Our grand tour of Niue started off with the divide and conquer approach, which seemed to quickly evolve to just the divide approach. John had to stop off at customs to clear us out before the weekend, myself, Steve & Drew all found the visitor center to have a look at a few souvenirs, Michael set out to sort out the rental car for the day, and in all honesty I’m not too sure where everyone else disappeared to. The next hour was spent wandering up and down the main street of Alofi, sorting out pack lunches for the day, Niue drivers licenses, finding places to withdraw cash, and getting a coffee for the morning, (all of this happening on island time obviously). But by half past 10 we all piled into the finest minibus on the island, ice cream cones in hand. With Michael at the wheel and Andrea on navigation, we set off to our first destination of the day, the Togo Chasm.

The trailhead to the Togo Chasm is about a 40 minute drive from Alofi, and then another short walk through the forest until it opens up to a panoramic view of the Southeast coast of the island. From there, the descent begins through jagged cliffs on either side that stretch along the coast, which looks something like an Indiana Jones movie set. The trail continues down towards the water until it reaches a ladder, our best educated guess being about we 10 meters high, which descends into the chasm. We spent the morning exploring the chasm, cliffs and caves carved by the breaking waves there on the windward side of the island.

After a picnic lunch back by the minibus, we all piled in once again to our next destination, the Avaiki cave on the other side of the island. The chasms were going to be a hard act to follow, but these caves did not let us down! The cave was home to a bright blue pool, with patches of pink and orange coral dotted throughout. Further up the road, we visited the Limu pools next, which were a collection of pools that were a combination of sea water and fresh water running from the land. John made friends with a few of the local sea snakes, some being fiestier than the others. We finished our grand tour with one final stop at a lookout Andrea had picked out. It was a fantastic view of the ocean we had just sailed through, and would be returning to shortly.

For dinner we stopped at a restaurant in town that specialized in both sushi and New York Style pizza. I cannot vouch for their pizza, however the sushi was some of the best fish I’ve had in the Pacific. I will dream about their tuna sashimi. We finished the evening with a quick stop at the Niue Yacht Club, and then made our way back to Silver Fern ready for a full nights sleep after a wonderful day.

Friday was much more relaxed for most of us, excluding Drew, Andrea & John who set off in search of a few mountain bikes. The biker gang set off, and the rest of us enjoyed a lazy day in Alofi reading our books or simply having a rest. Just after lunch, the biker gang returned, having biked about 50 km in the heat of the day, having made it around most of the island. Leaving them to their well deserved burger feast, Denise, John and I headed back to Silver Fern until dinner, when everyone returned for a quiet night onboard before our AM departure the next morning.

We’re now well on our way to the Cook Islands, about 150 nautical miles between us and Niue. The rest of our journey towards Cook Islands, and eventually Tahiti is going to primarily be upwind, as we’re sailing against the predominant tradewinds. We’re trying to sail when we can, and turning the engine on when we can’t quite make our desired heading. We’re hoping to arrive on Tuesday morning, looking forward to exploring a whole new place!

Cheers,

Liv

Niue’s Grand Tour

The Forbidden Island

The World’s Longest Wednesday