Monday 20 September Tour de Tonga

We had to go and pay our check in fees this morning. From the map we could see it was about a mile to the next village where the bank and government buildings were so we took the bikes. First stop the bank. After the tsunami destroyed the villages, homes and businesses have moved to quick erect sheds, including the bank. It's a wooden hut past the cemetary (all fresh mounds of rocks indicating they had to rebury), and next to the rugby pitch. There is a safe behind a wooden panel for security, but if someone did try to rob the bank where would they run or hide on a small island?

Inside the hospital

With our dollars exchanged for pa'angs we pooped into Customs in the hut next door to pay our fess them cycled on another ¾ mile to the hospital to pay the £25 / $40 fee every visiting boat is charged for 'hospitals'. This doesn't mean we now receive free medical treatment, only that they collect a tax from visitors to run the health service. The hospital is further inland so wasn't hust in te tsunami. Five ladies working there, one large room and two smaller leading off this. On the beam above the door in felt pen was written 'Emergency room', Delivery room'. Not high tech, but patients will know where to go. In the middle of the main room there was a month old baby in a hospital cot. She's the daughter of the administration lady.

Leaving the hospital behind we set off to circumnavigate the island by pedal power. Not a lot to see. Big trees, a dirt road and few houses along the way and all inland from the sea. The final part of trip which took 3 hours by the time we'd done the fee paying and stopped to shelter from the rain, tookus through the coconut plantations. One man working on his crops invoted us to stop and have a coconut. He macheted the top off so we could drink the milk and then chopped each nut into three so we could scoop out the flesh.

Sunday 19 September Fish Feast

A grave in the village

Nico in his new house

Cea & Nico's house

Tongans are religious people. Almost everyone wil go to church on Sunday. On Niuatoputapu they have the choice of Methodist, Catholic and Mormon churches, plural. The sabbath is respected as a day of rest and cruisers are expected to respect this and refrain from obvious working on boats or coming ashore for whoopee. One form of whoopee that is allowed is to join a family for lunch. Cea's husband had caught a lot of fish yesterday and they invited all 12 boats in the anchorage to come to their house and help hem eat the harvest. We were asked to contribute tins of corned beef and to bring a dish to share and whatever we wanted to drink.
There were about 20 of us and children who turned up at Cea and Nico's house. We must have given them at least 8 or 10 cans of meat, someone donated a huge piece of marlin they'd caught and yet the table in their sall house was filled with the dishes we'd brouhgt. Cea had cooked parcels of spam and coconut in young taro leaves on an umu (traditional overground oven of banana leaves), some fish and coconut, clams in coconut and three plates of fried fish. The marlin seemed to be absent.

Peter & Mary (Asor Lare)

We sat and ate and chatted with the family and with friends. Including Peter and Mary from Asor Lare (Amel 54) who we had last seen in the San Blas in January. Feeling most replate we sauntered back to our dinghies admiring the many pigs and piglets running around. They also have many ponies on the island. I didn't see anyone riding, most were tethered in the shade. Perhaps they are for reaching their plantations.

Saturday 18 September Arrived Niuatoputapu

Another glorious sail and very fast. Known as New Potatoes to the cruising community, Niuatoputapu is a big hill surrounded by a flat plateau and a fringing reef providing us with a protected anchorage. Like the Samoas, this island was also hit by the Tsunami last September and suffered terrible damage when the wave struck. Houses were washed away, building destroyed and 9 people died. A year on and they are rebuilding.
After our overnight passage we had a quiet day. The three ladies from Customs, Immigration and Health visited us aboard and we filled out many, many forms restating the same information. No problem except for writers cramp. In the evening Stuart invited us, Bamboozle and Jack over for sundowners. The moon was high in the sky by the time we got home.

Friday 17 September Cancelled

Travelling from Samoa to Tonga we crossed the dateline and went from Thursday to Saturday. Friday 17th September didn't happen for us this this. Local time changeed from 11 hours behind GMT to 13 hours ahead of GMT. However, our longitiude is 173W. We won't cross into the eastern hemisphere until we leave Tonga for NZ. The reason is that the date line kinks to allow Tonga to be in the same time zone as Fiji and NZ.

