Chimney Dive and Niue Departure

On Sunday we had Keith from the yacht club and his wife, Sue, over for lunch. We had a nice visit with them. They brought us a batch of pineapple muffins, which we were excited about. Muffins make good passage food.

After lunch we went SCUBA diving with Eric and Gisela at a spot Keith told us about. When he first told us about it, we knew we couldn’t go. It is a more advanced dive to 100 feet, through a cave, and totally out of our league. However, Eric and Gisela are certified rescue divers, so when they arrived in port, we asked them to go with us. They also have a nice underwater diver camera. The dive is called “the chimney”. There is a sheer cliff that drops from 30 to 100 feet. Inside the cliff is a vertical cave, which opens up at the bottom. As you go in the cave, you look up a narrow opening 70 feet tall. From the surface, the opening looks like nothing more than a crack in the surface. The mouth of the cave isn’t visible from the surface, but just outside the mouth of the cave is an old jeep that was washed into the water during Heta. Continue reading

Jenna’s Niuan Buffet

It rained all morning, so we weren’t in a big hurry to go out. We love it when it rains right after we arrive from a passage. Then we don’t have to wash all the salt off the boat. We left around noon when the rain seemed to have stopped. Destination number one was food. We tried another café. The entire menu was: Hawaiian pizza slices, sausage rolls, quiche slices, chicken sandwich, ham sandwich. Christi opted for the chicken sandwich. It was huge, with lettuce, sprouts and grated carrot. Eric got some quiche and a sausage roll. Both were good. We commented on how good the food was and the chef said she made everything herself that morning, including the bread. This particular place is only open Mon thru Fri for lunch. Continue reading

Escorting Duties into Alofi, Niue

19-00 S by 169-55 — Niue is the world’s smallest independent nation with only 1200 people on the island. Niue is the largest raised coral islands in the world. It is comprised of one coral limestone island that has an area of 259 square kilometers and a height of 200 feet. It is nicknamed “the rock of Polynesia”. Niue also possesses control of a sunken atoll to the south of the main island, called Beveridge Reef. Like the Cook Island’s, New Zealand is the protectorate of Niue. Even though they are under New Zealand, it is self-governing. Of all the nations, Niue has the most number of politicians per capita one per 65 people. Niue has one flight per week from New Zealand, and mail in and out goes on that flight. There are a total of 50 hotel rooms and the island can accommodate about 120 tourists at a time. Niue is a popular fishing, diving and caving spot. Continue reading

Suwarrow to Niue

Day 2 at sea — After a miserable 45 hours, conditions began to ease some. Not a lot, but some. The waves dropped to 4 to 8 feet. The frequency and forcefulness of the nasty beam rolls lessened a little. The ride went from being super miserable to uncomfortable. Most of our days at sea have been uncomfortable, so we have learned to live with uncomfortable.

One of the things about Niue is  that it is difficult to anchor. Continue reading