Niue – The Rock of Polynesia
Our passage from Palmeston to Nuie was
short but the seas were pretty lively. We sailed on a double reefed main and
the jib wing on wing when we could. The swell came in from the southeast and
had no regularity. Every now and then a larger leader of the pack came rolling
through. Unless it caught us at the wrong angle and broadsided us, the swell
would nicely pick us up a little higher and roll on underneath but 3 or 4 times on the
passage, the wave would tilt up face on with, creased dark blue and roll right
at us sometimes breaking white horses from the crest. When we are faced with a decent size swell bearing down on
us the angle needs to be right in a cat. Too much of a following sea sends you surfing
down a wave at furious speeds and being broadsided is not a good option. The Aft quarter seems to work well for the Lagoon in large
swells coming in at 45 degrees.
Nuie appeared a black low lump on the
horizon in the darkness in the very early hours of the morning. There were no
lights along the whole eastern side of the island. Before it was light enough to see the waves, I could rehear
the waves pounding against the coast. As dawn came the lush green colours were
a feast for my eyes and I again was transported to another time. Sailing into
countries is so rare these days, and yet it was this way for thousands of years
where the only way to see another land was by taking a journey by sea, which
invariably would take days, weeks or months and was wrought by many risks and
challengers. Maybe ive been at sea for too long but I can almost feel a
connection to an age past, to my ancestors and ancient peoples who sailed the
oceans. The east coast of Nuie was just like this appearing out of the vast
depths of the Pacific ocean rising up out of 4000 metre depths with no buildings,
lights or any man made stuff to be seen just like when Cook, Bligh and the
early Polynesians would have seen this land.
We heard rumors from the local Nuiean
people that the teenage boys would have to stand as lookouts during the night
in order to become men. They would have to scan the water for approaching
Tongan warriors who would sometimes make the 240NM crossing on a war raid. It
was said that in the days of old they would come and kill the men and take many
women with them.
This island literally blew us away, we were
not expecting anything as beautiful, dramatic or interesting. We arrived on a
Sunday and of course had to wait until Monday before we could be cleared by
Customs, Health and Immigration. One major thing that we have learned across
the Pacific is that nothing happens on a Sunday except church and family time.
We were please to find excellent moorings and jumped over the side for a swim the reef. The visibility was
incredible at least 50 metres and we saw a white tip sharks, sting rays and
huge amounts of Parrot fish feeding on the coral.
We soon met Keith, the commodore of the
Niue Yacht Club, an absolutely lovely chap who couldn’t be more helpful. The
Nuie Yacht club’s claim to fame is that the Commodore and all the committee
members have never sailed and don’t own a yacht…Hilarious. The are no dingy
docks on Niue and the surf pounds the coast so forcefully that the only way you
can get ashore is to use the electric crane to raise your dingy onto dry land.
This is a sometimes scary procedure when the swell is big. You need to construct
a 3 point lift on the dingy for the shackle and come in alongside, get everyone
off the boat, attaché the shackle and get someone to hit the raise button on
the dock. Then the yacht club has provided a dingy trolley so you can park your
dingy in a out of the way spot.
Keith asked me to dive on the moorings and
we checked all 17 of them as we were early in the season and the bulk of yachts
were yet to come. It was a fun exercise and Keith made Sara and I honorary
members of the Nuie Yacht club in exchange…happy days.
We explored Nuie for a couple of weeks and thoroughly
enjoyed every minute of it. The caves dotted around the island were incredible
as was the abundant fresh water cascading around the place and the dramatic
landscapes. At night we were woken by Humpback whales blowing right next to the
boat and at times breaching next to us rolling Brahminy side to side. Luckily
during our stay the wind didn’t swing west and threaten us with the reef and we
were able to stay and enjoy one of the smallest self governing nations in the
world.
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| Coming into Nuie in the morning |