Thursday 16 September Tonga Bound

We awoke to no rain. Did I mention it rained the whole tie we were in Samoa? Torrential rain. Continual rain. Wet rain.
We were out of the harbour just as dawn was breaking. Well it was getting lighter so I assume the sun was rising somewhere behind the clouds. As well as no rain, there was no wind so we had to motor until midday when we were south of the island and the wind picked up to 15 knots. From there on we had a wonderful sail; 18 to 20 knots on the beam all the way and no rain. We caught a large female Dorado so plenty for us and to share with friends when we reach Niuatoputapu.

Wednesday 15 September RL Stevenson Museum

Robert Lewis Stevenson, author of Kidnapped, Treasure Island and Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, spent the last 4 years of his life living on Samoa. He came here with his older American wife and her daughter and his aged mother in 1894 for his health. He must have been wealthy because he built this beautiful house in the hills behind Apia and had enough land for a plantation. The house is now a museum refitted to how it would have looked when he lived there.
It was still raining so Evi and I took a taxi up the hill, David stayed home to do boat jobs, and did a guided tour. RLS was a prolific writer. In his library / writing room there was a collection of all his published work. There must have been 50 novels and books of poetry. Far more than I ever realised. I now feel inspired to find copies of the 3 I mentioned at the beginning and read them.
RLS died of a brain haemorrhage at the age of 44, four years after he first arrived in Samoa and is buried at the top of the hill overlooking the town. On a dry day one can climb up to see his grave, but in the rain it was took wet and muddy to scramble up.
Evi and I got a lift from NZ holiday makers back into town. We found the immigration and cleared out, had lunch in the fruit market, bought some vegetables and provisions and caught another taxi back to the marina. Why struggle in the rain with heavy shopping when a taxi is under $2 / £1.50?
this evening we went to a Samoan music, dance and buffet evening at the Aggie Grey hotel along from the marina. The musicians and dancers were wonderful, apparently all of them work in the hotel and perform every Wednesday evening. The musicians played their guitars and drums and we swore it was Beach Boys songs in Samoan. The dancing boys were a hoot; energetic, fit and obviously enjoying themselves. The girls were all smiling and singing too. One of the best dancing entertainments we've seen in the Pacific. The buffet was the best we've had too. There must have been 150 people for the dinner and we all left satisfied. Of the many dishes, our favourite was roasted suckling pig with crispy crackling. We rolled home feeling very full.

Tuesday 14 September Wet, wet, wet

No, not the group Wet, Wet, Wet but the weather. It's still raining.
Yesterday Quarantine, Customs, Immigration and the marina rep visited us in turn to do our clear in. Unknown to us despite checking the website bringing a cat into Samoa without pet passport and importation papers is a infringement. Sulaman of Quarantine told us he would bring the vet that afternoon to see what could be done. They didn't turn up. However, this morning Sulaman came back and the story had changed. The vet was off island and wouldn't be back for a month. His boss was coming to deal with us, possibly, if we were lucky, his boss would give us an import permit for the regular fee and Polly wouldn't have to be destroyed. He wrote out a seizure order for Polly and handed me a copy.
An hour later Sulaman and his boss, a younger man, came back to 'discuss' the issue. We went around the houses as they say, about letting us off if we purchased a permit at a cost of 130 tala. The alternative was to tell the police who would shoot the cat. I pointed out she wasn't big enough to eat and too small for a bullet. Then we came to the real purpose of their visit. For 100 tala (about £25) they would tear up the seizure order and no more would be done as long as we gave them the cash and didn't tell anyone. A straight forward bribe, backshee, hush money.
With rain and corrupt officials Samoa was quickly losing it's appeal.

Monday 13 September Apia, Samoa

As dawn broke we were sailing along the north shore of Samoa watching rain clouds gathering to the north east which would sweep over the island imminently. As the rain swept in the island was obscured from view so we waited for the rain to pass to give us a clear run into the harbour at Apia. I was wearing wet weather gear and it was drizzling as the marina launch guided us into our berth. But who cares about a little rain when there are so many friends here to greet us including Lucy & Jamie from Bamboozle, an Amel SM 2000, last seen in the Tuamotus.
By midday we were hooked up to shore power giving the batteries a super charge, the air conditioning was running in all cabins and the rain was falling heavily. It rained for the rest of the day. In the evening Evi (Wonderland) and Jack (Anthem) came over for dinner. Evi cooked us moules mariniere with rice and veggies. It rained through the night.

