Cruzing yachts and Niue

[Guest]

Never thought of that before?? Maybe you should. It's only 300nm East of Tonga and 335nm South of Apia or 3.5 hours on a A320 from Auckland.

 

Niue is now becoming quite a destination for many yachts heading down our way. Last year was a quiet one for visitors and only 280 stopped for a peak into a very different pacific island than most others. This year they will have the ARC rally stopping by and another I've forgotten the name of, that's on top of the others. No rallies stopped by last year so you can see this season will be a busier one.

 

I've spent a lot of time in most pacific nations from the big fellas with lots of stuff, like Fiji, to the small rarely heard of ones that have bugger all like Kiribati (pronounced Kir-a-bass) but never really though much about Niue. So I had a view of Niue in my head as I hopped on the plane of it being small, white sandy beaches with 6.3 Palm trees, minimal supplies and a population of 17. Well a few hours later it didn't take long to realise I my thoughts were well wrong.

 

Some musings and possibly interesting info should you ever head that way, and I'd suggest you bare it a thought, I do think you'd be pleasantly surprised.

 

- Niue isn't a low long white sand palm lined beach atoll, it's a Rock, hence the 'Niue Rock of the Pacific' tagline, which is quite appropriate. Actually it is a coral atoll just that many million years ago was pushed upwards a lot and pushed up again a wee whiles back so it does appear to be a rock, just one made out of very old coral. Niue is 70mts odd high at the top and not that much lower elsewhere. There is a place they call a hill but Auckland has judder bars knot much lower. We aren't talking Sir Ed skills needed here by any stretch. Getting access to the sea is easy, there are 'sea tracks' as they call them, for both feet only and some are car capable as well, everywhere and they are usually well sign posted.

 

D1 in one of those 'pools'. It was a rough day so 20mts odd behind D1 the Pacific Ocean was trying to bash it's way thru the reef hence the pool was unusually cloudy.

 

 

Note to JH: If that photo is found on your bedroom ceiling please note I do have a Firearms licence but only has a have a few guns, all of which operate damn well even the one with a long range site more than capable of seeing detail on a 3.7, I14 or whatever a few hundy meters of a Whangaparoa beach. I'm sure you catch my drift

 

- Water. It's got lots of nice tasting zero treatment needed water. By lots I mean it's been estimated around 3 gazzillion lts (that number is a guess to cover memory failure but it is a bloody BIG number) of the stuff in a big lens under the Island. The rain filters down thru the old coral and just sits there. Water is piped (underground) all over the island and there are taps all over the show so you just rock up to one grab what you want and drink away. There is zero need to treat or boil it and it tastes damn good. So if plodding around no need to carry a huge pile of liquids as good water is usually close at hand most of the time. Take a drink bottle if wondering around, it is hot, at times bloody hot.

 

- Fuel, yeap has that as well. Not cheap as you'd expect as it's all shipped in but generally they have good stocks. Delivery to the boat is via a mini tanker trailer. The cost was approx 50c a lt more then NZ. I'm not to sure if yacht get it Niue GST equivalent free but a guess would have me saying yes, they do seem to be good at duty free. They did have a couple of large tanks down by the wharf but the big blow in 2004 (??) built the sea up so far it blew them clean off their bases and in doing so splilt 20,000 odd lts into the water. There is zero sign of that spill now but the rooted tanks are still there So now all the fuel arrives in container tanks.

 

- Anchoring. I wouldn't as after diving around there the other week if anchoring was the norm I'd be opening a branch in seconds and be a millionaire in a month. The coral will just eat anchors I'd expect. Also it gets very deep very fast. 200mts off the shore it can be 100's of mts deep.

