Niue itself is a lovely island.  It is the largest raised coral reef in the world, and is a flat topped lump of coral limestone covered in dense bush.  Almost all the population lives around the rim in some 14 villages.  The island was devastated in 2004 by Hurricane Heta which brought 300 km/hr winds and 100ft high seas, We were shown areas of the town, over 30m above the sea, where houses and other buildings were swept away and where the water was 2m deep across the road.  It is still recovering.  It has also suffered massive loss of population through emigration to New Zealand, and since the airport was opened with a weekly flight to Aukland, the population has fallen from 6,000 to 1300.  As a result many villages are virtual ghost towns with rows of houses standing empty.  (The villages are nonetheless beautifully kept, with the grass mown short and no litter in sight, but sadly many of the family graves which are often adjacent to the houses are no longer tended).  Unemployment is very high and there are few commercial activities beyond fairly marginal tourism and some equally marginal farming of Taro, Tapioca, and other foodstuffs for home consumption.

 

The principal attractions of the island are its coastal features:  Old chasms in what was once the reef, caves formed by solution of the limestone which have since been broken into by the sea, and fabulously beautiful rock pools.  A feature of the island is the extraordinary clarity of the seawater, making it possible to see 60m under water.  In snorkelling and diving terms this makes it feel like swimming in an aquarium, with fish swimming about in the dappled sunlight in strikingly blue water.

 

Saturday was spent exploring the northern part of the island on our bicycles, dodging the rain showers, but the Limu Pools and the Talava Arches proved the most outstanding of the features.  On Sunday morning we went to church.  Had we known there was a service in English at 08.00, but we didn't so we attended one in Niuean at 10.00 which was perhaps more stimulating.  The congregation was wonderfully welcoming and apologised that this was not the English service.  However the Minister repeated some prayers in English for our benefit and gave us the gist of his sermon too.  We had two modern hymns sung in English accompanied by guitars, but there was also some traditional Niuean singing, unaccompanied.  This was really wonderful to hear with minor keys, haunting melodies and descants.

 

After church Keith had kindly offered to take us on a tour of the sounthern part of the island in his car, and we visited the one resort hotel (30 rooms and very pleasant), the Washaway Cafe (because it was in the hurricane), and an extraordinary gorge in the coastal limestone on the southeast side.  When there we were on the windward side of the island and realised that the wind was blowing dogs off chains, with a big sea breaking dramatically all along the coast.  Enough to make us review our planned departure that evening.  However the wind dropped away later and we slipped our mooring as planned after supper on Sunday evening.

 

We are now (on Monday morning) well on our way to Tonga with a good breeze from astern and a moderate sea, and Ares is bowling steadily along at 6 knots plus with Flossy in control.  Our ETA at Tonga's northern island, Vava'u, is tomorrow morning.  Now, you may think that we will therefore arrive on Tuesday. Wrong.  We will cross the International Date Line tonight, and suddenly it will be Wednesday.  Real bummer if your birthday was tomorrow - you'd have missed it!