Niue
08/31/2004 - 09/13/2004
Friends on Flocerfida left Palmerston for Niue on the same day.
Passage from Palmerston to Niue
With tears flowing as we left Palmerston, we sailed west on a beautiful day. Winds between 13 and 23 knots allowed us to clip along at 6 to 7 knots of speed over ground.. At this rate, the 413 miles passage from Palmerston to Niue should take three nights. The winds are very welcome due to Whisper's dwindling fuel supply. The unwelcome part is the associated choppy seas.
A few hours out of Niue, the winds died and we started the engine. Motoring the last four hours allowed us to arrive in Niue at sunrise. As we approached Alofi Bay, the depth sounder started reading 150 feet. We looked over the side of the boat and realized we could see the bottom. Holy cow! We read the water visibility in Niue was supposed to be great, but we did not think it would this good.
The trip to Niue was fun and fast. Duncan smiles even though the temperature is cool. Should we be worried that we get cold at night when the temperature drops into the 60s? We are used to the temperatures being in the 70s and 80s during the day and night.
Friends, Sven and Mark, from the boats Spiritus Invictus and Vinden greeted us in their dinghy to help us find a place to anchor. The anchorage in Niue is one of the least protected anchorages in the South Pacific. Other challenging characteristics of the anchorage are a primarily coral bottom and lots of deep spots.
The cyclone destroyed all but four of the moorings in the harbour resulting in lots of challenging anchoring opportunities. Sven and Mark found a tiny patch of sand for us to drop the anchor. Safely anchored in the bay, we called customs to make them aware of our arrival. Thoughts of naps danced in our heads. Unfortunately, customs wanted to visit us and the boat right away. Duncan hurriedly assembled the dinghy and went to shore to get the customs and immigration officials. In the meantime, Robin rushed around cleaning up the boat in preparation for visitors.
Relaxing on the porch at the Matavai allowed us to take in beautiful views of the ocean and Niue's coastline.
While going through all the formalities in Whisper's cockpit, two humpback whales cruised by in the anchorage. Next, a sea turtle wandered by to say hello. Maybe the customs official organized this special welcome for us. They told us that big event on the evening we arrived was the fish and chips dinner at the resort.
Duncan dinghied the officials back to shore. Even though naps sounded appealing, we decided to forgo the naps and head into shore to check out the town. Thoughts of fish and chips were dancing in our heads. The other big news on the cruiser front was the duty free liquor store. Rumor had it that reasonably priced New Zealand wines were available at the duty free store. Niue became a British colony in 1900 and was then handed over to New Zealand in 1901. Must to their dismay, the Niueans were not confered with on the hand over. New Zealand then included Niue as part of the Cook Islands. Niue regained their independence in 1974, but remains in "free association" with New Zealand. As a result, lots of New Zealand products are available in Niue.
After visits to the duty free store, the internet cafe, the grocery, the tourist office, the bank and the resort for dinner, we made our way back to Whisper and finally took our 10 hour nap.
Lonely Planet describes Niue as follows. "...Niue (pronounced 'new-ay') stands alone and isolated midway between New Zealand and French Polynesia. The closest neighbours are the islands of Tonga, about 600 km (360 miles) south west, and Rarotonga, 1000 km (600 miles) south-east. New Zealand is 2400 km (1400) to the south-west.
One of the smallest Pacific nations, Niue is a quiet and easy going place with amazing cave formations, a dramatic rocky coast and superb scuba diving. The island is a textbook example of a makatea, an upthrust coral reef, hoisted up above sea level by some primeval upheaval". This geological phenomenon leads to Niue being referred to as "The Rock of the Pacific".
The pool at the Matavai looked inviting.
Another beautiful South Pacific sunset as seen from the porch at the resort.
Speaking of "natural experiences of a lifetime", we snorkeled with four humpback whales. Yes, we snorkeled with whales!
