Beveridge Reef and on to Niue

Conditions were still windy when we finally left Aitutaki - assisted by our neighbours on Jadean as we had spent the last week rafted up next to them in the tiny port of Aitutaki.  The 470 miles to Beveridge Reef took us 4 days, well reefed down,  initially sailing in 4 metre waves we experienced gusts of over 40 kts.  Well aware that a catamaran had just come to grief on the reef, we approached in daylight - even knowing where the reef was it was very hard to see any sign of it.  There were humpback whales in the pass, what a welcome!

There is no detail of the atoll on the charts, so we motored in cautiously, following Jadean, and made our way across to the most windward corner of the atoll where the sea state would be calmest due to the protection from the reef and dropped anchor.  We later learnt that the Catamaran, which was gradually getting lower in the water, had been washed across the reef and then the rescuers had anchored it to stop it being washed across the atoll into the pass where it could have become more of a hazard to shipping.  Apparently a salvage operation is planned, although several weeks have now passed and there is no sign of it.

A dramatic ending to one family's dreams.  The couple on board and their young children were rescued by the only vessel in the area, a whale research ship that was in the atoll at the time.  The bottom of the hulls has been ripped off, but it's buoyancy is keeping it afloat.

This sandbank was the only part of the atoll that was above the water when we arrived - by the next day the wind and swell had increased and the waves were breaking over it from both sides. 

We were joined in Beveridge Reef by Ashley and Ben from Nahoa and Jenny and Greg with their children Oliver and Annnika on So What and enjoyed a wonderful fish BBQ on Jadean on our first night there - Ashley and Ben had caught a 2m yellowfin tuna en route, and Barry and Kim a Wahoo of almost the same size.  Luckily both catamarans have sufficient freezer space to accommodate such catches!

Hugh and Annie arrived the next day, so unfortunately missed the BBQ, but we did all go on a snorkel and then a couple of dives in the pass the next day - fabulous underwater 'landscape', hundreds of barracuda and at well over 2m, the biggest grouper any of us had ever seen.

Conditions in Beveridge Reef deteriorated, and we ended up basically stuck on the boats for a couple of days in pretty uncomfortable conditions - being submerged, the reef does not fully block the swell and as the wind had increased the waves were breaking over it and into the atoll especially at high tide.   We spent 4 nights there and then headed on to Niue with Vega.  The others have headed straight to Tonga.

The trip from Beveridge to Niue is about 150 miles, the sort of distance we can frequently manage in 24 hours but yet again we need to leave and arrive in daylight so the only option was a two night sail - we approached Niue in the early hours, it was grey and swathed in rain clouds - it did not look particularly welcoming!

Niue is one of the world's largest coral islands, 14 miles by 12 miles and rising 60 metres out of the sea it is fondly referred to as "The Rock".  It's nearest neighbour (apart from Beveridge Reef) is Tonga, 240 nautical miles to the west.

Captain Cook was the first European to see the island of Niue in 1774 but the he Natives did not allow him to land.  By the mid 1800's the Missionaries had arrived and been welcomed, and in 1889 the Niue Chief wrote to Queen Victoria asking her to 'stretch out towards us your mighty hand' - in 1901 Niue was briefly declared a British Protectorate before being handed over to New Zealand the same year.  In the 1970's Niue eventually became a Self Governing State in Free Association with New Zealand, and remains so today.

There is only one possible landing place in Niue, the port of Alofi, and due to the coral and the water depth mooring buoys must be used by visiting yachts.  We followed a pod of dolphins to one of the available buoys - later in the day a humpback whale and it's calf slowly made their way through the yachts towards the cliffs - an amazing sight.

Humpback whales in the bay - not a great photo, but wonderful to see - and to hear them calling to each other under the boat.

The first challenge you face in Niue is getting ashore - the only option is to hoist the dinghy up with a small crane - a two person operation that involves hooking the dinghy up to a strop and hosting it out onto the quay.  At times there is a large surge in the harbour which makes it a rather wet experience.

We're hired a car for a couple of days with Hugh and Annie from Vega - the island is incredible, there are over 50 'Sea Treks' down from the road to the sea where you can investigate the magnificent limestone cliffs and caverns and swim or admire the crystal clear waters around Niue.

At low tide you can walk across the old coral platform and swim or snorkel in the pools.

The coral has eroded into wonderful caves and caverns with stalactites and stalagmites.

Talava Arches - one of the many highlights of our trip round the island.

One thing you could not fail to notice when driving round the island was all the derelict buildings - there were literally hundreds in various states of disrepair.  

One of the many abandoned houses we passed on our trip round the island.  We later learnt that much of the damage was caused by Cyclone Heta in 2004 which struck the island with 260km winds and storm surge waves which broke over the top of the 30 metre high coast around the main town of Alofi.  The island population at the time was somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 but as the locals are given New Zealand passports many of them left for NZ and did not return to the island.  The population is currently approximately 1,600, and the island is struck by cyclones approximately once every 10 years.  Like Aitutaki, the island was also covered with gravestones - it seems you can bury your dead wherever you like, maybe in their favourite spot on the island.

On the west coast we took a small sea track from the village of Liku and found ourselves on the edge of the coral shelf around the island.  The shelf is formed with long dead coral, and at low tide it is easy to walk on in the shallows, protected by the outer reef.

Enjoying walking on the coral shelf with Annie.

We didn't think the trip could get any better when we noticed lots of white Tropicbirds circling out to sea, and then we had front row seats to the sight of several whales breaching in the distance.

One of the several humpback whales we saw on the eastern side of Niue.

Our final destination with the car was a trip to the Togo Chasm, according to the information we had received from the Tourist Office, everyone should make at least one trip to Togo - they weren't wrong, it was again absolutely spectacular.  We walked a couple of kilometres through the thick forest which gradually gave way to more and more outcrops of weathered spiky coral.

The forest then gave way to the jagged pinnacles of black coral - there was a narrow concrete path you could follow down to the sea.

A wooden ladder takes you down into a chasm, complete with a little beach and a few coconut palms, from there you can clamber through to the sea at low tide.

The end of the Togo Chasm - the waves are breaking over a coral arch - this area would be underwater at high tide.

Heading back to the car past a skyline of weathered coral pinnacles.

We didn't only see the caves and caverns of Niue from land, we also went for a couple of dives with Magical Niue, one of the two local dive operators.  We went into two caverns, in one we removed our scuba gear and walked around the extraordinary limestones shapes spotting the occasional coconut crab that makes its way in from some hidden entrance at the back of the cavern.  The highlight was the water snakes - there were lots of them both in and outside the caverns, not something we have come across before.

Our time in Niue has now come to an end, we plan to head off to Tonga tomorrow morning where we will be meeting Nick and Sally, our only visitors to have braved a trip half way round theworld to come and visit us!

 
Sunset at Alofi.  Several boats have been put off visiting Niue due to the requirement to use mooring buoys (at a cost) and also the huge increase int he departure tax from NZ$35 to NZ$80 per head that has been levied this year - we are very glad that we came, it is a unique place and we have very much enjoyed our visit here.