Niue - Rock of Polynesia

 

Niue (pronounced new-ay) is 100 mi² (260km²) of South Pacific tropical paradise sitting on a large rock of coral limestone peeking out of the ocean. It's one of the world's smallest countries and holds the distinction of being the first “Wi-Fi nation” in the world in which free wireless internet access is provided throughout the country. In free association with New Zealand, most of Niue's diplomatic relations are conducted by New Zealand on Niue's behalf. According to Wiki, all Niueans are New Zealand citizens, Queen Elizabeth II is Niue's head of state in her capacity as Queen of New Zealand and in fact, 90–95% of Niuean people live in New Zealand.

We arrived mid-morning on a blustery day with winds from the north, not the best for this open roadstead island whose only port of Alofi is on the northwest side. We hailed Niue Radio advising them of our arrival and then called the Niue Yacht Club to request a mooring. As we aimed for the mooring, a huge humpback breached a couple of hundred yards in front of our bow as our first greeting to the island. Our friend, Keith, later commented that this was a common courtesy provided by Niue's whales when newcomers arrived.

Getting onto the wharf at Niue is not an easy feat when the swell and surge are up. The process entails dropping off passengers who hurry up a ladder and then onto slippery, wet stairs to a crane suspended over the side of the wharf. The crane is hooked onto the dinghy hoisting bridle and the driver must quickly step out of the dinghy onto another set of stairs which are awash. The crane begins lifting the dinghy out of the water and onto the wharf where it is deposited on a dolly and wheeled out of the way to make room for the next dinghy haul-out. In calm weather, this is really not very difficult, however with the swell and it being our first attempt, we made a less than graceful and very wet entrance to Niue. We almost lost David in the process as a huge wave managed to unhook the dinghy bridle at the last minute and hook onto a dinghy handle instead, lifting the dinghy vertically with David still inside. A quick release on the crane lift and David managed to get the hook back in place and hop out of the dinghy to safety on the wharf. Whew!

We were greeted with traditional flower leis, then escorted first to Customs for clear-in, to the Police Station for Immigration procedures and then to the Bank for some New Zealand dollars, the local currency. Finally, legal and with money in our pockets, we headed to the Niue Yacht Club headquarters aka Mamata's Cafe, just down the street. Much of the arrival drama can be avoided if you fly into Niue via Air New Zealand's single weekly flight out of Auckland.

We enjoyed a whirlwind of social activities on the island. Saturday was a Show Day … a semi-monthly fair that changes locations rotating between the island's 14 villages who sequentially serve as hosts. We watched as dancers and singers entertained. We sampled the food and generally enjoyed our first introduction to Niue's friendly people.

It seemed that every day there was something going on. One night was a “sausage sizzler” at the yacht club and another was a BBQ. Keith gave us an orientation tour of the island one afternoon which included a visit to a noni plantation/juice factory and a visit with Mark Cross, renowned South Pacific painter, at his studio. We had a burger and a beer at the well-known Washaway Cafe on Sunday (the only day it's open) . From the vantage point at our table, we could see whales spouting and breaching, accompanied by a pod of spinner dolphins. Lonely Planet South Pacific provides a pretty good overview of what's available to see and do on the island.

We shared a car rental with friends one day and toured the island in earnest. “Caves, caverns and chasms” is how we characterized our trip at day's end. Scuba diving is a must here with lots of opportunities to swim with the whales as well as sea kraits, a small, venomous, very curious sea snake whose mouth is too small to bite you.

If you go:

Our Navionics electronic charting software was spot on. We primarily used Charlie's Charts of Polynesia for sailing and Lonely Planet South Pacific as our land guide. Check out the Niue Yacht Club website in advance for yacht arrival, mooring and island information. You don't have to be a sailor to enjoy their hospitality. In fact, they claim to be the only yacht club in the world where no local member owns a sailboat!

All services are pretty much spread out on the same strip of road.