Undiscovered, Unspoiled, Unbelievable
The phrase on all Niue literature we picked up the tourist office exclaimed "Undiscovered, Unspoiled, Unbelievable". One brochure stated "...Niue is a natural experience of lifetime. A place where everyone still waves to each other and Nature hasn't been broken. Although every ten years of so, Nature sends a cyclone to try and break us! She hasn't, and she won't..." This sums Niue up in a nutshell.
Niue is a special place both on water and on land. In January, 2004, a huge cyclone hit Niue. Rumors claimed the entire population left the island due to the devastation. We did not know what to expect when we arrived. During our visit to the island, we experienced a little bit of everything on land, underwater and at sea. And, the population of 1800 had defintely not left the island.
While on the Niue Dive dive boat, the dive master, Ian, spotted whales. He said, "Do you want to snorkel with whales?" Of course, the four of us exclaimed "Yes!"
Ian carefully and quietly steered near the whales. We slid into the water and slowly snorkeled toward the whales.
The whales seemed just as curious of us as we were of them. They swam toward us, took a look and swam away. We clambered back into the dive boat and proceeded toward the dive site.
Then, the whales swam back toward the dive boat as if to say "Come play with us" So, we slid back into the water and swam with the whales for a few more minutes. It was an unforgettable experience.
We know this has nothing to do with Niue, but it does fall into the "Unbelievable" part of the Niue marketing campaign. Robin cooked a pizza!
Niue is one of the well known diving locations in the South Pacific. Amazing visibility, beautiful coral and caves are its claim to fame. Unfortunately, the coral suffered major damage during Cyclone Heta. However, the caves and visibility alone made it fun to dive in Niue.
Niue Dive runs a fantastic dive shop on the island. Flo and Jasper from Flocerfida joined us with Niue Dive to dive a couple of caves.
With no experience in cave diving, Robin was pretty nervous about diving inside caves. The first dive site was called Twin Caves. The dive starts with dropping into a chimney that opens up into a cave at its base on the reef's edge. Upon exiting the first cave through the entrance depicted above, we swam into the second cave. Winding through tunnels in second cave was very fun.
Ian, the dive master, prepared us for the second dive by explaining that we would swim thru some very dark areas as well as an area where freshwater meets saltwater causing a blurry effect. What he did not tell us was that we would surface in this way cool cave. The surprise was awesome.
Jasper, in full diving gear, crawls up the rocks inside the cave.
Check out the Forceps Butterfly fish.
This big moray greeted us as we exited one of the caves. He was very interested in us as we were in him.
One of Niue's claims to fame is the endemic, highly poisonous sea snake. We spotted around 50 of these snakes. Ian pointed out that to get bitten by one you would need to stick your finger in its mouth. We did not tempt fate.
A Blue Ribbon Eel peers out from his hole in the reef.
Looking out cave windows into the blue ocean provided an amazing view.
Robin surfaces at the end of a great dive.
Cyclone Heta
Petrol tanks were damaged by the waves crashing onto the island. Several of the tanks were completely lost.
Imagine a tiny island in the middle of the South Pacific getting hit by a cyclone with 180 mph (300 km/hr) winds. In January, Niue bore the brunt of the category 5 Cyclone Heta. Here is one descriptions of the cyclone written by Richard St. Clair. "By early evening of January 5, 2004, Cyclone Heta hits Niue with full force. Winds reach more than 300 kmh and are sustained for several hours. In addition to the cyclone factors, the tide is high, and the moon is near full. The ocean rises over Niue's 30 meter (100 foot) cliffs and comes ashore, taking most of all Alofi South, and other major portions of the west side of Niue, and destroying much of the rain forest. Since the storm is hundreds of miles wide, Niue suffers this sustained torture for untold hours. By Midnight the winds have decreased to sub-cyclone speeds. By 4 am, it's time to venture out and see what's left. By sunrise, it's hard to believe what is before our very eyes."
