Foa Island and Matafonua Point

Foa is joined to Lifuka by a causeway, a low island of villages, plantations and beaches with Matafonua at its northern tip, where the sand runs out to a point with reef immediately offshore and the channel beyond. A lodge sits at the point. Snorkelling is straight off the beach and humpbacks pass through the channel in season, sometimes close enough to hear from the shore.

What you actually see

• Matafonua point - the northern tip where the sand runs out to reef.
• The causeway - the road link joining Foa to Lifuka.
• The shore snorkelling - reef reachable directly from the beach.
• The whale channel - the passage humpbacks use in season.

When to go

May to October is the drier season; whales pass roughly July to October. Cyclone season runs November to April. The lodge closes for part of the year.

Honest expectations

Facilities are the one lodge and the villages; there is little else. Currents in the channel off the point are strong. Ha'apai is reached by a small flight or the ferry, both unreliable.

Nearby

Lifuka is south, and Uoleva is beyond it.