 

- Moorings. The Niue Yacht Club, 'The Biggest Little Yacht Club In The World', in conjunction with Tourism Niue have a pile of moorings they place out for the season. These are available for the cruisers at $15 a day. They are good ones and built to ensure the yachts get a soft ride and the environment doesn't suffer. The shallowest has 16mts of water under it and is approx 50mts off dry land. For 3 odd months of the season it is possible to sit on your moored boat and watch baby whales playing underneath you, the water is so clear. The season runs from about now, April thru to around Sept/October each year. Outside that the winds tend to swing to make that side of the Island a tad open so they don't see many boat based visitors.

 

- Harbour. Nope it ain't got one. There is a wharf in Alofi, the Captial I suppose you would say, which you can get boats onto and your dingy would be put on when you went ashore. There is a derrick on the wharf to lift heavier dingys/boats in and out with. They will happily assist you if required. It has an electric winch and can lift 18t. As Niue is a rock it doesn't have an outer reef like many other pacific islands. Well it sort of does but it's only 10 to approx 100mts off the dry stuff. From that outer bit it's pretty flat to the dry stuff, certainly no good for parking a boat as you can walk from the dry stuff to the outer edge in many places without getting your pants wet. But watch for the odd big hole, some are large and deep from years of wave action. In many of these 'pools' you can happily snorkel and see a huge amounts of fish and assorted sealife. A lot, most, of these pools are also safe for the kids to snorkel around in.

 

In this pic you are looking at Alofi and the Wharf. In the water foreground you can just see a couple of the mooring buoys, that yacht is parked on one. On land just right of centre is the Shopping Mall, Island style of course. Only just out of view to the right is the Supermarket. The building on the cliff top is Parliament House. The flash building behind the wharf and a couple of trees is a Church, they have a lot of them. The blue things behind the wharf are containers. That wharf is the only one of any size so all freight goes on and off the Island by that.

 

 

A closer shot of the wharf which shows just how clear the water is as just off the edge of the coral in the bottom is 12-15mts deep. That is why the NYC tags this rather funny line to the bottom of many of it's photos 'NOTE – Not wise to use depth sounder to find your proximity to land'. As funny as that maybe it's deadly serious as it goes from heaps to feck all in very very few meters in some places, mind you the water is like glass so you'd see the nasty approaching.. or you bloody should.

 

 

Halfway between the wharf and Parliament House is the Niue Island Yacht Club. As you can see your Crew.Org representative has visited and discussed at length with Commodore Keith closer sailing relations, good and bad beers and the joys of assorted things Island.

 

 

- Food. Yeap plenty, quite a good range of all sorts is available at the 'supermarket' 100mts from the wharf or some of the smaller shops. The cost isn't that different than at the top end of average you'd see in NZ. But be aware the fresh stuff can cost a bit more as most is flown in. If you'd like to eat out ashore you'll find a range of good tidy handy places to do so. A good sized feed for 4 with a couple of drinks would set you back around $60-75. As the scribe found out, getting a starter and a main is a big call, they don't do micro Ponsonby Cafe sized feeds and we did see a few struggling just to jam a main alone in. Locally grown food is pretty much only Taro, Coconuts, Pawpaw and at times tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers and things like that. The local dishes are good, some are rather different but all are damn tasty. You have to try Niuean Lasagna. Layers of taro and pawpaw covered in coconut milk and then slow cooked for a while. Damn yummy but watch out, it'll go straight to your thighs. All the food is safe as you'd expect in NZ and the over all quality is high. Don't expect Gordon Ramsey la-de-da Gastowhatever food but do expect a good tasty Cafe type style. A basic fish and chips with salad is common, fresh and damn good. You can even get a damn good steak, again not at the smaller end. There is even an Indian place there with a Mango Chicken rated very highly by 2 food highly fussy critics going by the names of D1 and D2.

 

Don't go looking for New World signs, you'll go hungry.