• Niue Yacht Club aka Mamata's Cafe is extremely helpful and can answer most questions for you. You can join the NYC ($20/yr), buy NYC logo wear and pay your moorings fees ($15NZ/day) here plus purchase light lunches, drinks and ice cream.
• Duty free: Located next door to Customs office, Duty Free purchases are only available the day you arrive and the day you leave.
• Fuel: Diesel and gasoline are available via jerry can at the local gas station, opposite the Alofi Car Rental.
• Post office: in the Commercial Centre; several collectible stamp issues
• Laundry: Next to the Swan-Son Supermarket
• Tourism office: at the Commercial Centre; has limited information/brochures
• Rental cars, bikes, motorcycles: Alofi Rentals; our car rental was $52NZ/day. There is no insurance in Niue, so you're on your own if you have a fender bender. A Niue driver's license ($11.20NZ) is available on request at the Niue Police Station when a current valid driver's license from your home country is produced. It's the British driving system...stay left.
• Supermarket/provisioning: Don't count on Niue for provisioning. Prices are quite expensive. Swan-Son is the only supermarket and depending on when the last supply ship arrived, shelves may or may not be stocked. Everything (except a few restaurants) is closed on Sundays. Fresh market is early morning twice a week. Check days with NYC.
• Medical: Niue has a small hospital/medical center
• Bank: No ATM; Bank of the Pacific is located in the Commerical Centre. They will exchange foreign currencies for NZ$; they will provide NZ$ on your debit/ATM/credit card with a $12NZ + 3 ½ % surcharge (ouch!). Get NZ $ in advance if you can.
• Restaurants/cafes: Several

NYC has good coffee/latte/espresso in the mornings, light lunches, drinks and good company

Umu Cafe has morning coffee and light lunches

Washaway Cafe (open Sundays only) requires transportation. Great burgers, fish sandwiches and an “honors” bar.

Matavai Resort is upscale, nice atmosphere, pricey

There's an Indian restaurant and several other smaller restaurants to try; a good fish & chip place in the Commercial Centre.

What to See and Do

Niue Yacht Club:  There's always something going on here; a good place to meet and hang out whether you're a yachtie or not. Free internet. Join the Yacht Club!

Island tour: Caves, caverns and chasms. You can hire a car and go yourself or arrange for an island tour through the Commerical Centre or Keith Vial. Good paths through the forest, then spectacular limestone caves and caverns complete with stalactites and stalagmite.

Diving: Niue Diving gives yachties special rates. Dive with the humpback whales in season; great coral; sea kraits; spinner dolphins.

Souvenirs: Limited, but baskets and woven pandanus palm items are nice; some carvings and jewelry. A couple of nice shops and a t-shirt shop in the Commercial Centre. Mark Cross sells prints, postcards from his studio at a shop in the Commercial Centre.

Pitcairn Island - The Welcoming Descendants of a Mutinous Crew

This blog post was written and queued before Casey's death. If we stumble a bit over the next few days, please understand.

There are some places you just can't get to any other way than by boat and Pitcairn Island is one of them. One of the most remote islands in the world, here the mutineers of HMS Bounty settled and scuttled their ship in hopes of avoiding discovery by the British Navy. They were successful in avoiding prosecution, but destined to spend the rest of their lives on this tiny speck in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean.

We had been in touch by e-mail with Brenda Christian (great-great-great-great granddaughter of Fletcher Christian) before we departed Chile in February. E-conversations with Brenda en route with earlier research had given us some good background about Pitkern (the way the locals pronounce it) and we were anxious to land and learn more. We arrived late afternoon in Bounty Bay, found a sandy spot to anchor went ashore the following day.

Bren hailed on the VHF radio first thing in the morning to plan our meeting. The weather was settled and we were able to take our own dinghy ashore rather than the island's long boat. Bounty Bay’s tiny harbor is fairly well protected by a man-made breakwater. We dragged our dinghy up the slipway and completed initial formalities in the boathouse.

We climbed aboard Bren’s quad (ATV), which is the usual mode of transportation on the island, and up, up, up we went along the steep, switch-backed road to Bren’s house for coffee, fresh bread with Pitcairn honey and formal stamping of our passports. Bren is the Immigration Officer as well as Chief of Police. “It's how it is when you have a population of 46 people”, she told us. “Everyone has several jobs to do, but none are full time.”

Formalities complete, we chatted amiably with Bren and her husband, Mike, and then went with them for a tour of the island. It might be a small island, but there was plenty to see. Vista after vista enthralled us, interwoven with the history of the Bounty mutineers and information about local flora and fauna. Place names like Oh Dear, Down Rope, Bitey Bitey and Where Dan Fell all had associated stories.

We managed three night’s anchorage at Bounty Bay before we had to move to avoid the east winds and swells that had developed. Bren came aboard for coffee one morning. Mike gets seasick and declined our invitation. We met them both at the little natural harbor at Ted’s Side to say goodbye on our last day. They were loaded with fruits and gifts for our departure and we were overwhelmed with their generosity.