Sunday 12 September American Samoa to Samoa

Finally we can leave Pago Pago. We were able to collect our final packages from the post office yesterday and after 2 weeks in the often malodorous anchorage we are clear to go. It's 70 miles to Apia in Samoa (formerly known as Western Samoa) so an overnight passage to ensure arrival in daylight. It took David 45 minutes to clean to anchor chain of the crud that had grown in 14 days. Goodness knows what state the propeller and hull are in. After an early dinner we left just as the sun was going down. American Samoa would be a good place to visit if only you didn't have to anchor downwind of the tuna processing plant and they dredged the rubbish that litters the floor of the anchorage.

Friday 10 September The ship's cat

You know your cat is a true ship's cat when she sleeps in a hammock. Polly was sitting on the back of the sofa looking up at the fruit net slung in the galley and miaowing. She's already investigated all under floor storage places and been in the roof spaces. Now the fruit hammock was calling. Here she is fast asleep with her pal Scooby Doo.  

Thursday 9 September You have mail

A week ago we ordered a small replacement part for the bilge pump. Twelve months ago we asked Amel to supply the part. They wrote 'no go' you have to buy a complete new pump at a cost of lots of coconuts (cruisers term for units of money). With good internet connection here David was able to spend time researching on line and found the original manufacturer of the pump. One email and the small part was ordered for a meagre amount of coconuts. Same day we sent our pactor modem which converts the long range radio into an email conduit back to the manufacturer in California for a circuit board update and upgrade.
One of the main reasons for coming to American Samoa is to use the American postal service. Far cheaper than Fedex or DHL though the jury's still out on efficiency of delivery. We'd tracked our parcels online and the indication was that the pactor modem was back. A very helpful lady at the post office checked for us and found nothing. Oh well, we'll come back tomorrow when our second parcel is due in.
It's raining here. It's been raining for 6 days so much that I'm sure we've had a good portion of the annual 300 inches. We've been aboard for the last few days catching up on internet, our blog, boat jobs and watching films in the evening. Just waiting for our parcels and then we can go..

Saturday 5 September American Samoa island tour

Cock's Comb

Under Cock's Comb

Stuart, Evi, Jack, David

Today we had a hire car with Evi (Wonderland), Jack (Anthem) and Stuart (Imagine) to tour the island. We'd been told there was more to AS than the malodorous tuna cannery and Pago Pago harbour. Indeed there is much more to this island 20 miles long and 6 miles across. There is a national park which is the only rainforest park in America. A palaeolithic, or old world, forest with species similar to Africa and Asia watered by an average 300 inches of rain each year. The only native mammals are fruit bats which we've seen flying around at dusk. It was a steep and twisty road up then down to get to the north side of the island. We dropped into the bay for spectacular views of a rock called the Cock's Comb, talk a walk on the rock beach. It's a different world from Pago Pago on the other side of the mountain. It smells clean, there are flowers and sparkling water. Coming back to the main coast road on the south we turned left and followed the road as far as it went to the north est end of the island. We would have liked to visit an island ½ mile off the coast which has a quick sand lake but couldn't find a boat to take us over.