 

 

- Getting around is easy peasy. The main centre and where the shops are, Alofi, is no more then 300mts from where you would land in your dingy and you can see a lot of the shops (of roofs of) from your moored boat. So walking isn't a issue at all. If you'd like to go further afield Alofi Rentals is 400mts from the wharf. It has a range of wagons, all safe ones, from light trucks, mini vans, 250cc motorbikes and scooters. having a Warrant of Fitness on all wagons is compulsory but if it can be steered, has some brakes and at least one working headlight you'll get one. Mufflers are very optional, as I'm sure you'll hear at some stage. If you want to venture further afeid, and you will, you'll probably want some form of transport as Niue isn't a small rock. The main road West to East across the island is 15km long and that's the skinny part of the island. A circumnavigation of the whole Island is close as 70km by road. The roads are generally pretty good and mostly sealed with stone chip but using crushed coral so they are white. The white is way cool but if it rains it's damn hard to see the puddles, watch for that. getting around on a push bike wouldn't be hard. Alofi rentals does actually have 1 or more battery assisted bikes. We were given this rocking Whanau mover and while it looks tame you'd be surprised at it's off road performance. Shite I hope Len doesn't see that 3 Hundy for a week and 1 hundy to gas it up when handing it back. If you go for a wagon schmooze one with good Air-con. You don't know it yet but you do want that.

 

 

- The people. Usual Pacific people so friendly, happy and very keen to help should you need any advise, guidance or just a chat. Not tall people and many of the young fellas are build like the All Black scrum so if you get invited to have a game of rugby I'd pick Wing or something in the back-row and be prepared to fun fast. I think you'd be very brave to be a forward. Be prepared for most to say Hello or give you a wave as you walk past them. They are good people and not scary, even the affectionately named, by D2, 'Hermy', the interesting old gent who stands in the middle of the road feeding chickens all day.

 

- Language. Niuean is heard everywhere obviously but everyone also speaks english as well as you or I, sometimes probably better. They swap seamlessly between the 2, sometimes even mid sentence if they are asking a Niuean mate a question in response to something you asked them. Language isn't a issue at all.

 

- Crime. Yeah right, none bar the very odd thing amongst themselves and even that is rare. Generally the most heinous thing is one being caught without wearing a helmet on a motorbike, which is compulsory and enforced, about the only thing vehicle related that is by the looks. They do have a prison. I saw a sign on the fence around the Airport stating climbing over was an offence punishable by a $2000 fine or 2 months in the prison. Without a shadow of a doubt I'd take the prison option.

 

A funny thing happened while I was there, well sort of funny to me. In one of the villages there was a issue over something small (to us but appears knot to them) and a guy shot another one. Only winged him and wasn't that serious a wound. The Police arrived and sorted it. I asked 'So they are now locked up?'. Nope only one was in the clink and the other was told to stay at home and be a good boy. I asked why do that? It seems the officials were concerned that if they put them both in the clink at the same time they would just start at it again so decided to keep them apart. They were going to aulternate the guys in prison. One week in prison and a week at home while the other dude spent a week in there. When I was leaving they were still trying to decide what to do about that as it seemed a bit messy. The consensus was they might have to go and buy some locks for the prison doors. No kidding, they can't lock people in the prison so they say 'stay there and don't go home'. They stay and do their time. While there they grow their own food in a garden out the back.

 

 

The local Cop shop. Here you can get one of the best looking Drivers Licences in the world. Show them your NZ one and 25 notes later bingo, you're all good to go. Note that the Cop Shop does close for lunch and those wagons probably wouldn't get a NZ WOF but what the hell they work so who really cares as it's all just part of the joys of going 'Island'.

 

 

- Customs as in cultural things to beware of. The usual found in the Pacific nations. They are heavily religious and have a huge range of churches which have a service at 10am and 4pm every Sunday. Many go to both. Working on Sunday, by anyone even visitors, isn't really a good thing to do. Also Sunday is a good day NOT to be wondering around in a bikini, best to cover those thighs, excessive cleavage (crap, that's the 2nd time today I've said cover thighs and cleavage. I think I need to seek medical help as I usually encourage quite the opposite.... unless they are named D1 and D2 of course in which case less sure the f*ck is more) and keep your shirt on. If you are at one of the many swimming spots, which are generally pout of view of the everyday goings on, it's OK to peel some gear off and go splash. On Niue like many nations, everything is owned by someone, even that coconut lying on the side of the road. So it's best to ask given the chance, even though I get the impression the answer would never be No and the 1 item you wanted will turn into many more handed to you. Otherwise the usual common sense should be observed and all will be fine.

