Togo Chasm, a compact oasis dotted with palm trees in the middle of a chasm.

Terry in the Togo Chasm

Niue (new-ay) is one of the smallest independent nation (with a little help from New Zealand), also one of the world's largest raised coral atoll (makatea). 

10 September

After 5 days of an uncomfortable and painfully slow passage we arrived at 3 pm. The weather was fine all the way, with 10-16 knots of wind and moderate seas. Unfortunately we were on a run (taking the wind directly from behind ) which is the worst point of sail for Nomad Life: making it very rolly and slow. Alofi Yacht Club has 15 mooring buoys, we knew there were 6 spare but with 7 boats arriving, we decided to use the engine for the last few hours.

Niue has a mass of sea snakes (sea Kraits), as we picked the buoy up 2 came to see us. They are semi blind, very inquisitive but HIGHLY venomous. Luckily their fangs are at the back of the throat so almost totally unable to bite humans.

The water has a beautiful dark blue colour and good visibility, we can see the bottom from 15m. After securing Nomad Life on a buoy, we went ashore. The dinghy still has a slow puncture, so we had to keep pumping it up as we went along. There isn't a dinghy dock in Alofi so you have to take the dinghy to the wharf wall. where there is a crane that you use to lift the dinghy up onto the wall.

Afterwards we completed all formalities with customs and immigrations. The authorities are very protective of their environment all meat onboard has to be registered with customs. Then we checked out the yacht club and met up with the other yachts who arrived, Robyn's Nest and Chica Bonita.  We also found out that there is a great diving spot just under our boat, a huge chasm that goes down 30m . Later that night we saw the underwater light of a diver next to our boat! 

11th September

The Yacht Club staff is unbelievable friendly and welcoming. The Commodore, Keith, drove all newcomers around Alofi showing us where the shops are. The town is spread out for miles near the coast. Keith also told us about the devastation that cyclone Heta caused in 2004. Houses near the waterfront  had been washed away, 30 metres above sea level. 

12th September

As everything in town is quite spread out, we borrowed bicycles from the Yacht Club to get to the veggie and fish market. The island is flat so we had a lot of fun riding around. Fish is the cheapest food around here, for 10 NZ dollars we got 1kg of  fresh Wahoo . Everything else is imported and frozen.

13th September

Another four boats arrived today, the harbour is very busy with boats. All the new arrivals had to anchor as there are no more mooring buoys left, not the best solution as the sea bottom is rocky. In the evening all yachties got together at the BBQ organized by the Yacht Club, it was a great night.

14th September

Together with Terry and Linn we rented a car for the day. The Rugby World Cup was on early morning, we headed to Matavai Resort to watch it. It was South Africa against England, unfortunately England were totally crap losing 36-0. I was very surprised to find that there are Brazilians all over the world, that  includes Nuie. Luiza, who works in the resort was the only Brasilian living in the island, she was so glad to have a chance to speak Portuguese for once .  After the match we went to Togo Chasm, Avatele beach for a snorkel with the sea snakes, then to Avaiki and Limu Pools. The island looks like a ghost town, most of the houses have been abandoned and now are falling in peaces. Since the airport was built a lot of the locals left to New Zealand. Now only 1400 are left here.

16th September

The weather was good for the next couple of days, so it was time to leave. We got up early morning for a cup of coffee, 100 metres from the boat we saw a huge whale. Niue is the breeding home of the humpback whales between June and October. Then we heard Checkmate on the radio. Tony just arrived from Palmerston and was very pleased to see us here, we have not seen him for 7 months, since the Caribbean. So we postponed our departure for tomorrow.

17th September