The echo dome

We saw a basilica type church up on the hillside and decided to investigate. From a distance it looked imposing and impressive. Close up it was modern concrete with paint work a chimpanzee would have been ashamed of. The red floor looked like an amateur Jackson Pollock. Just as tacky inside where they had saved on expensive stained glass window by painting bible scenes on the outside of the windows. To distract one from the bad artwork the architect had built a perfect domed roof which magnified and echoed every sound. A mouse running across the floor would have sounded like a corps de ballet. Every foot step, every note bounced and reverberated around you. Not sure if this is good for music but we had great fun with it.
All the excitement had made us hungry so we dropped into Tisa's where we'd been for the Samoan feast 2 days ago for swordfish steaks and a cold beer. Our afternoon agenda was to drive to the far west of the island. Here the land is flatter, less steep too than in the east, and it seems to have been harder hit by the tsunami last September. On 29 September 2009 there was an undersea eruption 60 miles off the coast which pushed a wall of water onto the shores of the island. I don't know if any lives were lost but the coastal villages were hit hard. People are still living in tents the army donated and rebuilding their houses. It's also the most naturally beautiful part of American Samoa and one can imagine how it was before the Americans decided it would be a good place to refuel steamers plying between Hawaii and NZ. American Samoa is almost midway on a direct line between the two places. AS also had the advantage of a large protected anchorage in Pago Pago for the American Navy and a strategic position in the Pacific.
At the end of our day exploring there was still time for a cheeky shopping trip to the discount warehouse, Cost U Less. We bought new diesel jerry jugs. On special offer it was only $1 more to buy complete new jugs than to buy the replacement caps for ours that have split. What a sad reflection on our consumer society.

Friday 4 September Diesel and dinner

Pa(n)go Pa(n)go is a commercial fishing port. The tuna boats that unload their catch here, and there are at least 6 in port at any one time, have nets that are one mile or two miles wide, powerboats that will put to sea when the nets are in the water, a tall lookout tower rising from the deck to give the skipper a view across the ocean and some have a small helicopter on the foredeck which they use for spotting the schools. The tuna cannery is owned by a Korean concern and as they fish out the tuna stocks they are starting to go after wahoo instead. And the smell is horrible, think overcooked oily fish. When the wind blows down on us I wish I had a cold. That's how unpleasant.
I digress. PP is a commercial port and diesel is sold to yachts duty free if you get permission from the port captain. Yachts go alongside at the main wharf and use the small craft hose and nozzle. The tuna boats use a bigger line and nozzle capable of delivering 5000 gals an hour. Stuart on Imagine had a slot booked for today and David and Ed from A Capella went along as crew to help with lines and to fill our jerry jugs. We got a nasty surprise when we opened our rear lazarette to get the jugs. We discovered one of the jugs had leaked and now we had smelly diesel sloshing around including soaking into the bike bags. Nasty. When David got back from the diesel dock we rolled up our sleeves and set about the clean up. Our secret weapon is washing up liquid, a brand called Joy which happens to lather in saltwater. Joy is such a good universal cleaner I buy it in 2.5L bottles.
I didn't mention we started the clean up at 5.30pm and we were due to go out for dinner at 6pm. We did it. Had superfast showers to clean diesel off us and were in the dinghy 10 minutes later. We arrived at the mexican restaurant at the same time as the stragglers from the main group. One of the cruisers had suggested we all go for a Mexican-Samoan buffet. An odd sounding combination and an odd mix when we got there, but it was so cheap it wasn't worth cooking. The token Mexican dish was a crab meat chimichanga, not sure on the Samoan unless it was the sausage and gravy, but the Hawaiian pork was delicious. A good evening was had by all.

Wednesday 2 September Samoan feast

Sunset at Tisa's

A couple of miles along the coast from Pago Pago is a beachfront restaurant called Tisa's. On Wednesday's Tisa prepares a traditional Samoan feast of food cooked in an umu, stones are heated by burning logs under them, when the logs have burnt and the stones are hot the food is placed on top and everything sealed under banana leaves to cook for 4 hours. Suzanne from the boat Maa Malahi organised a group of us cruisers to go along.

At 5.30pm we gathered on the dinghy dock and jumped on one of the colourful local buses, this must have been an executive bus because he was showing a film. The irony is it's a rickety bus which barely padded seats along each side and a drop down TV screen to keep the customers happy. Ten minutes of a film with dogs speaking we arrived at the restaurant and had a drink while the sun went down.

Tisa serving dinner

Then came the ceremony of uncovering the umu. Banana leaves were pulled off and the food was revealed. All of this was then set out on a long trestle covered with more banana leaves. Our plates were a dish of woven banana leaves with a large flat leaf piece within to keep the food from falling through. What a way to save on washing up. And you eat with your fingers so no cutlery. We had our plates filled with baked bananas, breadfruit, shrimps in coconut, mango, papaya, another coconut sauce, octopus cooked in the ink, chicken, lamb, pork and succulent turkey. It was delicious. David went back for more meat and I was tempted with the pork and turkey.

