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Published: September 22nd 2009
It's been a long ambition of ours to snorkel with Humpback Whales and Niue Island is one of the few destinations in the world that you can 'legally' do this. Niue is located between Tonga and the Cook Islands. The Humpback Whales are only there from July to November, we went there at the end of July. We had to fly to Auckland and stay overnight then fly to Niue the next day, crossing the international dateline meant that we arrived in Niue the same day we left Brisbane! There is only one flight in and out a week from Auckland and one shipment a month.
Niue is a small independent state perched on top of a sleeping volcano rising steeply from a 3000-4000m deep ocean. The tiny limestone island, about 23 by 18 km rises to 68m above sea level, most is about 30m. The island is a massive coral outcrop rising from the sea bed, there are no sandy beaches, no top soil so fresh local produce is in short supply. You get a strong sense of being on an island, especially when you drive round as you can nearly always see the ocean due to being higher than
SWINE FLU Check !
Niue had no swine flu and we were checked in Auckland Airport and again at Niuesea level, rather like being on a cliff all the time.
The 1000 islanders are very dependent on the weekly flight and cargo ship for fresh supplies. Salads usually consisted of carrot, white cabbage and onions. Coconuts of course were abundant and these are used to their full potential in drinks, cooking and jewellery. The fish was excellent.
Cyclone Heta hit the island very badly in January 2004 and its destruction was still very evident. The cyclone passed Niuatoputapu, increasing in strength towards Niue to the most ferocious storm, a class five with wind speeds of over 250km/h. How very frightening that must have been. A nurse died saving her child and the hospital was destroyed.
Matavai Resort was our home for the week, with only 24 rooms this is the largest guest accommodation on the island. It had a very informal and friendly atmosphere. The rooms were comfortable, all had sea views and we could see whales very easily, sometimes only 50 metres from the cliff edge. Occasionally, they could be heard at night breaching and slapping.
Ian and Annie (http://www.dive.nu) operate Niue dive and the whale snorkeling expeditions This is located next to Matavai,
airport arrival
This welcome plant at the airport gave us an indication of how low key Niue would be. it's well set up, only 6 snorkellers to a boat or 4 divers (rigid inflatable). Whale etiquette was carefully adhered to. The diving is scenic; the water is so incredibly clear with up to 60 metres visibility. It was a comfy 26 degrees and it didn’t feel like you could possibly be diving with such amazing visibility. There are lots of banded sea snakes, a good range of fish life, but not an abundance of anything. We could see the reef destruction and debris caused in the wake of HETA, had our photos taken on Toyota Land Cruiser that had been swept off the cliff.
It was great fun hanging on to the boat whilst underway with spinner dolphins playing games in the bow waves. We also met some lnew like-minded diving buddies who live about 3 hrs from Corindi and we hope to dive with them again soon. We really enjoyed out time on Niue and hope to return one day, maybe going a bit later when the whales are giving birth. We had some close encounters with these magnificent creatures and feel very privileged to witness close up one of the largest mammals to navigate the oceans.
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Anne
non-member comment
Dear John & Steph Thank you for the photographs and your comments. I am glad to hear you are both still well and enjoying Diving still I just hope John never loses his compass which I gave to him for his 50th especially when entering the caves!! Kindest regards Anne