Off On A Lark!

Well, Niue turned out to be an unexpected favorite. It's evidently the smallest country in the world as well as the largest raised coral atoll. Basically, a huge pile of coral pushed up out of the sea. Not tall, elevation wise, 68 meters is the highest point, but big (a relative term) in surface area.

In 2004, the island was devastated by cyclone Heta. 180 mph winds and waves up to 100'. The population was evacuated and a good portion chose to stay in either New Zealand or Australia. Now there are only about 1600 living on the island. A good deal of homes in the villages are abandoned, which is a sad sight. From what we we're told though, the once a week flight from Auckland is filled to capacity, mostly with Niueans coming home to visit.

They are a vey friendly lot. Everyone waves when they drive by, whether they know you or not. English and Niuean are the languages spoken so it's easy to have a conversation. The tourist office will book anything for you, from a rental car to a bush walk, and the bakeries and Friday morning local market are wonderful.

The Niue yacht club is run by two fellows. Keith, from NZ who has never owned a boat and Ernie from the US who's in his 80's and thoroughly enjoys monitoring the VHF radio and helping yachties with mooring and customs/immigration details. They have 18 buoys in the Alofi harbor that stay pretty full throughout the season. It appears that we were the last boat in and last boat out so everyone in town knew of us and we had their undivided attention. The wharf is a huge concrete pier that sits a good 10' out of the water. There is no beach access for dinghys so they have a crane for lifting them out of the water. Works great, you just have to allow time for that exercise each time you come and go.

So, what does one do on the island of Niue? Since the island is a huge uplift of coral, there are amazing underground caves, hidden chasms with sand and palm trees, natural stone arches along the coast and water so clear so can see forever. The day we checked in, Keith from the yacht club took us for a quick orientation tour of Alofi. The bank, the grocery, customs, immigration etc. We checked out one of the postage stamp size beaches and found some nice shells.

The following day, we went on a bush walk in the interior forest with a local fellow. He pointed out all the local flora and fauna, then took us to where he and his wife grow their own crops. Niuaens are pretty self sufficient on that front. They all have land outside their village area, but they only use a small portion of it at a time for crops and they rotate the planted area on an annual basis. Rain is their irrigation. Jack sent us home with a big bag of yams, tomatoes and green onions. We particularly liked his demonstration of how to plant tomatoes. Pick a ripe one, throw it as far as you can and there you go!

Friday we rented a car. They drive on the wrong side of the road here but Brad only scared me a couple of times before he was in the groove. We went to the Friday morning local market at 6am, bought some fruit and tried out some local favorites for breakfast. Visited Niue Dive and made arrangements for Saturday. Then circled the island, visiting Togo Chasm, Talava Arches and Avaiki Caves. All spectacular. It was a very full day toped off with a fish and chips dinner at Matavi Resort with Keith and his wife Sue from the yacht club.

Saturday we went diving. There were three of us plus Annie, our dive master. Our first dive was a bit of a refresher since none of us had dove in a number of years. The water was so clear and the coral was beautiful. Not as many fish as we've seen snorkeling in other places but breathtaking none the less. Between dives we played in the water with a pod of spinner dolphins.

Then on to the second dive. Niue is known for its sea snakes. There are two varieties that look quite different in both size and color. I'm still not sure what possessed me to want to do this. I'm horrified of snakes! Anyway the dive site is called Snake Alley. My description of what we saw is 'unworldly'. Crystal clear water, fish swimming about, and all these snakes lulling around on the bottom and in small spaces. They go to the surface for air once in awhile then descend again, what a sight! I think having a wet suit and gloves on made it ok, knowing they couldn't touch me.

From there we went into a deep chasm with the light streaming in from above, then into a small cave to see lobster and lion fish using flashlights.

Later that day we were back at the boat and spotted a mama Humpback and her calf in the anchorage. She was in one frisky mood and entertained us for a good hour, coming out of the water, doing spins and making some darn big splashes. What a show!

We hated to leave, but Sunday morning we were on our way again, headed to Tongatapu. It's the largest island in Tonga. From there it's on to New Zealand.