Before dinner was served Mama Tisa had been coaching her 2 granddaughters, her young grandson (he's the one with long flowing locks) and the 3 children from Stray Kitty in traditional dancing. After dinner, accompanied by Tisa they were are evening entertainment. Is this child exploitation? Hardly. The kids were having as much fun as the adults.

Another most convivial evening; However, if we ate like this every night we'd be as big as the Samoans.  For me it's like walking in the land of the giants.  They are tall and obese.  I read almost 1 in 6 people suffer from the diabetes you get from being overweight.Too much junk food for a genetic make up that wasnt intended for MacDonalds and KFC.

Monday 30 August The missing n in Pago Pago

US Samoa is a American protectorate north of Vava'u (aka Tonga) and east of Samoa (formerly known as Western Samoa). The Samoan language uses lots of vowels and has hidden letters. For example the capital, Pago Pago, is pronounced Pango Pango. The hidden n. It doesn't matter because the people are wonderfully friendly and go out of their way to welcome visitors.

I woke early to see the sun rising over the power station (which had run all night) and tuna cannery. Monday and the shops and offices are open. Time to clear in to customs and immigration. The check in is easy though long winded with three different offices in different parts of the building for Customs and a half mile walk down the road to Immigration. All done and we're clear to go off and play. With Stuart (Imagine) we hopped on one of the colourful local buses, the buses are privately owned and home made from a dodge truck and wood, colourful fabric, creative local talent and a powerful sound system which blasts local cover versions of Glenn Miller, swing, Abba, etc. Best bit is they pick up and drop off on demand so no need to walk to the bus stop. A bonus when it's hot and humid. Samoa is a mountainous island with rain forests and is a couple of degrees warmer than Niue (I think because the mountains block the wind).
Our bus with its display of skulls (or shrunken heads) on the dashboard let us off at the supermarket. Oh my! A wide selection of fresh fruit and vegetables, cheeses, meats.... This was a look see trip before we do a full provision just before we leave so we kept it to 2 bags of essentials like mozzarella, a brie, steak, salad. Disappointingly there was no tonic water and our stocks are getting low.
In the evening Evi on Wonderland, who's an amazing woman, 70 and single handing at the moment, joined us for a barbecue steak dinner. We haven't seen her since Bora Bora and it was good to catch up.

Friday 27 to Sunday 29 August Niue to US Samoa; The best sail ever

First thing this morning we went ashore to clear out with Customs. We'd tried to do this yesterday afternoon but they shut shop 15 minutes early and we had to come back. After Customs we picked up last minute groceries as if we didn't already have enough food to last the 2 day crossing to American Samoa.
Our sail started well with 15 knots on the beam and flat seas and continued like that for the entire 48 hours it took us to cover 290 miles. It was a perfect sail. Clear skies, empty seas, no rolling and a fully, but it stayed with us and we sailed into Pago Pago harbour under full sail.
On the way we caught our first wahoo which looks very similar to a barracuda but with black bands on the flank and is excellent for eating. Allegedly. I say this because at the very last moment, David had gaffed it through the gills being too big for the catch net, I was holding the gaff with David about to sling a noose around the tail ready to drag it alongside the boat whilst it bled, and it gave one almighty last jump and ripped the gaff hook through its jaw. Darn and double darn. We almost had him secured and now he's shark food.

Wednesday 25 August Two years on

To celebrate our second wedding anniversary we went for a dive with Jack and then dinner in the evening with the Inspiration Ladies & Jack at Falalalala (approx) for scrummy fish and chips.

For Polly we got a bucket of sand from the beach for her litter tray. Here's David and Brady showing off their shades with yachts in the background.

Thursday 26 August Diving the Chimney

to be added

Tuesday 24 August The call of the whales

White mouth moray eel

In the afternoon we did a dive off the back of Jackster with Jack from Anthem. The seabed is what is known as spur and groove, big lumps of rock with sandy canyons between them. The first thing I noticed was how much warmer I felt in my thicker wet suit. We are such softies that 25c is too cold for a 2mm full suit. The second thing I noticed was humpback whales singing. It's something like cows lowing, cleaarly audible though they may have been 2 or 3 miles from land. I believe whale song can travel up to 5 miles. And it sounded like the young male we were told was in the area trying to catch up with the larger pod. I had a white slate in my pocket so I could write 'whales singing' and show it to David and Jack who were into their heavy breathing routines and couldn't hear more than themselves.

