Niue - Rock of Polynesia
“Niue? Where’s that?” he said.
“The South Pacific,” she responded.
“But where?”
“Isolated and remote.” Annoyance crept into her voice.
“But. Where?” he insisted.
“A hidden gem. A snorkeling paradise,” she stated candidly.
“Oh, sure,” he said, giving up. “Never heard of it.”
“Did I mention isolated?” she said pointedly.
“Yeah, and remote.”
The Planning
Gitty spotted Niue while perusing South Pacific islands using google maps and discovered it to be an independent nation which piqued her curiosity. Later we found out that even their Fijian neighbors weren’t aware of this island country.
Piecing together the flights into the puzzle of our South Pacific island hopping was a bit challenging due to the shoulder season and reduced frequency of flights to different countries, but we made it work. Stepping off the plane, we were filled with excitement arriving at this unusual paradise destination.
The Geology
This island nation, unlike its multi-island South Pacific neighbors like Fiji and Tonga, is comprised of a single raised coral atoll, the largest in the world, with a dramatic coastline consisting of cliffs, chasms, and rock pools making for beautifully breathtaking visuals.
The limestone shelf, formed around the island when part of the atoll was briefly submerged, geologically speaking, is now creating striking impressions, at even low tide, of crashing waves in shades of aqua and cerulean against the plateau overgrown with hard rock corals and natural pools and volcanic ridges.
Mostly consisting of limestone, the rainwater drains through the island into a huge fresh water aquifer captured beneath that supplies a limitless reservoir of potable water to the islanders. It is refreshing in these South Pacific islands to find an island where fresh water is safe to drink directly from the tap.
The Island
Niue once belonged to New Zealand and declared their independence 50 years ago. Well, technically it is still a part of the Realm of New Zealand along with the Cook Islands, but behaves as a sovereign nation, although the citizens of Niue hold New Zealand passports. A very quiet and non-bustling island, 1,500 Niueans remain here while 28,000 of them have migrated to NZ and AUS where they have better career opportunities.
The only conduit to the island is a 3 and 1/2 hour flight from Auckland. I found it strange leaving on a Saturday and arriving on a Friday only a few hours later. It is that meridian thing mentioned in the previous blog. We will lose a day going back to Auckland, so it’s all a wash in the end, but it did cause some booking complications.
A container ship brings non-essential food items and other necessities every 5 weeks. Due to weather conditions, delays of up to 3 weeks are possible, causing stocks to dwindle. Because of the limestone shelf surrounding the island, the wares are tendered from the container ship and unloaded with a crane at Sir Robert’s Wharf, named after Robert Rex, the first Premier of Niue one hundred years ago. The container ship crew have to wait for calm seas before transferring the container goods ashore.
Rough conditions at Sir Robert’s Wharf
The Resort
We stayed at the Scenic Matavai Resort, the only one on the island. The resort is owned by the people of Niue and all profits from there go to the islanders. From our room, we fell asleep to the soothing susurrus of the ocean waves below crashing against the limestone cliffs, a constant whooshing of breaking waves as mesmerizing to watch as it is to hear.
The Snorkeling
Limu Pools
One of the most attractive features of Niue are the many snorkeling inlets, bays, and limestone pools nicely marked by blue road signs, called Sea Tracks, on the western side of the island, truly a snorkeler’s paradise. However, one needs a car to get to them. Thankfully, renting a car on the island is inexpensive and easy.
Avaiki Cave
The bays and limestone pools are teeming with marine life and are easily accessible via the Sea Tracks, which are walkable sloping ramps and steps leading to the ocean, although some areas are steeper than others.
Niue Orientation Tours offers a 4-hour coastal drive replete with information about the history, geology and culture. They brought us to some of the most interesting spots including the coastal Avaiki cave and a lookout where one could observe whales close to shore during the summer months (not now).
At the end of the tour, we snorkeled at Talava Arches, an amazing site to refresh, and for the first time, experience the abundance of the colorful fishes in Niue waters.
Talava Arches
Not only did we learn on that tour where to go later by ourselves, but we connected with our small group of fellow travelers and that just made the rest of our week more pleasant conversing with them at the pool or over dinner or enjoying a Lamington, an Australian delicacy that one of the couples we toured with introduced to us.
The Culture
Taking ukulele tips from local artists Daphne and Marina who specialize in Niue language songs
Niueans have their own songs, language and culture similar to other South Pacific Nations like Fiji and Tonga. They all sound the same to us, but they’re unique and here in Niue, they’re doing their best to hold on to their language in songs to not loose their native heritage.
We visited the local cultural museum which was rebuilt further inland after the devastating cyclone Heta pummeled the island in 2004 wiping out much of the western coast including the original cultural museum and many items such as pottery, clothing and other artifacts.
Loti, our guide during the Orientation Tour, told us that she and her family were ready to flee as water almost flooded their home. We’re talking high limestone cliffs and further inland and they were ready to bolt because of waves lapping their door stoop. They were spared damage and fortunately the cyclone struck during the day or loss of life on the island would have been more devastating.
