Ah, finally: a nice sailing day. After a few hours at sea the wind is starting to pick up, the surface of the ocean is mostly smooth with big, lazy swells that gently lift the boat up for good view from the top and then ease her down into wide valleys. Although we were the first boat to leave Beveridge Reef, five faster boats are in hot pursuit, and it's doubtful we'll be the first to arrive in Niue. Only Mary Powell, the smallest in the Beveridge Reef Yacht Club fleet is likely to come in after us, and with Steve, her expert Captain at the helm, she'll no doubt give us a run for our money.

It's not a race, except for the fact that there are a limited number of moorings available in Niue and anchoring is in very deep water and less desirable, so we don't want to be Johnny-come-lately and miss out. Our friends on Furthur are already there, and an email from crewman Tiffany confirms a number of empty moorings as of a few days ago, crystal-clear water and good diving. "We're tied up to a mooring ball in 125 feet of water, and we can see the bottom from the deck of the boat," she says.

We should arrive by mid-day tomorrow, and it will be nice to have a quick overnight sail rather than a multi-day; I had to get my head around the fact that I only have to prepare one dinner and that 4 tomatoes was plenty to meet our salad needs. The fresh produce shopping in Rarotonga went perfectly -- I haven't had to toss anything out and we're just about out of food -- good timing for our arrival in Alofi, the main town on Niue.

Niue, pronounced New-way, is one of the world's smallest self-governing states, operating in free association with New Zealand, which apparently leaves it mostly alone except to sell them things. The whole country is one lone island, approximately 10 by 12 nm in size. Beveridge Reef is one of it's possessions, but otherwise, it's just this tiny little island with it's own flag. My Moon Handbook to the South Pacific claims "Niue is perhaps the most unspoiled main island in the South Pacific." It's one of the largest uplifted coral islands in the world, and is loaded with stalactites and -mites, caves and caverns, and according to the book, "butterflies are everywhere." The flora and fauna are said to be rich and abundant, with good-smelling blooming things and fruit falling from the trees. Because everyone is required to go to school until age 14, there's an almost 100% literacy rate. And they speak English. It sounds quite Edenic.

Personally, I'm looking forward to the sea snakes. (Funny I'd mention snakes after a reference to Eden...) There's a large variety of them in the ocean in Niue, and although they're poisonous, their little mouths are too small to bite, so they aren't a danger to divers. And because there are no rivers on the island there is no silt to smother the reef and muck up the water, so the diving is rumored to be excellent. Also, it's whale season. Top it off with an entire island that has free wifi no matter where you anchor, and it sounds more perfect all the time.

I will likely not post daily for the next week, but will put up a blurb probably every few days. I've discovered that being land-based always seems to absorb a lot more of my time and scatter my focus. We'll try to get some photos in a new gallery with stuff from Rarotonga and Beveridge Reef.

All in all, we're looking forward to a week or so in Nuie, before we head for our next big country, the Kingdom of Tonga.