 

OH f*ck!!! I pushed the wrong button so go away and come back later.

 

So now I've lost the plot where too? OK I'll go all ramble on your arses, knot that shite like that ever happens does it

 

As I went there purely for work (he says leaving a papertrail for the IRD ) I'll gift you a photo of a legend in action Island style. The Island style comes in when you consider it took 7 days to do 4 hours work. I went up to tweak the moorings. Me at full pace, hell I even got a sweat up but that was sorted with lots of Stieny Pure. I even had the team uniform on. It's all about the air flow baby, blokes need it too

 

 

Sadly I even had to go check to see things were OK with some others. 35mts deep and it was 27 degrees. Work can be such a bitch sometimes. If you look in the background you can see why anchoring would be tricky and be easy to lose gear.

 

For those a bit technical minded or observant, you'll notice the moorings don't have bottom chains like we do here. They are basically rope from the block to the surface. This is due to Niue being smart enough to know their environment is pristine and they want it to stay that way. So no chain to beat up the coral and we placed sub-surface floats (the smaller yellow ones in the photo above) about 7mts deep to hold the rope up away from the coral and add some drag into the systems to smooth the boats ride.

 

While on being Niue be smart. In amongst that mooring field in 2 months time (kick off early August) you can find Whales playing. Humpbacks generally complete with kiddies. This is becoming a major draw card for visitors as they swim literally 50mts from dry land so they are easy to watch and swim out too. So Nuie in their smartness made all the side of the Island a Marine Reserve to protect the Whales and their environment. That is a very good idea and is generating a nice tourist dollar at the same time.

 

A note of caution here. If you Scuba dive don't do it around Humpback whales. Humpbacks can sort of communicate by blowing bubbles. This bubble blowing generally means one of 2 things. One being 'Hello Darling, aren't you a cutie. Watch out I'm about to chuck a fin over and ride you like Smithy trying to hang onto his Ross 40 in 60kts of wind'. Or the other reason could be 'Oui you wank, I was going to get my fin over her so you've pissed me off and I'm gonna go ya'. So if you happen to be a 100kg diver blowing bubbles and a 36,000kg Humpback sees you doing that the chance it'll end well for you aren't at all good even if the Whale isn't pissed off and gonna apply 'The Bash'. Mind you I doubt your prostrate will ever be an issue after that if the whale is only horny.

 

Some of the cools signs and site we spotted.

 

Have to love this one from a northern village outside their local hall.

Even Niue women do it. Yes item 5 ladies

 

No stupid names that mean nothing used up there. Knot hard to guess what happens here and who the boss is.

 

Some of the local fishing fleet. That's about all they have bar a few small tinnies. Makes one wonder how many millseconds it would take for YNZ to go into a total meltdown if you said I'm off for a 100 miler in my Niue boat Check out some of the detailing on these things.

 

The Niuean builders are probably some people the next Volvo race teams should hire. These canoes can go open ocean and get home again without humongous computer power, a ton of carbon fibre and trucking across a continent

 

 

 

 

 

 

The whole Island is like Swiss cheese so you find these tucked away in the strangest of places.

 

 

Well, now I fecked this all up well and truly and have just worked out how smartarse in Wellington gets photos into threads my head hurts a lot. So I'll leave it there for now and return to it tomorrow. Yes there is more including me being a dick, Yes usual as it sounds it can happen, some cool scenery and even some pretty sh*t for the ladies

[Mothership 6]

[Guest]

Thank you and yes....

[Guest]

Lived there for a year. Love it. Nice report.

[Battleship 100]

Damn now I want to sail there.

What's the bureaucracy like for incoming boats customs charges etc?

