocean's surface and can be reached only by diving. It's well over 200 feet deep off the island's shore, making anchoring impossible, so someone must stay aboard the vessel while others venture into the cave. With each tidal surge a sapphire light fills the room, and disappears in a swirl of green fog, replaced with the sapphire light at the next surge. Bill said, fitting on his fins, mask and snorkel.