| We left Rarotonga on the new moon, Fri, Sept 26. Five days of sailing to Niue. We decided to stop on the fourth day and set anchor in the lagoon of the submerged atoll, Beveridge reef. It was an eerie feeling getting within 2 miles of the coordinates and still not being able to see any breaking waves much less any land. Finally we spotted the breaking waves on the reef. The eerie feeling continued as we drew nearer to the pass, knowing that before being discovered and charted, this hidden reef in the middle of the pacific ocean easily claimed a ship or two. We entered the pass and anchored 4 miles across the lagoon in 3 meters of water. There we sat anchored in the middle of the Pacific with no land in sight. A very strange feeling. We ended up staying for 4 days snorkling the beautiful waters and the one shipwreck that did indeed meet it's demise there. Our friends on "Glide" came in the same day so we had company, and celibrated Brians 52nd birthday with him and his family on board their yacht. |
| NIUE- via Beveridge reef Oct, 2003 click photos to enlarge |
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| Brian,Max, Gina,Kelly,Rich Brian's birthday in Beveridge |
| We sailed into the surrounding waters of the smallest nation in the world, Niue, on Oct.4th. Niue("the Rock of Polynesia"), was formed like many other Pacific islands under going coral reef formation and errosion, but unlike other islands, it was later thrust upward to as high as 65 meters above sea level. The entire island is made of limestone - coral, with no rivers there is no sedement entering the surrounding waters so the visibility is often over 100 feet. |
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| We anchored on a Sunday and Monday morning we checked in with customs, or rather they checked in with us. We took the dinghy to shore and picked the customs officer up and brought him out to the boat. Once all the papers were filled out and brownies and soda was enjoyed we took him back to shore where upon he proceeded to show us the procedure for bringing the dinghy ashore. On Niue the shores are very steep without any beaches to bring your dinghy gently ashore, so they have constructed an elaborate lifting system of an electric winch with cable and hook to lift the dinghy out of the water and up to the concrete pier, 12 feet above. It all worked very well and easily painless until the big swell came in. At that point the procedure became quite dramatic and timing was crucial. We finally got pretty good at it by the end of the weeks stay. |
| Beautiful coral in the clear water of Niue |
| Niue is famous for it's sea snakes |
| We immediately met terrifically friendly people at the tourist information office and signed for all kinds of tours and events. The Island is 11 miles long with a population of only 1700 at present. A lot of the new generations leave, abandoning their houses and move to New Zealand for more opportunity. Because of this they carefully plan for different restaurants to be opened on certain nights and particular activities are schedualed during the week. One day we went on a fabulous cave tour guided by Tali, a friendly and likable Niuean character, where we crawled through a 2 foot diameter hole into awesome rooms made up of other- worldly formations of stalactite and stalagmite columns. Then another day we went on a nature hike through the interior of the island, guided by yet another colorful Niuen named Misa. After that we ended the day with a Fia Fia. This is a tour of a village where we were given the history of the people, their island traditions, and fed a scrumptious feast of coconut crabs, taro cakes, and raw fish, along with cooked greens from the forest we explored earlier in the day. |
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| Tali shows us the beautiful ceiling of the cave |
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| Keyhole entrance to the cave |
| Cave exit |
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| After stuffing ourselves at the feast of the Fia Fia we were treated to the island children dancing to the music of their elders. |
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| We spent a total of 8 days in Niue. Most of those days were spent outdoors exploring the nature of the island and its people. Our stay here was quite different than any other place so far, but then again, every island we have visited in the South Pacific has been very unique in its own, special way. Niue isn't visited by that many cruisers but we always highly recommend it when we meet new people along our way. |
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| With Willie at the "Wash Away Cafe" Our favorite cafe & bar |
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| The coconut crab Niue's favorite food & local pet |
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| Taro judging at a village festival |
| Fabulous locations we discovered on some of our many hikes and snorkels around the island. |