You need to get to Pitcairn by boat, but not necessarily your own boat. You can catch a ride on a supply ship from the French Gambiers, invest in an adventure expedition from the Cook Islands or catch a lift from a yachtie perhaps. Some cruise ships do stop at Pitcairn. There are few services available on Pitcairn and those are usually only available on request. If you plan to stay, it would make sense to contact someone there first to arrange transportation, lodging and meals. There is a bank, but no ATM. New Zealand dollars are the local currency, but no one had a problem accepting US dollars. There is an internet/call center, but it's not always available. There are no car rentals, but you might be able to rent or borrow a Quad if you inquire in advance. There is a medical clinic which seemed to have reasonable facilities with a doctor in residence. The Pitcairn General Store offers basic supplies and is open on request. The island has abundant fruit trees. Residents are happy to trade for fruit and vegetables that are available or perhaps give you some, but always ask before picking. We used Lonely Planet South Pacific as a guide to Pitcairn and the whole South Pacific area. Good for planning and good for dreaming.

Things We Recommend:

Tour of the island: fabulous views, John Adams’ grave, Christian's Cave, Eco-Tours, several marked hikes. Lots of flowers and birdlife.

Diving: the Bounty is scuttled 50M from the dock in Bounty Bay harbor; not much remains, but what's there can still be seen in crystal clear water.

Crafts: There are no shops per se, but many Pitkerners sell souvenirs out of their homes. Miro wood (rosewood) carvings, especially dolphins and HMS Bounty replicas, pandanus palm baskets, t-shirts, Pitcairn memorabilia, Pitcairn honey. Just ask. Someone will direct you.

The Pitcairn Museum is small, but provides a good overview of the island and its history. Open on request. Admission by donation.

Pitcairn Island stamps are collectibles. The Post Office will open on request.

Read Mutiny on the Bounty to give you some perspective on the island and its people … or if you're lazy, watch the movie. There are several versions from which to choose.

Note that there is no all-weather anchorage at Pitcairn Island. Depending on the winds, you must be ready to haul anchor and move rather quickly to a more protected spot. The Pitkerners are keen weather prognosticators and can usually tell you a change is in the wind and where the best protection might be. If you're not on your own boat and you plan to stay ashore, you won't have this worry.

Nine of Cups was the fourteenth sailboat to call at Pitcairn in 2009. The islanders are hospitable, welcoming and overwhelmingly generous. We left laden with fresh fruit, many gifts and fond wishes. We’d consider it a “must-see” place if you’re in the neighborhood. If you go, consider e-mailing ahead to let them know you’re coming and to see if there’s anything you might bring for them (keeping in mind the ramifications of such a promise if you can’t stop). Also consider bringing gifts such as rum, wine, DVDs and CDs. Country-western music is particularly popular.

The Furneaux Island Group - just a glimpse

 

Fighting a west wind to get further west into the Bass Strait was certainly not reasonable. We consulted the cruising notes/guide we'd received from Jack and Jude on Banyandah. We'd met them in Kettering and spent some time chatting. They're knowledgeable, experienced sailors and we trusted their input. Their guide proved to be an excellent resource. We were not far away from Inner Sister Island and it looked as if a little notch of a bay on its south coast would make a reasonable overnight anchorage and allow us some time to catch up on our sleep and assess repairs to be made.

The wind managed to find our nose no matter which way we turned. The seas were still confused, but the swell had lessened, making the going much more tolerable though we had to motor now. The Furneaux Group, named after British navigator Tobias Furneaux in 1793, is comprised of 52 islands (I personally would have called them the Weeks Islands, but that's just me). It was Matthew Flinders, for whom the largest island in the group is named, and who explored and charted these islands in 1798.

As we neared Flinders Island, the largest island of the Furneaux Group, we were reminded that this island was the home of the last of Tasmania's Aborigines. They had been rounded up by order of the government and relegated to this isolated, barren, windblown island from 1828-34 where most of them died of disease, maltreatment and broken spirits.

We slid down Sister's Passage between Inner Sister Island and Flinders, a light marking the craggy shore. The water roiled in the passage, but as we neared our proposed anchorage, things calmed down significantly. Something hopped on a white sand beach...a wallaby or two maybe. A rusted tin roof on an old deserted building stood in contrast to the dun-colored bush on the hillside.

Under different circumstances, we would have been anxious to get ashore, but this night, we just wanted to lick our wounds and get some sleep. Tomorrow's another day.

A little Tassie trivia: During the ice age, a land bridge joined Tasmania to the Australian mainland through Furneaux Group of islands.

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Super Bowl Sunday

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The Day the Music Died

On this day in 1965 the plane in which Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper were flying, crashed killing three of America's rock'n'roll legends. After the Super Bowl, give Don McLean's American Pie a listen.