Niue

May 31 – the approximately 1000 mile passage from Raitea to Niue was uneventful other than for some rain squalls.  Winds were mostly from the  east south east .  We arrived at the mooring field around mid-day on May 31 and picked up a Yacht Club mooring. 

 landfall Niue....

Niue is an autonomous state in free association with New Zealand.  About 20000 Niueans live in New Zealand  and only1500 live on the island, most of whom are employed by the state,  The local currency is New Zealand dollars and Kiwi expats are conspicuous, many of them engaged in well intentioned voluntary projects to re-make Niue in the image of the mother land with varying degrees of success.  A striking feature was the significant presence of Mormon missionaries or the LDS (Latter Day Saints) church.  After more than three centuries, Christian conversion of Polynesian natives continues albeit without the swords and muskets….

The wharf has a narrow deep draft area alongside  at which supply ships from New Zealand tie up to unload the essentials of life.  Dinghies from visiting sailboats have to be lifted by an electric powered crane and set down on the dock.  It took a little effort to set up the lifting bridle on the dinghy but everything after that was easy. 

Niue Yacht Club moorings

 dinghy lift at the wharf

The seafront road is the main street of the town of Alofi with a bank, police, customs and other government buildings a supermarket and a small strip shopping center.  The clearing in process is quick and easy and there’s a sight to gladden the hearts of sea-worn sailors -- a duty free liquor store right next to the Customs office. 

 Main street, Alofi 

seat of government in Niue

The Niue Yacht Club styles itself as “the Biggest Little Yacht Club in the World.  It’s commodore Keith Vial, a self deprecating retired Kiwi school principal, says without a trace of embarrassment that it is a yacht club with no yachts.  The club house is a friendly little building with a bar and café of sorts.  For twenty of anything (Sterling, AUD, NZD, USD but not Malaysian Ringgit), you could become a member of the club and be given a nice laminated membership card.  Keith also runs the “Commodore’s tour of Niue” in which guests are driven around in a rusty van and given an orientation about Niue’s history, geography and geology.  The island was badly damaged by the 2004 cyclone in which the storm surge hit Alofi and surrounding areas. We took the tour and were rewarded not just with Keith’s entertaining narratives but also stops at some of the coastal caves and canyons (see photos below).

 entrance to one of Niue's many coastal cave complexes

 stops along the Commodore's tour...

The tour also revealed the impact of Niuean migration to New Zealand – abandoned derelict homes to which owners still claimed possession but failed to maintain.  They were a blight on the landscape.  Then there were the family properties with the aptly labeled “bush gardens” each with some fruit trees or vegetable patch, and some family graves (which presumably, makes government   expropriation of the properties politically infeasible).

 bush garden burial plot...

The Monday night dinner hosted by the Yacht Club was an informal barbeque with the local Hash House Harriers in attendance, beers in hand of course.  They had a couple of guitars and a ukelele and lustily rendered what would best be classified as vintage music (e.g. You are my Sunshine…)

We stayed at Niue for an extra day after the ARC office shut down and enjoyed the friendly island’s easy going atmosphere.  Dinner on the final night was at a local restaurant on its opening night, complete with traditional dancing.