Another sea snake

Down on the seabed we found 7' to 8' traditional schooner anchors caught under the unforgiving rock. When these frigates visited scuba diving wasn't an available option to recover a fouled anchor. They must have had to saw the chain and leave it behind. We saw lots of sea snakes. One swam through David's fingers without him seeing it, but when he felt it he jumped and I laughed and flooded my mask in the process. All the time we were down I was looking, looking for a whale. Alas and alack no sighting. Next time perhaps...

Monday 23 August Even more exploring of Niue

Swimming at Avaitaki

Brady, 'is that a snake?'

We had the car until midday so time for one more place of interest, Avaitaki caves 10 minutes north from Alofi town and an easy trip. A short walk down to the water through a large cave with more stalactites and stalagmites formed by permeating water through the centuries. The scape could have been a Disneyland ride it was so perfect. Around the corner from the cave on the sea side was a grotto so perfect it was stunning. We were there at low water so we could walk across the exposed wave cut platform to reach the pool. I kept saying it, because I can't believe it, clear, clear water just begging for you to slip into. It doesn't take much persuading to get us into the water so t-shorts off and mask and snorkels on. On one side we found a shallow swim through from the main pool into a side pool. We disturbed a sea snake that was quietly going about his business of tootling under the rocks. Closer to the fringing reef there was another pool to swim in, this one had groups of fish caught until the next high tide.
Avaitaki was the last 'place of interest' on the list. We'd had the car for 2 ½ days and I think we saw everything on the island which isn't difficult on a bit of land 12 miles long by 6 miles wide.
We finished our Delos / Ghost / Jackster adventure with a sausage sizzle aboard Ghost. Tasty NZ pork sausages with fried onions and baps. Hearty, warming food on a night when temperatures dropped to 26c. We were having so much fun we didn't notice the time. We got home at 1.30am – way past cruisers midnight.

Sunday 22 August More exploring of Niue

Cliff at Vaikona

I see no ships

Day 2 with the hire car and we'd decided on an early start to tackle some of the longer walks. Vaikona caves is the longest one and rated as hard with a guide recommended. Of course we can do it without a guide as our friends from Bubbles did this walk 2 weeks ago, so can we. Underfoot is sharp coral so you have to be careful where you step as a slip onto these glass sharp rocks would hurt. The vegetation is long established trees and creepers with lots of spider webs swung across the track. Fortunately the track through the forest is marked at regular intervals with red arrows or you could easily loose your way. We walked for over an hour climbing over fallen trees, coral walls, through the webs and came out on a cliff overlooking the eastern shoreline, a wave cut platform pounded by the seas and backed by a sheer wall and caves. Dramatic stuff.

Through the cave entrance

Retracing our steps back inland we found the turn off to the entrance to the Vaikona caves, a slim horizontal crack in the rocks. As we gingerly entered, edging our backsides down the slope, our eyes became accustomed to the semi light and we could see the stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Twenty feet down the cave opened to the sky with a blue pool at the far side and a jumble of moss and fern covered boulders to cross to reach it. This is the point where we came to ropes to help you lower yourself to the bottom. This bit didn't appeal to me and Erin so we sat and watched ready to go for help if the 4 boys (I include David in boys because he is enjoying the more physical challenges with the young guns) and Cat clambered down. They scrambled across the boulders and swam in the pool. Brady, Brian and Brad went further swimming through a blind tunnel into an inner pool. This would have been a wonderful hiding place for local people to escape invaders because it isn't visible from above and the entrance is so small. David and Cat climbed back up and the 4 of us then crawled up to the exit and began our walk back to the car. The boys would climb fast and catch us up. They caught up as we got back to the car and the rain started to gently fall. The walk was described as hard. It should also have been noted as exhilarating. David was still grinning and chatting as we drove on to lunch.

