Our favorite island in the Pacific

Once the weather gave us a good window to leave Beveridge Reef, we set sail to arrive in the island nation of Niue, just 140 miles to our North-West. The passage was an overnighter, which have become quite mundane nowadays. Just to make it more difficult-slash-stressful on me, I opted to leave the mainsail down and did the entire passage on the headsail only – since it was all downwind anyway. At the time this sounded easier, but in practice it severely limited us, both in direction and in options of dealing with storms. So, after sunset, I came to realize just how poor a choice I made but could do little about it. In the end I sat stressed the entire sail. Luckily, nothing came out of the darkness to destroy us, and we arrived at Nuie’s mooring field safely after 23 hours of sailing.

The following morning was the first open appointment to check in to the new country. We had to meet the agent at the harbor at the specified time, which would have normally meant to take our dinghy to shore, tie it up, and make our meeting. This one, however, was a bit more unique. There was no place on shore to land the dinghy, and no place to tie it up at a dock. Instead we pulled up to a large concrete wall where one of us would climb up and lower a crane down to lift the entire dinghy out of the water. Once on top of the concrete wall the dinghy would be pushed out of the way for the next person who needed to be craned out or in. Such a unique way to handle small boat traffic, but when the island has no space for a dock, this is what you get. It was easier for us I suppose. Our dinghy weighs half that of the other cruisers, so at least shuffling it around wasn’t that big a deal for us.

The moorings to the left, harbor and crane at bottom-right

Tired. Just so very tired. We finally made it to this island country I’ve been so looking forward to visiting, and all we’ve managed was to make it to shore for customs (and showers!) and to join other cruisers for a dinner/trivia night. I got out of bed late this morning only to make it to the settee to lay back down again for the rest of the day.

Is it the thousand+ miles of ocean we’ve crossed over the last month (5,300+ in the last four)? Is it that infernal perimenopause? Who knows. But in the last 13+ years of traveling full time, it’s is sometimes necessary to remind ourselves that it’s ok to rest when needed. The pressure is ALWAYS on when you’re in a new place all the time, to see and do All the Things. But this isn’t a vacation, and living constantly like it is just isn’t sustainable. Especially for us Type B types. Sunday as a day of rest is a big thing in this part of the Pacific, and I’m all in. – Kerri

Checked in, legal, and rested, we got straight to hanging out with the other cruisers for trivia night at one of the local eateries. Some we already knew from Beveridge Reef or even before, while others we were meeting for the first time, but none of that mattered. It was good to hang out with old friends, and make new ones at the same time. Trivia nights are a big deal for cruisers. I can’t say why, but they just are.

Kerri and I knew we would be renting a car while in Niue. Though the island is not all that big, only about 60 miles around, we both really wanted to see as many of the sights as we could and walking 60 miles is not really an option to me. We could have rented a bike for less, but that too wasn’t going to fly. So, the little car it was. The only catch – we are now in a country that drives on the wrong side of the road, so I had to re-learn to drive. This would be the first time in history that a husband would ask his wife to back-seat-drive. Kerri is well practiced and highly experienced for the job, and gladly accepted the position. 

We picked up Robert, a solo sailor we met in Beveridge, and hauled him along with us for our first day exploring. We stopped at every mark on the map, counterclockwise around the island. From sights as simple as the next boat ramp/lift down the road to a hike deep into a slot canyon that you can swim in (Robert did, we did not). Then another location that overlooked the Pacific to the south with waves crashing below.

By the end of that day we had only made it half way around Niue, so took a road that cut the island in half to get back to Meriwether. Kerri and I set out to explore more on day two of the car rental. This time clockwise, which brought us up to the most amazing sea-caves we have ever seen.

See, the road is at the top of the flat island, about 200 feet above sea level. To get down to these sea caves one must penetrate 200 feet through the earth, and Mother-Niue knows how best to do that; a cave! Each of these caves are National Park level views, but without the crowds. It has been a long time since awe ran through our veins. A drug we are heavily addicted to but rarely get any more.

On the day we needed to return the car we woke early, packed our gear into the trunk, and got to driving back to one spot that we skipped because we hadn’t brought our snorkel gear the day before. Now prepared, we hiked out to and slipped down into the calm pools that transition into reef before falling away into open ocean. Here we sawm through other small caves, investigated small coastal fish, and came across our first couple very brightly colored sea snakes. The morning burned snorkeling in these amazing waters, we returned the car with only minutes to spare on our contract.

In all, we would spend a full week on Niue. It easily became our most favorite island we have been to in all the South Pacific. If someone were looking for a place to fly in and spend a week or two to experience the South Pacific, this would be our recommendation. The people were friendly, the island was clean, easy to get around, and stunning at every turn. Provisioning and refueling wasn’t the easiest, and one of the reasons we rented the car. The open-to-the-sea moorings and dinghy dock situation all went swimmingly. And we got to hang out with a bunch of great people as well, some we were still hanging out with a full month later in yet another country.

The cutest little octopus baby visited us onboard one day

Tonight, on our last night in Niue, I want to give a special shout out to our steering cable for giving out when it did. Without that hiccup, we would not have had the delay which allowed us the weather window to spend time here, on this very special island.

Niue is self-governing island nation of almost exactly 100 square miles with a population estimated to be just under 2,000, located between the Cook Islands and Tonga. It boasts some incredible geography, with its sea caves and chasms, and flora and fauna to match. I got to finally scratch my long-neglected mushroom hunting itch here. We hiked, swam, snorkeled, practically spelunked, operated cranes, won at trivia, and with several friends we’d made at our waylay back in Beveridge Reef, had a bunch of the best and most reasonably-priced food we’ve had in the South Pacific.

As fun of a challenge as it is to try communicate in different languages, it was also a nice break to be on an island where English was the second language. Overall, this stop has been the highlight of our time in the South Pacific. But after seven days, that cyclone season clock is still ticking, and tomorrow, it’s time to move on to Tonga, our final island group out here in the middle of the biggest ocean. I’ll always remember you, Niue. Thank you for filling my cup! – Kerri