Samoa to Niue
26.8.10
David
We’re in Niue!! I can’t believe it. And it’s wonderful. In our planning we had said we’d sail to Tonga and see what happened next. There are 171 islands in Tonga – more than enough to keep us out of trouble for 6 months. But perhaps we’d go up to Samoa too and if so we’d definitely stop at Niuatoputapu on the way. And, if ever we get the right winds, which are rare, maybe we’d sail east to Niue, which, in sailor’s lingo is ‘uphill’ because it’s normally against the trade winds that blow east to west. And here we are.
It was a good run down here. We left wonderful Samoa late in the day to a rousing farewell from the boats in the marina and motor-sailed along the top of Upolu, directly into the wind but fortunately it and the seas were light. It was slow going none the less. Late that night we rounded the island and lay our line for Niue. The full moon lit up the sea and the nights were glorious and warm. I frequently did my watches wearing only my shorts. Early on we caught a decent sized tuna and hooked three more, two of which escaped with the lure and the other wriggled off right by the boat. Damn!!
For the first time I found myself marvelling and somewhat awestruck by the fact we were bobbing along in a tiny plastic bubble, all on our own and hundreds of miles from anywhere.
Niue came up over the horizon a little before dawn on our third day, just as our GPS said it would. It’s the tiniest spot of rock in the middle of a big piece of the Pacific and a million miles from any other spot of rock and just fantastic. Fantastic to be here because it’s uphill and we were not sure we’d be able to get here. Fantastic because, well it’s just lovely. Not so hot and humid as Samoa, hugely friendly, the clearest water ever, fabulous snorkelling, endless caves and dramatic rock formations yet to explore. Some friends, Bruce and Alene, we’d met in Tonga, when Lily and Jackson were with us, arrived a few hours before us quite by chance. Most of the 15 or so yachts here have come from locations to the east and we expected to know no one so it was a delight to see Migration here. We’re going snorkelling with them tonight to see if we can get some crayfish and maybe spear a fish or two, in the dark, with sharks – whoa!!
Niue is a low, flat island similar to Tongatapu but much smaller and relatively sophisticated with internet, cafés and restaurants, shops with the essentials, a yacht club who have laid about 30 well maintained moorings for yachts that used not to stop here and much more. It was the easiest landfall we’ve made with no reef or harbour to negotiate and no anchor to lay. We could have done it in the dark as many have.
However, the landing presents an unusual challenge. You motor your dinghy in along a huge concrete wall line
d with tyres a mile high for big ships to bumper on. You let your passengers off onto a steel ladder. While they scramble up to the top you grab a heavy rope dangling in the air which you use to manoeuvre the dinghy under a massive steel hook onto which you loop your dinghy’s hoisting bridle. By now you’re thankful and relieved that your dinghy has such a contraption because without it you’re stuffed. If you’re lucky your passenger has found the control buttons for the crane and raises the hook enough to hold the dinghy in place. You then use the dangling rope to pull yourself onto a ledge from which you scramble to the top where you hold the hoisting rope (and therefore the dinghy) away from the harsh, dinghy-crushing concrete wall while your crew operates the crane to gracefully lift the dinghy up and onto a waiting trolley. You detach the massive hook and wheel your precious dinghy to a parking space where you lift it off the trolley which you return for the next user of the hoist. This hoist is big enough to lift small ships. So far there has been little swell to contend with but we are informed that this is not always so. We are told that when the swell is in, landing is an altogether different story.
The brother of one of Janet’s students is the Premier here. We have a date to meet him on Monday. And also to meet Christian, a policeman friend of Rhoda, our wonderful Samoan host. So we have some local contacts. We shall see what happens.
We plan to hire a car with Migration. There is quite a lot to do and explore ashore. And I plan to do a scuba dive some time. There are whales around although far fewer than in previous years.
This morning we attended an assembly of the local primary school who celebrate the week’s learnings each Friday. I was kindly told off for clapping at the end of a song of prayer. “We don’t clap after prayers.” To me it was a rousing gospel song for which it would be rude not to show appreciation - a clash of cultures.
Food and drink accompany just about all social exchanges as they do everywhere in the world. And everywhere Janet’s offerings are accepted with glee and frequently a request for the recipe. And so it was when we took an entree for dinner with Migration. She made fresh tuna sushi and seared tuna with a peanut sauce, all knocked up in minutes. Bruce and Alene’s eyes popped. Sushi!! Wow!! She is a marvel in the galley and with local ingredients. For her the first stop in a new place is the market to search out exotic fruits and vegetables as well as the staples we need.
