Friday 6th June
Just before dawn a horrendous squall passes over us.
Remarkably, some of the crew sleep through it! Once the gusts have eased
it’s still torrential rain. Jens calls over for the diving gear –
Annie says there’s no way she’s going when it’s like this.
Breakfast aboard then we pack up for our day out, hoping for the best. We start
off getting our business done; customs, immigration, online banking, paying for
car-hire, groceries etc. Once all that’s out the way we meet with Cleone
(James, Norfy, Elizabeth & Will) for coffee and plan a route round the
island to make the most of our hire cars. Brian heads off on his bike and we
arrange to meet him later. First stop is a walk through jungle to Avaiki Cave.
After trekking through a coral forest path we reach the cave; stunning rock
formations and a turquoise pool with tiny sapphire fish. Next stop is the Limu
Pools; a walk to two pools linked by a short path, one where you swim through
an arch to the other side and where we snorkel with the snakes –
extremely venomous but never known to attack! The water consists of thermal
eddies so you are constantly swimming through warm, then cool, patches, the
cool causing “wrinkly” vision, the warm very clear. There’s a
huge variety of fish, many that we’ve never seen before. The water is
much cooler, but well worth the initial shock to the system! Matapa Chasm, a
few miles further on, is another deep chasm which we snorkel through to where
huge rocks provide a barrier from the crashing waves. We get out the water and
climb over to the other side to watch the sea breaking up to our feet and over
the rocks. Guide books tell us this is where the Niue
kings used to swim. It’s easy to see why as the water is crystal clear
and there are even more unusual fish. When we walk back to the car, the little
bar that was shut when we arrived has opened; there’s no food but we make
do with a lunch of beer and crisps, being the health gurus that we are!. Off we
jaunt to Uluvehi Landing where there’s an expensive landing station built
and paid for by New Zealand
which is in entirely the wrong place and has never been used. When we see it we
can see why – no matter how solid a landing station you had here, you
would never be able to land - the coast has the full force of the prevailing
wind, with a shallow, very jagged shallow reef all round….enough said.
There are several caves, covered in fossils, and on closer inspection, they
could well have been occupied at some time. There are several traditional boats
stored in the caves, as in most of the caves we explore, although it is
difficult to tell when they were last used, or visited – they look old
and abandoned. Ian decides he’d like to get one of these boats back home
for the Kelvin! At this point, Norfy and Will go to get the shops before they
close so they head back to town and we arrange to meet them at Togo
Chasm. As we drive through the villages it becomes increasingly apparent
how decimated the population has become due to the high number of boarded up
and abandoned buildings. Small villages seem to be occupied at less than a
quarter of their full capacity and we feel sorry , perhaps wrongly, for the few
children we do see, who must wonder where (and why) everyone has gone. Although
we hear that about one fifth of the population are Government officials, and
that there are 20 MPs, the roads are poorly maintained and there appear to be
few community facilities. The villages seldom even have a village shop, as
Brian finds out on his cycle round when he nearly dies of thirst! The island is
very lush and it is difficult for us to understand why more people aren’t
trying to make a living on this very individual little island which seems to
have a lot of potential, not only in natural resources but also in the
friendliness of the people .En route, we decide to make a detour to explore an
off road track leading out of Liku village. Although the road is steep, we
negotiate our way down until it stops, then we follow a path towards the sea,
down stone steps and through a rock arch. We are rewarded with a vast, flat
,pink coral plateau, surrounded by caves and dotted with small shallow pools .
The waves crash off the reef right in front of us. This is a stunning spot, and
very different to the previous. After a wander around we realise we’re
going to run out of daylight soon so press on to reach our final destination,
Togo chasm, one of the most photographed spots on the island. There Norfy and
Will are waiting for us along with Brian who they picked up along the way. It
involves a 20 minute walk through the jungle, then a sprachle down a steep
marked path through the rocks .At the end of that, there’s an almost
vertical 50 foot ladder down into a sandy little oasis with palm trees, and
entirely enclosed by the surrounding rock. There are enormous boulders blocking
this area from the sea, although it looks as if it might just be possible to
scrawl through them. As it’s getting dark we don’t have time to
stop as we don’t want to get lost in the jungle – Ex Army Colonel
James ensures we know the script for our walk back so that we don’t get
split up, and tells Elizabeth,
at the rear, that on his normal exercises, she would have to walk backwards!
Luckily we make it back to the cars in time, but are glad we didn’t leave
it any later! We drive back to town where we join the Nuie Yacht Club and say
our fond farewells to Commodore Keith Vial, without whose advice we
wouldn’t have had such a good day. We meet Tallulah Ruby and Mandy and
decide we’ll all go for a curry. The curry house is a very simple affair,
with a straightforward menu; beef, lamb or chicken, hot, medium or mild!
It’s excellent, and afterwards we go straight back to the boat where
thankfully, Jens and Johanna have switched on our mooring light while returning
the diving gear. The lads manage to get the rugby, All Blacks vs Ireland
,on the TV so all happy! This is only the second time the boat TV has been on
since we left – the first time was to watch Billy Connoly’s DVD
where he bemoans the fact that his wife sold their house to buy a boat and sail
across the Pacific!