21 Sept 2005
19 03S 169 55W

Dear friends,

This is Niue, a single raised coral island about 20km long, and one of the smallest countries in the world, roughly 1000km west of the Cook Islands and 500km east of Tonga. There is no Niue'an citizenship as such since they carry New Zealand passports, and most of the young people move to Aukland and stay there for the jobs, schools, and broader opportunities. There are sadly more empty houses than occupied homes. Land belongs to families and cannot be bought or sold. Less than 1500 people now live on Niue, and their votes are sort-after by countries with stakes in organizations like The International Whaling Commission.

However, the remaining residents are some of the most friendly & welcoming people we have met. After 8 days in Niue, there is not one which we have spent on our own. Niue radio, and Niue Yacht Club welcomed us into Alofi Bay on VHF radio and told us all the useful information like how to check in, which mooring to take, and where to buy food on that day. The customs officers came aboard, checked our fruit & veg for bugs from foreign parts, and wanted to make sure that we had no illegal shells. They seemed to decide that Jan's knowledge of shells was better than theirs and that we had permits for everything that required them. Then we had supper ashore in Crazy Uga's (Mad Coconut Crab's) restaurant after a week of eating on board. Restaurants open in rotation as there are not enough customers to keep any one open all week.

One of the "fun" things about cruising Niue is to bring your dinghy (essential transport) into the dock. There is often a swell at this short concrete quay beside the slot cut into the coral reef which, besides the "International Airport" is the only umbilical between Niue and the rest of the world. As one turns off the outboard engine, one grabs the hook of a crane and loops a harness from the dinghy over the hook. One then jumps out (we only know one sailor who missed) and dashes to the crane control to lift the dinghy out of the sea and swing it onto a little trolley.

We only have one functioning bicycle, having left one saddle behind in Huahine, but we were lent a mountain bike by one of the yacht club members and cycled up and down the coast. One day we, and the crews of 2 other boats rented motor bikes and road round the Niue. There are few beaches since the cliffs fall 100 ft uniformly into the sea all around the coast, with a narrow reef in places. Magnificent caves abound and there are tracks down to many of them. There are no rivers on Niue, but several caves have cool, fresh water seeping out of the limestone behind. As this meets the warm salt water it clouds in mirage effects. This is the only cloudy water to be found as the sea is so clear that you can see the bottom by moonlight at the anchorage in 45ft of water. Sea snakes are common: These stripy creatures will swim up from the bottom seemingly out of curiosity, but are not know to have bitten people. More dramatic are the humpback whales which are round the coast to breed at this time of year.

Our best view of humpbacks was actually before we arrived in Niue. We stopped one night in Beveridge Reef. A sunken atoll 100 miles east. There is no land or rock above water but the ocean swells were breaking on the east side in magnificent 3 metre rollers whereas inside Beveridge there was good anchorage over a sandy bottom 5 to 12 metres deep with occasional coral "bombies". Again, snorkeling was beautifully clear and many familiar fish seemed to be 50% bigger than we were used to seeing, but we had to watch the current which constantly swept from the outer reef towards the pass. Anyway, entering the pass into Beveridge, 2 humpback whales were so preoccupied with each other, splashing around, rolling over, and finally jumping out of the water, that they took no notice of us as we took avoiding action to steer round them.

Another fishy incident, was the night when we left both lines out and got a yellow fin tuna on each at 10.00pm. In the dark, it was chaotic in the cockpit for half an hour until both fish were filleted & the carcasses thrown over. The end result was a little night sushi mi, and a fridge full of very fine fish.

Back on Niue, one couple who entertained us royally, showed us their tapioca, taro, ginger, and pineapple growing on the family land. 2 days before we left, they showed us a "coconut crab" and then cooked it for us. These animals live up to 40 or 50 years. They can grow up to 3ft and weigh as much as 4 or 5 pounds. Most of their mature life is spent in the thick, tropical forest which grow in the shallow soils. When they breed, the females drop their eggs into the sea where the immature form lives until it crawls out onto land. Having the same shape as a lobster, they walk forwards not sideways, they are blue and brown, will climb coconut palms to drop their favourite food to the ground where they are strong enough to cut through the husk, and they make superb eating. This couple also showed us their previous house which had been destroyed in the cyclone which hit Niue in Jan 2004. The house, 100ft above the sea, had been washed off its foundations by a wave, leaving nothing more than a concrete foundation and a pile of debris on the far side of the road. Their new home was one of 20 donated and built by the government of French Polynesia after this disaster.

Next stop for us is Vavau, Tonga.

Fond wishes from Jan, Dave & Harmonica