Niue

Pronounced New Eh. I think. It’s kind of confusing. You can hear a few different versions from the locals. I think it depends on how much New Zealand accent they have. And it varies widely.

Also called WIFI wasteland. Bought $25 worth of WIFI and ended up getting my money back. Rented time on a desktop station. I knew I had a couple of issues to address via email. Took 20 minutes to open and reply to three emails. While the gnats ate my feet and ankles. $3.40. Did not go back.

Passage here was not fun. Either to much wind, from the wrong direction, or rain, or both. Everything was soaked. And its cold. Well, not Chicago winter cold but for us it was cold. But..  Niue is really something. I was going to say beautiful but I think I over use that word. But it certainly applies here.

Niue is the largest raised atoll in the world. Essentially a coral reef pushed up by a volcano. Something like 100 square miles. It is also the smallest self-governed country in the world. In free association with New Zealand. Population 1500. Except to hit that number they count all the tourists who are on the island at the time. Seems the WHO (World Health Organization) has deemed 1500 as the minimum size for a country to be able to provide assistance. And since they want WHO assistance here they count anything on the island that has 70 or 80% human DNA in or on them as a citizen. So I think I am a citizen of Niue. Nice. And that’s all true. Heard it from a couple of locals.

Clearing in was a hoot. About 6 of us met up with a couple of the ARC folks and we went to a couple of picnic tables just up from the warf. Where we met all of the local officials. All very friendly and helpful. We had Quarantine Officer, nope nothing on board, Immunization Officer, yup all have our shots, Port Authority, that one was easy, Immigration Officer, double stamp in and out. Done. Papers and forms and passports flying all over the place. 

A rock in the middle of nowhere is how they describe themselves and it’s about 100% accurate. Extremely nice people. And everyone speaks English. When you go into a store you are greeted like an old friend. I had a cup of tea and a biscuit in a little café joint along the cliff edge and only had a $100 NZ to pay with. They couldn’t make change so the gal said to just come back by anytime and pay them. Which made me forget entirely that I was just charged $12 for a cup of tea and a biscuit. Everything here is brought it by freighter and the landing is a bit of an issue. Any swells at all and they cant land anything here. They have gone months at a time without a supply ship being able to drop off here. And everything is rather expensive. And by rather expensive I mean….  Holy #$#$ are you kidding me? You look at the prices in the grocery store and wonder how people can live here.

Which brings me to the dingy dock. Isn’t one. You use the municipal dock. Same one the cargo comes in on. And there is no dingy tie up. To much swell. You have to rig your dink with a lifting harness and use the city crane to pick it up and deposit it on the cement pier. On a trolley. Then you roll the trolley over to a parking spot and dump your dink on the pavement. It is both comical and dangerous. And takes a couple of people. My dink weighs 600 pounds. The swells really cause some issues. We’re getting it down pretty good though. And giving lots of rides to and from shore. The smaller dinks are not beefy enough structurally to pick up that way. Many of the larger ones engines cannot tilt up high enough to be able to set them down in a parking lot. Some cannot even launch theirs from the boat because the swells and rolling in the mooring field will not allow for it. A local with a water taxi would clean up during ARC week here. I would gladly pay 5 bucks each way to not have to go through what we have to do to get ashore. The locals have it down. All the fishing boats have a lifting bridle. Swing up, lift, drop on a trailer and off you go. And there is such a thing as crane etiqutte. After hauling out you are to swing the crane back out 2 meters from the sea wall and leave the hook one meter above the water. So now you know. No excuses.

But this place is quite spectacular. No beaches. Of any size anyway. All coral cliff walls. Caves everywhere. We did a tour and snorkeled in several caves and canyons. The fresh (cold) water flows out and meets up with the salt (warm) water in these formations. You can see the thermoclines coming at you as you move along. It gets all blurry and the temp changes quite dramatically as you move through them. Rather other worldly. The colors of the water contrasted by the stalactites and stalagmites are incredible. I have some pictures that are pretty incredible but they lose maybe ½ of the true colors that you are in. Cave passages you dive down to go through into another cave grotto. Leaving behind a bit of flesh from your forearm if you do it like I did. I didn’t witness it but one fellow hit his head on the cave roof and came out covered in blood. Not a bad cut but I guess but they said it looked like a remake of Carrie. You have to time your visits with the tides and during reasonable swell periods but we were lucky on both accounts. Some breathtaking sights for sure.  Had a terrific guide. Keith. A retired schoolteacher from New Zealand. Funny as all get out and really knows the island and its people. Commadore of the local Yacht Club. More on that one to follow.

Snorkeled this cave. Awesome!

Go under here into the next cave. And leave a little bit of forearm on the cave roof. That kind of hurt.

Our guide. Keith. Great guy. Terrific tour.

Two of the crew rented a car for a day. The usual rental places had run out so they were sent to the tourism office. There they inquired about a rental and the gal behind the desk started calling up her friends. “Hey, you using you car today? No? Want to rent it out?” Found them a car.  Didn’t even ask for a driver’s license.

Also on Niue is the Niue Yacht Club. Billed as the smallest Yacht club in the world. They have no boats and no member has any sailing experience. But they are wonderful hosts. Had a very fun BBQ at their clubhouse last night. 10 bucks, all you can eat. But then 7 bucks for beer or wine so I think maybe they made it back a bit. I think I am going to join. Costs 20 bucks I hear. And you get a membership card and everything. So hoopa holla I’m going to be a member of a yacht club! My Mama going to be so proud!

Got up early to hit the farmers market. Held on “Tues N Friday”. Little bit disappointing. There were, and I s$%t you not, 4 small bags of green beans a 5 bunches of green bananas. That it! Lots of baskets and crafts and such but that’s all the produce they have on the island. The cargo ship comes in tomorrow. We will miss it.

Last year a cat called Blue Marble broke loose of it’s mooring and went on the reef here. A friend of mine came through a short time later and saw the aftermath. The boat was pretty much written off. And the end of a circumnavigation for the group that was on the boat. Some fellow bought it for close to nothing and got it deposited in a front yard on the main drag here. Met him the other day. He is patching it up well enough to get to a more major repair facility in Fiji or Tahiti. Going to cost a ton but when he is done it should be a very nice cat and a very nice price. If you don’t count your own time of course.

The dogs here are quite friendly. But I guess this guy is a cat person. A rather odd sight. A cat in the front yard. 

They had a nice sendoff party for us. Had drinks at the Niue High Commissioners house. Wore my best go to church flip-flops and my cleanest shorts. All spiffy I was for sure. Then a show of local music and dance and a buffet put on by the locals. Very good food. And a lot of whispering as we were going through the line. “What do you think that is?” “I don’t know but I think we should try it.” “OK you try it.” “No you try it.”    Had a good time. They dragged a few of us up there for a traditional dance. A very strange traditional dance. You put your hands on your hips and swing around then grab your partner by the ears and sway side to side. Kid you not. I have pictures. I still kind of wonder if they were just pulling one on us. I’m going to have to Google Niue ear pulling traditional dance.

So off we go to Tonga. The Kingdom of Tonga. Not to sure what to expect there. Certainly heard of the place but we have been disappointed by the big name stops in the past. We will be picking up a new crewmember there as well.

peace

M