26.8.10
David
We’re in Niue!! I can’t believe it. And it’s wonderful. In our planning we had said we’d sail to Tonga and see what happened next. There are 171 islands in Tonga – more than enough to keep us out of trouble for 6 months. But perhaps we’d go up to Samoa too and if so we’d definitely stop at Niuatoputapu on the way. And, if ever we get the right winds, which are rare, maybe we’d sail east to Niue, which, in sailor’s lingo is ‘uphill’ because it’s normally against the trade winds that blow east to west. And here we are.
It was a good run down here. We left wonderful Samoa late in the day to a rousing farewell from the boats in the marina and motor-sailed along the top of Upolu, directly into the wind but fortunately it and the seas were light. It was slow going none the less. Late that night we rounded the island and lay our line for Niue. The full moon lit up the sea and the nights were glorious and warm. I frequently did my watches wearing only my shorts. Early on we caught a decent sized tuna and hooked three more, two of which escaped with the lure and the other wriggled off right by the boat. Damn!!
For the first time I found myself marvelling and somewhat awestruck by the fact we were bobbing along in a tiny plastic bubble, all on our own and hundreds of miles from anywhere.
Niue came up over the horizon a little before dawn on our third day, just as our GPS said it would. It’s the tiniest spot of rock in the middle of a big piece of the Pacific and a million miles from any other spot of rock and just fantastic. Fantastic to be here because it’s uphill and we were not sure we’d be able to get here. Fantastic because, well it’s just lovely. Not so hot and humid as Samoa, hugely friendly, the clearest water ever, fabulous snorkelling, endless caves and dramatic rock formations yet to explore. Some friends, Bruce and Alene, we’d met in Tonga, when Lily and Jackson were with us, arrived a few hours before us quite by chance. Most of the 15 or so yachts here have come from locations to the east and we expected to know no one so it was a delight to see Migration here. We’re going snorkelling with them tonight to see if we can get some crayfish and maybe spear a fish or two, in the dark, with sharks – whoa!!
Niue is a low, flat island similar to Tongatapu but much smaller and relatively sophisticated with internet, cafés and restaurants, shops with the essentials, a yacht club who have laid about 30 well maintained moorings for yachts that used not to stop here and much more. It was the easiest landfall we’ve made with no reef or harbour to negotiate and no anchor to lay. We could have done it in the dark as many have.
However, the landing presents an unusual challenge. You motor your dinghy in along a huge concrete wall line
d with tyres a mile high for big ships to bumper on. You let your passengers off onto a steel ladder. While they scramble up to the top you grab a heavy rope dangling in the air which you use to manoeuvre the dinghy under a massive steel hook onto which you loop your dinghy’s hoisting bridle. By now you’re thankful and relieved that your dinghy has such a contraption because without it you’re stuffed. If you’re lucky your passenger has found the control buttons for the crane and raises the hook enough to hold the dinghy in place. You then use the dangling rope to pull yourself onto a ledge from which you scramble to the top where you hold the hoisting rope (and therefore the dinghy) away from the harsh, dinghy-crushing concrete wall while your crew operates the crane to gracefully lift the dinghy up and onto a waiting trolley. You detach the massive hook and wheel your precious dinghy to a parking space where you lift it off the trolley which you return for the next user of the hoist. This hoist is big enough to lift small ships. So far there has been little swell to contend with but we are informed that this is not always so. We are told that when the swell is in, landing is an altogether different story.The brother of one of Janet’s students is the Premier here. We have a date to meet him on Monday. And also to meet Christian, a policeman friend of Rhoda, our wonderful Samoan host. So we have some local contacts. We shall see what happens.
We plan to hire a car with Migration. There is quite a lot to do and explore ashore. And I plan to do a scuba dive some time. There are whales around although far fewer than in previous years.
This morning we attended an assembly of the local primary school who celebrate the week’s learnings each Friday. I was kindly told off for clapping at the end of a song of prayer. “We don’t clap after prayers.” To me it was a rousing gospel song for which it would be rude not to show appreciation - a clash of cultures.
Food and drink accompany just about all social exchanges as they do everywhere in the world. And everywhere Janet’s offerings are accepted with glee and frequently a request for the recipe. And so it was when we took an entree for dinner with Migration. She made fresh tuna sushi and seared tuna with a peanut sauce, all knocked up in minutes. Bruce and Alene’s eyes popped. Sushi!! Wow!! She is a marvel in the galley and with local ingredients. For her the first stop in a new place is the market to search out exotic fruits and vegetables as well as the staples we need.
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