Alofi, Niue Island
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Sat 7 Jun 2008 02:20
First - proof of the fish catch. Picture 1 is the tuna Don caught on the
way to Niue.
Now about Niue. The island country of Niue and its 1,500 inhabitants have
welcomed us with more than just the usual smile and hello. The Niue Yacht
Club, which by the way has no yachts since there really isn't a safe
harbor here, put together an entire week-long schedule of events for all
the rally boaters. They arranged for a town feast, happy hours, barbeque,
island tours, laundry service, internet access and added some brand new,
incredibly sturdy moorings just for our group. The population is so small
here that we are already starting to recognize faces just in the few days
we've been here. For example, the New Zealanders that rented us a car for
an island tour yesterday, showed up for the happy hour and barbeque event
that happened later that evening. The guy who runs the ice cream parlor
(which doubles as the yacht club headquarters) was also at the barbeque.
Many of the locals we met at the feast they put on for us Wednesday night
waved to us as we drove by in our rented Magic Bus on Thursday. It's that
kind of place. And did I mention that everyone speaks English? With New
Zealand accents, but still, English.
After we arrived Wednesday morning, we headed in to the concrete wharf
(which isn't crumbling)....a bit nervous about the whole hop out of the
dinghy, swing the crane over, attach the dinghy and lift it out of the
water on to the non-crumbling concrete wharf thing. We shouldn't have
worried. It was close to low tide at the time, the swell was not fierce
and there was a yacht club member ready and waiting to operate the dinghy
crane for us. Once the dinghy was on the wharf, they even had a specially
made 'dinghy mover' that we could use to wheel our dinghy over to an
appropriate parking space on the wharf. That done, we checked in with
customs and immigration and moved on to the yacht club/ice cream parlor.
There we, big surprise, ordered giant cheeseburgers and ate ice cream
cones. Pure heaven after a somewhat bumpy sailing passage.
Picture 2 is a view of some of the rally boats on the yacht club moorings
at sunset.
After gaining back our equilibrium on land for a while and getting a feel
for the one-road town, we did the whole dinghy mover, dinghy crane, dinghy
re-embarkation routine back to the boat to get ready for the big town
feast that night. This was no small occasion. There were not one, but
two roasted pigs, and about a hundred (no exaggeration here) dishes
prepared by all the local people. Don and I arrived early (really we were
on time, but had forgotten about the 'island time' factor) and witnessed
the parade of women in bright, flowered dresses carrying foil covered
dishes from their cars (yes, lots of cars on this island) into the town
meeting hall. Picture 3 shows part of the feast and some of the flower
adorned women and girls. There were about six tables in total crammed
with dishes - all local foods - all prepared in the Niuian fashion - some
unrecognizable and a little bit scary. After a prayer (a very religious
island), the guests (us) and the locals descended on the feast. Even Don,
who eats faster than most humans, couldn't believe how much food was
consumed at such a fantastic rate. Before you could swallow one dry
mouthful of taro (a root vegetable remotely like a potato, but tasting
more like breadfruit, which is a bit sawdust-like), the women had the
relatively small amount of leftovers consolidated onto one table and the
desserts rolled out. Another round of massive eating and we were done.
Everything, with the exception of maybe the taro, was excellent. The pork
was exceptionally excellent.
Then the dancing started. Mostly young girls (picture 4) and not nearly
as polished as what we saw in Tahiti, but it felt more authentic. The
girls parents were there, taking photos, tucking money into the girls
costumes (they do that here...a bit odd given that in our world it is
something normally only done in a strip club....but hey, this is Niue).
The dancing went on for a bit and then the party broke up. Very fun.
Then it was back to the dinghy mover, dinghy crane, dinghy re-embarkation
routine. In the dark, at a higher tide with feistier swell, in our
fancier than normal going out to dinner clothes. Aside from very wet
legs, we managed the trick without losing anyone in the water.
Yesterday, we got together with the crew of Lady Kay (Michael, Jackie and
Rob) and rented what we fondly called our Magic Bus (picture 5), and armed
with advice from the non-sailing commodore of the Niue Yacht Club, we set
out for a tour around the island. Niue is very different from any of the
islands we have seen so far in that it is not a volcano. It is what is
called a raised coral island. A slab of limestone was pushed up as a
result of volcanic activity, coral covered the slab, it was raised up a
bit more and now forms the largest raised coral island in the world (100
square miles). From afar it resembles a low coffee table. Raised a bit
(220 feet in the central plateau) and flat. The result is spectacular
limestone and coral cliffs and pinnacles and caves along almost the entire
coastline.
For such a small island, there is a lot to see because the coastline is
all spectacular, but varies from place to place. We had time to hike to
three areas on the coast, but given more time, would have visited at least
five more. The second spot we visited, Togo Chasm, is a part of the
coastline covered with sharp pinnacles of rock (picture 6). The trail
winds through these pinnacles and eventually to a giant thirty foot
ladder, which descends into an extremely secluded sand beach surrounded by
walls of limestone.
The third place we stopped, by far the most spectacular, was the Talava
Arches. Pictures 7, 8 and 9 were taken as we hiked down the path through
a series of seaside caves, up and over incredible rock formations, under
naturally formed arches to the coral and limestone beach. Marvelous.
After our last hike, we had just enough time to stop at the tiny, open air
bar located at the beginning of the trail. The proprietor's name was Pili
- short for a much longer native name that none of us could pronounce much
less spell - who immediately introduced himself, shook our hands and
seemed quite happy to join in the conversation sharing information about
his travels and the cyclone that devastated the island in 2004. We got
the Magic Bus back to town just as the sun was setting and arrived at the
group barbeque at the town meeting hall just in time. After a meal of
more tasty pork and sing-along entertainment led by the New Zealander
ex-sheep farmer now Niue plantation owner banjo player, we found our way
in the dark back to the wharf for one more round of dinghy mover, dinghy
crane, dinghy re-embarkation at mid-tide with moderate swell.
Today (Friday) is a cloudy, rainy day, which is wonderful. The
temperature is less than 80 for the first time in five months. We are not
sweating. We plan to stay one more night and leave tomorrow for Tonga.
Tonga is only 230 miles away and should only take us two days. We will
have a passenger with us for this trip - Mandy, the World ARC Event
Manager, will be sailing with us, and yes! helping us with night watch.
This should be an easy trip. We wish we could stay longer in Niue, but
the rally schedule is calling and we need to get off our mooring so
someone else can enjoy this friendly place.
Before I sign off, there's one more thing...
Today, June 6, 2008 is my parent's 60th wedding anniversary. Amazing.
Congratulations Mom and Dad!!
Anne