Debris from the storm awaits pickup by a freighter.
During our visit to Niue, we took a ride with a local who pointed out the window at an empty plot of land the location of the hospital prior to the cyclone. As we drove further down the road, he pointed to a large area that used to be a neighborhood of houses. Many homes were completely lost. The owner/dive master of Niue Dive lost his house, the dive shop, one dive boat and all of the dive equipment. Even with this devastation, he we able to take us diving just a few months later -- that is resilience!
The people of Niue are amazing. By the time we visited Niue, all the debris - cars, roofs, parts of buildings - was piled up and ready for a freighter to pick up the rubble. The hiking trail signs were rebuilt and guided us on our hikes. Foliage and trees were cleaned up. Many homes were in the process of installing new roofs. Within the first week after the cyclone, power was back on line and water service was being restored. Ten days after the storm, the internet cafe was back in business and the wireless network (available to everyone on the island) was functional.
In the background of this photo, you can see the trees stripped of their branches and foliage. Yet, down on the ground, the new growth of plants has started in the few months since the cyclone.
This lush trail is just one sign of how quickly Niue is recovering from the storm.
The winds started to blow early in the morning. Some folks did not have time to get dressed. Eric on Concerto spent most of the morning in his briefs.
Circumnavigating Niue By Boat
The only downside to Niue is the anchorage that is completely exposed to winds and waves from the west. A low pressure system slowly worked its way from Samoa toward Niue. This was not good news for us. At first, the winds blew 40 to 50 knots with gusts to 60 from the east. The Niue anchorage remained nicely protected during this blow. We were shocked to see several boats depart for Tonga and Samoa during these winds. As we watched and waited, we prepared Whisper for the potential of needing to leave the anchorage. Duncan rigged the storm sails, prepared a second anchor and hoisted the dinghy on deck.
With low pressure systems in this area, the east winds come first and then the winds clock around to the west. We kept hoping the system would skirt Niue, but it did not. Eventually, the west winds up to 30 knots started to blow. The winds brought with them waves up to six feet in the anchorage. Whisper bounced in the anchorage approximately 200 yards off the reef.
Up and down went the boats.
The waves built. The chafe on the snubber started. We started the engine to relieve some of the strain. Then, we decided to leave the anchorage and sail around to the other side of the island to "heave to" to wait for the winds to change direction.
As we reached the protection on the eastern side of Niue, the winds dropped from 25 knots to 5 knots. Aahhhh, the leeward side of the island is lovely. We spent 36 hours "hove to" on the eastern side of the island. Then, just like someone plugged the plug, the winds died and switched direction. We motored around the north end of the island and back toward the anchorage.
Normally, we do not like to anchor at night, but we were so excited to "drop the hook", we decided to head into the anchorage in the dark. Having already been in the anchorage in conjunction with the GPS coordinates for where we were anchored, we felt comfortable coming in at night. By 1 am, Whisper was anchored and we headed off to sleep.
A few boats sailed back and forth in front of the anchorage waiting for the anchorage to become more tenable. Most came around the eastern side with us.
Check out the boats bouncing around in the anchorage.
Six other boats left the anchorage to go wait on the other side of the island. While the winds were calm on the east side, a huge 15 foot swell from the south brought big rolling waves. Here is one of the boats hove to with us. Now you see them.....
Now you don't! The waves were huge, but spaced far enough apart to cause us little discomfort.
This doesn't look like a boat. Where is the rudder? Hey, the wheel is on the wrong side. Uh oh, we better get used to driving on the "wrong side" for a while.
Circumnavigating Niue on Land
By the time we returned to the anchorage, we both REALLY wanted to take a break from the boat. Exploring Niue on land via a rental car sounded like just the ticket. Niue is 60 km (36 miles) around the island on the coast road. Caves, sea tracks, arches, forests and chasms are everywhere. The geology of the island is fascinating. Donning our hiking boots, we set off with a map and the Lonely Planet guide for a couple days of land fun.