[Guest]

Damn now I want to sail there.

What's the bureaucracy like for incoming boats customs charges etc?

None, they encourage visitors rather than try to financially rape them.

 

Contact Commodore Keith, the guy is magnificent and will help you with everything. I'll suss his email.

[Fogg 427]

Nice 10,000th post KM.

 

Welcome back!

[203 0]

 

Note to JH: If that photo is found on your bedroom ceiling please note I do have a Firearms licence but only has a have a few guns, all of which operate damn well even the one with a long range site more than capable of seeing detail on a 3.7, I14 or whatever a few hundy meters of a Whangaparoa beach. I'm sure you catch my drift

 

 

And just to confirm, its a I14.. not a 3.7!

 

Great read, really enjoyed it!

[DrWatson 374]

Thanks, KM.

 

Good to have you back.

[grant 40]

Nice!

[Bimini Babe 0]

And all is right with the world again.

[Megwyn 2]

Totally awesome 10000th post KM! Almost worth the long long wait

 

Nuie is one place I would LOVE to go. Just because it isn't tourist orientated yet.

By the time I get there I guess all that will have changed. . .

[Grinna 2]

So do they have ciguatera disease in their fishery KM? Is their fishery in a generally healthy state, or have the reefs been over-exploited in areas and fishing is a struggle? Do they get tropical cyclones during the season (I'm thinking yes) and if so, roughly how many per season?

 

BTW ... good to have you back.

[smithy09 50]

Welcome back KM. Great post mate.. Some "job" you have...

 

Yes I did note the 60kn reference.. Haven't been there yet..

[ab1974 1]

All good things come to those who wait. Good post KM.

 

No wonder it is taking the boys so long to get that hotel built up there..... I wouldnt be in a rush to get home.

[banaari 27]

Brilliant, utterly brilliant, go KM

[Guest]

So do they have ciguatera disease in their fishery KM? Is their fishery in a generally healthy state, or have the reefs been over-exploited in areas and fishing is a struggle? Do they get tropical cyclones during the season (I'm thinking yes) and if so, roughly how many per season?

 

BTW ... good to have you back.

 

Giant Barracuda are a delicacy there, where as everywhere else they are not eaten due to ciguatera. The fishing is amazing. 3 very big cyclones in the last 30 years. Major damage. Couple of smaller ones now and again but zero damage as the towns are built on high ground. Some parts of the island namely around Avatele get away with very little damage while Alofi is destroyed. Last one took out the hospital, lots of govt buildings and houses and one woman lost her life. There ARE beaches. Just need to know where to find them.

[Guest]

I've just had a call from Niue. They have seen this thread.

 

Fancy that, the 10K has gone international.

 

Part 2 tonite all going well.

[John B 106]

I hadn't heard of ciguatera until recently when it came up on another forum.

The cruising couple ( wife in particular) got it off a spanish mackerel.

 

We're heading off for Fiji in a few days hopefully( crew job)....Any other fish species we should watch out for in the south pacific?

 

found a link, they were in the caribbean

 

http://www.sailmagazine.com/columns/ciguatera-strikes

[Grinna 2]

Pelagic fish species (things like mahimahi, wahoo, tuna, etc) are free of ciguatera disease. Its caused by a marine diatom that hangs around on coral reefs and is ingested by reef fish. Generally the bigger the fish, the more ciguatera toxin they're likely to have as the toxin levels get accumulated further up the food chain (ie fish that eat smaller fish accumulate more toxin).

 

Its a strange toxin because you can be exposed to it without ill effect until you get to a certain level and then you get hit with it. It causes some pretty nasty symptoms and can re-occur later on well after the initial bout even if you don't get additional exposure.

 

There are rules of thumb, like "never eat a fish longer than your arm" or "only eat what the locals eat" but they don't necessarily work that well because locals tend to get hit by ciguatera just like everyone else. It's worse at times but its not necessarily predictable when ciguatera blooms will occur.