Niue: quiet and unspoilt   Monday, 02/10/2023

Over the last few days I have gradually explored the island. Twice I’ve hired a bicycle. The first time I followed a road which runs across the island, and then turned off onto an 8 km (5 mile) bicycle and walking track. This wound through the forest, and was completely deserted: I didn’t come across a soul. When I’d completed the track I propped the bicycle up against a tree and sat down on the grass in the shade at the side of the road. A car came past and then stopped: the occupants wanted to know Are you alright? I laughed and said Fine, I’m just tired. Then a few minutes later the police came past: they stopped, reversed and also enquired if I was alright! Had a very jolly conversation with them, a man and a woman. This is absolutely typical of Niue – strangers stop and talk to you; if you’re walking it’s not uncommon for people to stop and offer you a lift.

I hired a bike again on Friday and cycled up to the northwestern-most point of the island, about 12km (7.5 miles) away. There’s a great 1,500 metre walk through the forest and then down through a system of caves, bringing you out under a huge stone arch, with a second sea arch across the rocks. Stunning scenery. Close by is a chasm formed by the cliffs, with a long aquamarine pool at the bottom of it. The whole coastline is full of caves and little inlets where the limestone has eroded, with reefs forming small pools at low tide. Lots of fish and plenty of different types of coral – I’ve had some good snorkelling all the way along the coast. So with a combination of cycling and walking I’ve seen much of the island – I think most people hire a car, but I thought that the distances involved didn’t really make that necessary. There’s also the benefit of exercise from cycling and walking. Whenever I can go ashore I make a point of making sure that I get plenty of exercise – it keeps me in good shape and also means that the enforced idleness when sailing doesn’t have any bad effect. 

One fascinating thing is that the bay in which we are moored is regularly visited by humpback whales. I hadn’t seen any until Sunday afternoon, when from the shore I saw a disturbance in the water and then two tails in the air as they dived. But I’ve certainly heard them… The first night I heard a high and then low-pitched Mmmmmmmmm I thought What is that? It must be coming from outside. I went up into the cockpit and the noise vanished. I went back below and there it was. I realised that it was whale song, and that I could hear it down below because the lower reaches of the saloon are under water. I checked online: and yes, it’s the song of male humpback whales in mating season. Strange to say the least! 

I had intended to leave Niue today, but have delayed until tomorrow. It’s the wind – a bit too windy today, up to about 25 knots, whereas it’s getting calmer tomorrow. Looks like I’ll have 15 to just over 20 knots of wind on my trip west. It’s a short trip, two days only, to Vava’u, a small island group in the northern part of Tonga. 

This will be a busier place: Vava’u is a common yachting stop, many boats setting off from there and sailing south-southwest to New Zealand. In contrast, Niue is much quieter. When I arrived there were three other boats here. They have all departed and been replaced by four new ones – so there is some life, but not much: it can’t be called a yachting centre. Which has made it all the better to visit. And not a lot of people come in by air: there is one Air New Zealand flight a week, on Mondays – that’s it. They use an A320 aircraft, which has a passenger capacity of 194. A ship visits, bringing most of the supplies that the island needs – and that is once a month! The dock looks too short for even a small cargo ship – I think that the ship anchors off the dock and flat-bottomed barges are used to transfer goods ashore. All of this means that Niue is a lot more cut off than other places – in Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas, which is geographically a lot more remote, there are around ten flights a week, and a cargo ship calls weekly. 

Oh, and sailing to Tonga I shall lose a day of my life because I will cross the International Date Line. Tonga is exactly the same time as Niue, except it is one day ahead (Niue is UTC -11 hours; Tonga is UTC +13 hours – UTC being the time at the Greenwich meridian, which is UK winter time).