Niue
Spindrift
David Hersey
Mon 31 Aug 2009 01:11
Niue has been an extremely unusual and rewarding experience. It is one
of the worlds largest raised coral atolls and one of the smallest
independent nations. There are about 2000 locals spread around the 50 km
ring road. There are no hills and beaches as such but many little rocky
inlets making beautiful natural pools. Some have paths and steps down,
some take a 30 minute hike to reach. You can hire a car for about
£15.00/day. We have driven around , hiked and explored the coastline and
been awed by the cave rock formations. We went to the bi-weekly farmer’s
market at 6:30 am only to de disappointed by the lack of fruit and paucity
of vegetables. We have not managed to acquire the taste for taro, which
is their staple.
We have been diving in Snake Gulley with a dense assortment of sea snakes
some which are indigenous to Niue and snorkelling with whales. Demetri
has taken some amazing video footage.
The whales are really the story here. The weather has been overcast but
it doesn’t matter when you’ve got a couple of humpbacks chilling amongst
the moored yachts. The moorings are new and very well maintained in 30
meters of water. Yesterday two whales came so close to SPINDRIFT that one
on their tails drifted underneath the hull and touched the propeller, at
which point hey both left in a big hurry with a great tail flurry after
spending half an hour at arms length of the boat. Demetri (with Video
Camera) and Steve ( with still camera) were in the water and you can see
the moment the tail touched the propeller. I was snapping away on deck.
We are going to do another organised snorkel with the whales on Monday
afternoon and leave for Tonga on Tuesday evening. The Dive Masters only
allow you to get close with a snorkel not with scuba gear. The
underwater visibility here is as good if not better than anywhere else
we’ve been, so we hope for some more good footage.
