A great downwind sail from Beveridge reef brought us to the small Kingdom of Niue this afternoon. I'd never heard of Niue (New-way) before we came to the Pacific. It's 100 sq miles of uplifted coral – the largest coral island in the world – that comes under the government / protection of new Zealand. It used to be British, the NZ took responsibility and now they are independent with NZ giving support. It's also part of the Commonwealth. The tourist office blurb estimates there are 20,000 Niueans although only 1,600 live on the island nowadays. The rest are in NZ and Australia.
Niue is known for it's natural beauty and for humpback whales that come here to calve at this time of year. The cliffs rise vertically from the sea so there's no anchoring, only 20 mooring balls for visiting yachts.
We arrived too late to go ashore and clear customs today. We'll visit them tomorrow morning. Stuart from Imagine who's been parcelling with us came over for dinner – we caught another dorado this morning so plenty to share.
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