019:03.210S 169:55.400W
The weather forecast for our trip up from New Zealand was spot on and
having cleared out of the country in Auckland (swiftly and efficiently
with a broad smile, a friendly farewell handshake......there are a few countries
out there that could learn a lot from the Kiwi customs and immigration) we raced
away to the north-east with a lively 30 knot breeze from astern getting us
clear of all the islands and hazards well before dark. After just 24 hours
we were 180 miles downwind and dreaming of warm blue seas and tropical islands
when we had a bit of a "drama" on board. Lucy took a
particularly nasty tumble across the cabin landing ribs first against the corner
of a locker. When I arrived down from the cockpit she was very badly
winded and gasping to regain her breath and just to re-assure me that all was
well, promptly passed out! Having established it was definitely her ribs
and not her head she had landed on I managed to get her back into her bunk and
check that nothing was either broken or missing. We discussed turning
around and heading back to NZ but decided that the prospect of beating for the
next few days into a near gale was not an attractive one and that motion of
crashing back into the lumpy sea would probably be worse than continuing
downwind and letting nature (and some fairly powerful pain killers) take
their course. Unsurprisingly Lucy was soon very stiff and bruised and
confined to to her bunk for a couple of days to recover. Ironically I
have often talked about wanting to sail an ocean passage single handed
which was pretty much what I then got to do.....only with someone to talk
to! After a couple of days Lucy was at least able to get back up
and down the companionway so could start helping with some watches again but her
lack of mobility meant she really was only able to "watch". We have a
ship's bell in the cockpit which I told her to ring to summon me if
anything needed to be done (sail changes, trimming etc.). Fortunately she
managed to resist the temptation to ring it for cups of tea or a new copy of
Hello Magazine.
Despite being a "man down" we made good time to Niue where we were welcomed
in and helped on to our mooring by our friends Mike and Devala from Sea
Rover. If you have never heard of Niue don't panic.... it
is probable that it doesn't feature highly in the National Curriculum and
your Geography teacher may well have missed it out. In fact your Geography
teacher probably doesn't know where it is either as it is one of the
smallest states in the world with a population of around only 1500 people
on an island that is only 12 miles long. On the other hand whilst it may
be small it is undoubtedly pretty special and possibly the friendliest
place we have visited anywhere in the world. This in itself is quite
ironic as when Captain Cook "found" the island in 1774 he never got
any further up the beach than the surf line when the locals raced out from the
trees with "the ferocity of wild boars" and drove him off with a
shower of rocks and spears. He decided to name it "Savage Island" and
sailed away never to return. 230 years later the Niue Yacht Club now
more than makes up for that initial mis-understanding and makes cruisers most
welcome to the island as well as providing excellent moorings in what would
otherwise be quite a sketchy anchorage. The yacht club has
more members than the entire population of the country and does a wonderful
job encouraging yachts to visit this tiny spec in the vast expanse of the South
Pacific
Sadly, given the weather forecast we knew we did not have long to enjoy
this little gem of an island so tried to pack as much as possible into our
brief visit. On our first day exploring we were invited to watch a
traditional celebration that now only occasionally takes place.
Around the onset of puberty an elaborate ceremony is held for the
children which centres on haircutting (for boys) and ear piercing (for
girls). This is a big bash and involves a great deal of money and
gift giving with all the guests giving significant sums of money to the
children and their families. In return the families give enormous amounts
of food back to the guests and I don't just mean a feast but piles and piles of
food, depending on how much money you have given. The one we attended
involved the slaughter of 50 pigs (yes...fifty) and countless fish, chickens,
mountains of Taro and of course the other Pacific staple, tins of corned
beef.
One of the reasons we had wanted to visit Niue was to dive in the crystal
clear waters surrounding the island. As a raised reef the island is
basically porous limestone with very little soil....there are no rivers and
virtually no sediment and as a result the visibility when diving is
extraordinary with 80m to 100m considered perfectly normal. Sadly due to
her fall Lucy was in no state to put a tank on her back but I did
manage to spend a morning with the local dive operation and did
two exceptional dives "The Chimney" and "Tunnel Vision/Bubble
Cave". These involved not only diving deep into caves and tunnels
leading back into the cliffs of the island but also surfacing in a cave where
sea snakes go to breed and lay their eggs. Snakes generally give me the
hebe-geebies but I was repeatedly re-assured that although these venomous sea
snakes are absolutely deadly should they manage to sink their fangs into you,
they have very small mouths and very small teeth so it is almost impossible for
them to actually bite you (almost???).
Sadly the rolly anchorage was causing mayhem with Lucy's damaged back so
after just 4 days we decided to head the 240 miles west to the Vava'u group
of islands in northern Tonga where we knew we could find flat water and a doctor
to give Lucy a check over and make sure everything is still working and in
the right place (perhaps watching Grey's Anatomy is not the best way to
prepare for self diagnosis!) . The doctor has indeed confirmed
that there is no major damage done and that the only cure will be time and a
gentle course of therapeutic massage to ease the muscle spasms. We had not
planned to come back here but it is an exceptionally lovely spot so a few
weeks of R&R here won't be too much of an
inconvenience!