View into Togo chasm

Sunday no trading is observed in religious Niue so we'd taken a picnic lunch which was eagerly devoured at the picnic seats, no tables, at the start of the walk to Togo Chasm. Togo chasm is an easy walk out across a field of uplifted coral peaks, the concrete and rope hand rails make it accessible for all. The chasm is reached by climbing 50' down a sturdy wooden ladder. Imagine a sand floor with palm trees growing in the middle and sheer rocks faces rising 80' and above the palm trees on all sides. This photo features on all the island brochures.

the bridge

In the corner closest to the sea there is a muddle of boulders. A scrambled through these leads to a cave and out to the water, a pool with a bridge with the sea rushing under it. Niue is the largest uplifted coral island in the world and the caves and topography that's been created by the sea are well worth exploring.

Bridge from above

By now it was late afternoon and we were ready for some play time. We went along to the Wash Away cafe, a bar perched under a cliff and above possibly the only sand beach on the island. We went for a dip in the sea and then up to the bar at 4 o'clock for a self service drink. Self service because it is illegal to sell alcohol on a Sunday, but customers can help themselves and put their money in the till. It's not illegal to cook the best beefburgers with a fried egg and beetroot but the bar owners can't take money for it. The solution is to put the money in the till or to go along to their sister restaurant in the main town and settle your bill the next day. The honesty system must work for them to do it every week. Can you imagine this ever happening in London?

Saturday 21 August Exploring Niue

Floral display entries

Delos and Ghost have invited us to share their hire car, a people carrier that carries 7 people, to tour and explore Niue. The crew of Delos are American, Brian, his wife Erin and his younger brother Brady. Ghost are a Aussie Pom combo, Brad the Australian and his English wife Cat. The couples are early 30s, Brady early 20s. We had an early start to get over to the village of Hakefu for their annual village show. It could almost have been the Home Counties with craft and food stalls set out around the village green with its war memorial to those who lost their lives in WW1 and WW2, a small pavilion with the competition entries for best floral display, basket weaving, wood carving, spear heads, cakes, honey and the vegetable table, no marrows but plenty of taro roots and coconuts. The entertainment programme began at 8am with an aerobics display by the local ladies and there wasn't a bean pole among them. Keep on dancing ladies.

Canoe cave

As the ladies marched on we marched on to our first point of interest, the canoe landing stage on the north coast. This is an ancient site where fishermen have landed their canoes on the rocky coast and hauled them up into the caves above the sea. They are still used today with canoes stored inside. There was a bonus sighting of humpback whales off the coast.

Tavala arch

Next stop for the DIY Niue Tour Bus was the natural rock arch at Tavala. From the car park it was a mile walk along a coral path under the shade of trees, through a gap in the trees, through a big cave and we were at the shoreline looking at one of the biggest natural sea arches I've seen. It was low tide so we could walk over the exposed rock / coral out to the arch and see the waves breaking on it.

Freshwater pool

No time to linger, retracing our steps back to the car and a cold beer at the convenient snack bar, we grabbed our masks, snorkels and fins and took the second path down to the swimming pool. A long and deep fissure in the cliffs filled from the land side by a freshwater stream and by the sea at the end, although you can't see the sea from the inside because a large rock blocks the sea entrance. It was midday and we needed a cooling swim. Interestingly the freshwater was colder than the seawater and the freshwater floats on top of the heavier saltwater. As you dive under the temperature is warmer lower down and visibility is clearer. A bonus of this pool is you pass through freshwater as you get out – no itchy salt residue on your skin.

Limu pools

Next stop heading anticlockwise around the coast was Limu Pools. Wow! A film location finder's dream. An easy path from the road down to golden rocks surrounding crystal aquamarine swimming pools to take another cooling dip. The pools are extensive and open to the sea. There are some freshwater streams that flow in which give you a cold whoosh every now and then but you can soon be back in the warm and shallow water. Niue is a beautiful island and very few people visit. Mostly from New Zealand which is 3 ½ hours flight away. No foreigners are allowed to buy land, all land is owned by the islanders and consequently there's only one hotel resort.
We ended our busy day with a slap up curry and cold beer. A very decent curry with poppadoms and very cold beer.