We've done pretty well so far this year with our passages and the Palmerston to Niue one was no different, we had wind all the way. At one stage we had a super yacht pass us, visible only on the AIS and not with the naked eye. It was from Australia and one of the crew, or the skipper, called up and said hi - nice. He also said there was "a blow" on the way and so they were heading further upwind so they could run off when the wind came. If a super yacht with a huge mast and sail area was worried about the conditions then I guess I should be even more worried. That got me thinking, what have I overlooked ? Panicked briefly and then said "whatever". The wind didn't get any stronger than the low 30's we were having at the time and I later found out that the boat was a motor boat (i.e no stick) which rolled very badly with a beam sea. We covered the 395 miles in 2 ½ days which was pretty good time.

The anchorage is only a roadstead and the swell can wrap around the ends of the island so it can be rolly. If the weather comes from the north or west then you have to leave and that's one of the issues as the nearest islands are Tonga and they are to the west - 250 miles. Anyway it didn't happen so it wasn't an issue.

We'd arranged to conduct our Eyeglass Assist program here through Keith at the Niue Yacht Club. I think I'd go back to Niue just to see Keith again, he's one of those people who does whatever he can to help others, nothing is too much bother. We knew we'd have to keep an eye on the weather so we had to complete our EA program as soon as possible - we didn't want anyone to miss out. We often like to see if other cruisers would like to get involved and so we asked Kapai and Eudora's crews, both kiwi yachts, if they'd like to help. Which they did, and they did very nicely indeed.

We spent the first 5 days involved with the program where we fitted over 300 pairs of glasses, all we saw of the island for most of the first week was the wharf, the hospital and the road in between but it was worth it as we made plenty of people very happy.

And I would have to say that Niue is the most expensive country we've ever been too so far but no doubt there are others more so. French Polynesia has had a reputation but Niue overshadowed that without a doubt. Some things were reasonable, like rental cars and beer ($20 a carton). I was told that you can buy holiday packages with airfares and accommodation from New Zealand for a reasonable price but haven't checked. Petrol was expensive at $2.25 a litre; the market was so expensive we couldn't afford anything there. Tomatoes in the supermarket I worked out were 900% more expensive than we were to buy in Tonga. We did buy a lettuce here for $5.50 which stretched the budget. A small loaf of white sliced bread was $5, forget multigrain or other fancy stuff. I can now see why all the locals have to grow their own fruit and vegetables otherwise they couldn't afford to live here.

I managed to have one dive with Jevon and Tracey on Eudora in the very clear waters surrounding Niue (as there are no rivers). Here they have the black and white banded sea snakes or kraits, which are very inquisitive but more or less harmless (photo top right). And the jail (photo bottom left) is a sort of standing joke. The fence is only half a metre high and it's right next to the golf course. The locals will tell you that if someone goes to jail and they can't play golf then by the time they leave they are experts! Mind you I did speak to someone who had been a police officer on the island as well as prison guard and I asked him when the last murder was on the island which was apparently some time ago. He told me it was another prison warden who shot a prisoner after an argument. I'd like to hear the full story.

The whales come right into the anchorage but regulations are so restrictive these days in many countries I'm surprised that we're still allowed to even look at them. You're not allowed to go anywhere near them in a yacht let alone dive with them, the fines are very high. However, licensed operators are permitted to facilitate your swimming with them. If it was all about looking after the whales and making sure you acted appropriately then, as a private boat, they should educate and license us appropriately . I doubt very much that the licensing course for commercial vessels is long or complicated and a cynic might be forgiven for thinking that it is primarily designed to help the local economy.

I don't suppose there will ever be less regulations, will there?

Don't forget to check out our website at www.eyeglassassist.org for our Solomon Islands project next year.