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9/23/2006 3:00:00 PM
Niue
An all coral island between Palmerston and Tonga

An island is an island ... not quite

After a while all the islands look like the same ... let me tell you about two islands, Niue and Palmerston Island, that are very different.

After a while all the islands look like the same ... blue and turquoise water, palm trees and reefs with some beautiful colored fish, awesome diving ... it is all the same after a while isn't it? Let me tell you about two places with two very different heritage and two very different experiences for us on Lawur.

The places I am reflecting on are called Palmerston Island and Niue, both associated to New Zealand and were our first landfalls outside French Polynesia.

Let's talk first what the two places have in common. Both islands are in the middle of nowhere. People are speaking English again and communication was much easier than sign language and the few words I can say in French ... high school is a long time ago and my remaining French knowledge was an alarming reminder of that, like looking at my kids or my belly for that matter wouldn't be enough. The second thing the two islands have in common was that they are both gorgeous in its own way, though the landscape was very different, so I guess we are now on to what was different.

Palmerston Island was in a way a deserving good bye from French Polynesia with its beautiful lagoon and the turquoise waters and the reef outside with an abundance of fish ... I spear fished a big parrot fish the first night and we had 'poisson crue' (raw fish in coconut milk) the Tuamotus way. Niue on the other hand is known as the biggest all coral island in the world. There are no lagoons and you anchor your boat outside in a nice but deep bay. Niue Yacht club has put in over 10 moorings and given how deep it is (over 80 feet) that was a welcome sight (Be careful and inspect your mooring in Palmerston to make sure it is safe ... a friend drifted out on one with the mooring still attached). The water in Niue is quite deep right outside which gives you the deep blue ocean you typically only see miles off-shore just off the island. The other thing Niue is famous for is its spectacular diving with visibility up to 200 feet and we weren't disappointed. I did 2 dives with the local dive shop since the dive locations are quite far away from the anchorage and I had a great time in underwater caves, canyons and caverns ... quite a different experience from the reef dives I have done so many of in the Tuamotus.

There has been a lot written about the heritage of Palmerston Island so I will keep this short but Palmerston was first inhabited by an English fellow called William Marster in the late 19th century but probably more noteworthy is that he brought 3 wives (from Penhryn, northern Cook islands) with him ... can you imagine the luggage they brought ... ;-). He divided the island into 3 parts, one for each wife and put some rules about "cross-pollination" in place ... don't ask me for any details. Up to this day, each family on the island knows which wife they are descendants of and they still keep the land split up the way it was originally done. That all sounds pretty weird to me but who am I to judge so I spent little time asking questions about that. It might be obvious by now but I didn't quite get Palmerston Island life but a few days isn't probably enough time as it is. Yes, you might argue we always compare everything with Toau and you are right but we did come here because we heard how welcoming the people on Palmerston Island are and we were looking forward to a fun time. On the positive side, people did invite us to their homes and shared meals with us, however we never quite felt the warmth and welcome we received in parts of French Polynesia ... not quite sure why. Then there is the part that requires them to help you shuttle you around the island because you couldn't bring in your own dingy due to a very tricky lagoon entrance (you anchor outside the reef!) ... I felt a bit restricted on my movements and didn't quite feel like calling them all the time for rides because fuel is a rarity on the island. I should add that the supply ship only comes every 3 months if they are lucky, sometimes it takes up to 5 months! So in a way I guess we 'yachties' as we are referred to are another way for them to get supplies and it made me wonder if that was the main reason for the welcome and the meals ... since we hadn't planned to stop there we didn't have a lot of supplies to share and it made me feel awkward. The other thing I didn't get was that I saw very little work being done on the island, at least compared to the people on Toau and in French Polynesia in general who always worked super hard to make a living but they did have street lights lining their beach streets running over the island ... wonder who paid for those!? I will close with an answer to one of my questions on what happens if someone gets sick ... "you either make it or you don't" ... not quite sure what to say on that one. Closing Palmerston Island on a positive note, the boys had a great time playing with the many kids on the island, maybe half of the total of about 60 people living there. The kids on Palmerston Island were very engaging and friendly and our boys went to school for two day there including an art class Niki taught one day; their education is amazing considering how remote they grow up and we attribute this to a wonderful New Zealand teacher who took it on herself to make sure kids have a choice once they graduate from Palmerston 'Lucky School'.

Let me close this report by giving you a few more highlights about Niue which we enjoyed thoroughly. Yes the anchorage with the moorings can get uncomfortable at times due to the swell, but it is totally worth it for all the great little restaurants there, the friendly people without any agendas, the provisioning you can do and foremost for the amazing hikes we took. We rented a car for a day and shared a car with our friends on New Dawn and Kabuki for another day to do 6 or 7 different hikes. Most hikes included some swimming in fresh or brakish water holes, chasms or caves. The caves are spectacular, some to be reached by foot others to be swam into from the outside and the landscape on Niue is pretty amazing. The one and only drawback we saw on Niue is the fact that after the cyclone in 2004 a lot of the people left the island for New Zealand and half of all the houses in the villages are abandoned, a somewhat depressing sight. We hope that the economy will pick up again for them ... New Zealand is working hard and investing a lot of money into the development and we sure hope it will succeed. We think Niue makes a great vacation spot for a family even though there is only one flight a week ... well you won't be overrun by tourists.

Coming back to the original thought of an island is an island, Palmerston and Niue are less than 500 miles apart (in ocean passage time just a blink of an eye ... well a few days but you get the point) but couldn't be further apart in many aspects such as people, landscape and lifestyle.

We are on to Tonga now and our trip is starting to wind down ... we are definitely feeling the days ticking down. Sorry for the little delay we have accumulated on our reports, but if you are still interested to see where we are exactly, Google Earth on www.lawur.com/tracker still gives you an up to date location.

All the best,

Robert and Family

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