Coconut trees were everywhere
My stab at capturing the moment
One day, a rather small cruise ship arrived and tendered their 100 or so guests to Sir Robert’s Wharf - a big weekly day for the island. All of a sudden, at the wharf and nearby marketplace, booths popped up trying to sell local goods including fresh coconut drinks and local fruits, sarongs and palm-tree woven baskets and bead bracelets, but not much else.
Exploring the cliffs
We had decided to visit the Cultural Museum on that day and it was crowded because of the cruisers not having anywhere else to go, so we opted to visit another day. However, as the museum would be closed until we departed, the museum manager offered to open it the next day just for us. We arranged a time in the morning and had the whole museum (contained in a large round room) all to ourselves to peruse and appreciate.
The people of Niue are very friendly and accommodating.
Enjoying a cultural show back at the Matavai Resort
The Free Range Chicken
We stopped at a local lunch spot called Hio Cafe near the Limu Pools for their famous fish tacos, and they were delicious. We bumped into our new friends Keith and Helen coincidentally at the cafe and sipped fruit smoothies while listening to the waves crashing against the limestone cliffs.
Fruits like bananas, papayas, coconuts and guava are abundant on the island and fresh and sweet to eat. Chickens roam free literally everywhere on the island crossing the road rather slowly with their chicks which we can attest to having driven every road. We were told you could cook your own free-range chicken as long as you can catch, prepare, pluck, and grill it yourself. Or you can dine at any of the open island restaurants. Our goto lunch was the southern fried chicken sandwich, amazing and addictive.
The seafood on the island is always fresh caught and expertly prepared. You could never go wrong ordering fish. For those who like sport fishing, trips to catch your own dinner were also on the menu, so to speak (Gitty opposes sport fishing.)
We ventured out to some local places like Kai Ika for sushi and ice cream. Their rum-raisin ice cream swimming in Jamaican rum was almost as good as the orange chocolate-chip ice cream floating in Amaretto. Perhaps better if you take Gitty’s word for it.
The Underwater
It was interesting to watch our dive boat being lifted off its trailer using a similar crane system as at the wharf, swiveled around and lowered into the sea as there is no ramp access to the ocean - no natural harbor.
We scuba dived two times amazed by the visibility of crystal clear water. I truly felt the vastness of the underwater in Niue. Diving along fascinating seabed formations, inside underwater caves, and near interesting corals is a potential reason to return to this remote island nation.
And the Spinner dolphins!
Clownfish in anemone with banded coral shrimp hiding in a little cave behind
A pod of about thirty dolphins roam the west coast of Niue and love to interact with dive boats. We were so lucky on our second dive trip that, Flo, our divemaster guide, clipped ropes with handles from the sides of our boat and Gitty and I floated along in the water with our dive masks and snorkels as the boat slowly dragged us along with the dolphins and their offspring swimming in front of us, around us and below us in the most amazing dolphin encounter ever.
The Formations
Aside from the idyllic snorkeling pools, the island has interesting caves, limestone shelves, and bays where one can spend time completely alone.
A landscape of jagged coral pinnacles on the way to Togo chasm
Navigating Togo chasm
Anapala Chasm
It is a relatively compact island and even during high season you can feel like a stranded castaway, no other person in sight. At the Anapala Chasm, I descended steep metal steps to reach a dark water-filled crevasse. Eerily alone, I stepped into the still pool imagining slithering giant tentacles poised to pull me into the deeper dark. It was both creepy and cool. My hasty retreat to the car had nothing to do with fear.
The Coconuts
Niue literally translates to “behold the coconut” and was so named by the Polynesians who first landed there. Niue had everything they needed to live, abundant fish, shelter and coconuts.
We learned the proper way to husk and open a coconut, the various stages in a coconut’s growth, and even how to make coconut cream. Coconuts that have sprouted offer even more surprises such as a spongy interior when it has germinated and the coconut water has been absorbed into a solid, edible mass called the "coconut embryo”. It reminded me a bit of coconut flavored cotton candy although not as sweet.
Husking the coconut
coring the flesh for coconut cream
This foot-long Uga crab is 30 years old
On the island are living giant crabs called Uga who also love to feed on coconuts although their diet does include fruits and smaller critters. They hunt predominantly at night and are considered a delicacy cooked like lobster and offered on special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries and weddings. More meaty than lobster, they taste mildly of coconut and are rather scrumptuous.
The Dark Sky Nation
Sunsets are to be treasured in the South Pacific due to the combinations of water droplets and dust particles in the sky introducing hues from red to dark blue with gradients of oranges and purples. I’ve only encountered this phenomenon of purple hues in sunsets of the South Pacific.
Niue is called a dark sky nation because there is so little light pollution masking the carpet of diamonds overhead. Their nights are advertised as having “150 times more stars than Beijing, 25 times darker than London, and 1000s more stars than Hollywood!”
We were lucky to have a new moon, so we enjoyed really dark nights with easily millions of visible stars filling the sky. It was riveting. Even as the crescent moon rose some days later, the results were magical, especially as iPhone Night Mode is now so good at capturing low-light images!
Crescent moon at Avatele Beach
Corals and starry night
Moonrise
The Epilogue
“Wow,” he said. “That was incredible!”
She smiled. Nothing more needed to be said.