One of the positive aspects of hanging out on the east coast of the island was getting to see the magnificent blow holes erupting with water. You cannot see them from land, so we enjoyed watching them while we bobbed around for 36 hours.
Our land cruiser proved to be the perfect vehicle for exploring sea tracks and hauling jerry jugs of fuel back to Whisper.
The skinny Niue roads paved the way for us to access tons of scenic sights.
The first sight on the itinerary was to visit the Liku Sea Track. Not knowing what a sea track was, we reached the end of the road and looked around for another road. Fortunately, a boy rode by on his bicycle. We asked him how to find Liku and he pointed at this "road" through what looks like someone's front yard.
Here it is. Liku Sea Track took us down to the sea via a steep road.
Sea tracks are driveable dirt roads that run down to the sea. What a blast!
The payoff at the end of sea track was this beautiful view to the sea out the chasm window.
Steps down through the chasm allowed us to access the sea.
Amazing turquoise waves crashed on the reef.
Here is another beautiful wave.
With so little time on land in the past few days, Robin takes advantage of being able to sit on solid ground.
Duncan emerges from the chasm.
Togo Chasm trail is one of the popular hikes.
Aaahh, green stuff on land is a welcome sight.
"After leaving the bush....
....the track descends through a mass of jagged coral pinnacles....
....to a grassy flat...
...from where a passage leads off to the edge of a ravine.
At the foot of the ravine, there is a beach of fine golden sand from which some coconut trees rise, almost reaching the rim of the ravine."
This tall ladder takes you down to the sand oasis.
Nooks of water pools surround the beach.
And, up the ladder we go.
The landscape of coral pinnacles looked like fossilized drip sand castles.
Check out this unique flower (or leaf?) we spotted along the trail.
We visited Anapala Chasm at the end of our first day of hiking.
A sea track near Anapala Chasm took us to the sea where these cool shelves of coral butted up against the island.
This is the location of one of the canoe landings.
Have you figured out that we like all the pretty little flowers?
Duncan blazes the trail en route to the chasm.
This ominous looking spider spun its web just a little bit off the trail - thankfully.
After a strenuous day of hiking, we stopped at Willy's Washaway Bar for food and beverage.
Friends from Flocerfida met us at the cafe for dinner. Marcia, Flo, Jasper and Duncan smile for the camera.
We loved the way the honor system works at Willy's. You make your own drinks and keep track of your food and beverage. At the end, Willy tallies up your bill based on what you tell him you consumed. Way cool!
Here is Willy making foccacia bread sandwiches. The foccacia bread is delicious!
Off for another day of hiking, the first stop is Matapa Chasm.
After a short walk, this amazing pool of freshwater and saltwater appears. We enjoyed a refreshing skinny dip in the pool.
We hiked and hiked and hiked on the Talava trail looking for arches and a cave. Duncan found a cave and this stalagmite. We never found the arches.
More interesting and beautiful plants growing along the trail.
The pools at Limu are a mixture of fresh and sea water. Snorkeling and swimming in the pools is a popular activity.
Lots of tiny trails lead to different pools of combined fresh and salt water.
This tiny ladder provided access to a beautiful pool.
Snorkeling in this pool treated us to lots of colorful fish as well as the funky "out of focus effect" caused by the combing of ocean saltwater and island freshwater.
We received our check out papers with some funny terminology. The document states that Duncan, the captain, is accompanied by 1 women, foreign built. What the heck are they implying by that comment about Robin?
Tonga Here We Come
Eleven days in Niue allowed us to fall in love with the island and its people. We enjoyed a love/hate relationship with the anchorage. Whales and turtles swimming through the anchorage with visibility at over 150 feet is incredible. The exposure makes the anchorage untenable in westerly winds.
By the time we left Niue, we were ready for some calm water and protected anchorages. On that note, we left for the Vava'u island group in the Kingdom of Tonga.