Monday, June 23, 2013
Sailing Across the Pacific Ocean 2013 (Part 19) - Exploring Niue
We started out by heading to the ol' wharf in our dinghy. We were 'prepared' this time...prepared for death. As you approach this thing, all you see are huge whitecap waves crashing against a cement wharf covered with these old bolts, all sticking their heads out to say a rusty 'welcome!'. They have an electric crane setup for you to raise your dinghy out of these death-defying waters so you don't come back to a shipwreck when done on land. We dropped Jan off on the stairs first so she could operate the crane as Gary and I tried to secure and get off the boat with our lives. As the swell rocketed us toward the wharf wall, I had to throw this bridle around the crane hook,
and then leap from the boat and tarzan-swing on a rope dangling from the crane arm, all while keeping my foot hooked on the dinghy hoping to secure it so Gary could get off.
I then had to secure the painter line so Gary could get off. You can see how successful that was (the engine/propellor was spinning out of the water at this point):
We were finally able to stabilize the boat and miraculously keep Gary from falling out for just enough time for him to jump off using the tarzan-swing method.
After we were all safely ashore, we helped the new yachtee arrivals ashore with similar results.
After all the excitement, we walked up the steep slope like warriors, or soldiers returning from battle, soaking wet, to the customs 'gazebo' to check in.
I took a few pictures of the wharf before moving on.
We ran into an English/Australian couple we met in Bora Bora who had rented a car and spent the day touring the island with them. Great people with a wonderful always-positive personality. It was a pleasure to spend the day with them.
We checked out some chasm, the name alludes my memory at this point. We decided to walk the crazy road down to it.
I didn't want these strange people to be in the picture, but supposedly they did. I think he lives in there.
A cool shot of the tree on the cliffside above before we left.
On the way out, we ran into a friend of theirs and stopped to say hello as he was knocking coconuts from a tree with a 30 foot bamboo pole (beats climbing it).
He showed us that the green ones are where you get the coconut water from and the brown ones have the flakey white stuff that you can eat or make coconut milk from. He demonstrated the best way to open coconuts
and carved a coconut for each of us to drink from
I was amazed how much water was in one coconut. I kept chugging it back only to find more. It was very refreshing, like a slightly sweetened water.
On top of these, he cut up around ten more green ones for us to take back to our boats. He also chopped up some brown ones so we could try eating coconut in a more ripe stage.
He wouldn't let us leave before showing us the rest of his 'garden' and gave us some chilli peppers, pumpkin
lemon grass,
and some sugar cane to take back with us! He sliced one cane up for us all to try. It was my first time tasting it. You peel the skin off and just chew/spit out its innards. It is incredibly sweet, refreshing and supposedly great for your teeth!
I love sugar cane!
His name is Tony and lives on the north-west part of the island. If you ever visit here, say hello to him and maybe experience some of his kindness! He also makes necklaces from shells, whale bones, and boar tusks that he gave to Leslie and James for free, but they insisted on buying them from him. Niue, like Palmerston, is full of kindness and giving that defies the imagination.
After an amazing stop, we headed to the Limu Pools to check out some of the incredible caves and grottos they have here.
The hike down complimented the atmosphere and culture of the island and were marked (unlike Marquesas) so you knew you were on the right trail. This German guy (in front of me) got stuck in our group and had to stop every time we did to take pics. He kept quiet and I didn't tell anyone because it was hilarious to me. No one noticed he was there, haha.
This chasm was far nicer than the last. The water was crystal clear and just stunning. You get a mix of cold salt water from the sea and warm fresh water from land. You can feel and see the two waters mixing with sudden changes in temperature and from the 'oily' visibility in the water.
There was a second pool just around the corner from this one, which I decided to venture by myself to do some intimate snorkelling on my own. The trail was a bit rough.
It was an absolutely beautiful little grotto, so peaceful, even with the strong current.
All was good at first, I was just innocently filming some fish.
Then suddenly a friggin sea snake dive-bombs me out of nowhere.
We are WAY to close to Australia at this point for this guy to not be poisonous. So I let out a very manly scream and tried to get away. Unfortunately, the waves were going out at this point, so I was being sucked toward him. My screaming got louder at this point and more manly as I tried to escape his deadly grasp.
Even with the strong out-current, the little bastard wouldn't quit. Finally, I saw him squirm behind a rock and probably into a little hole.
Phew! Thank god that is done...
OH SHIT!
TELL THE WORD MY STORY!
"You came to the wrong neighbourhood mother******..." - Snake
I escaped in the nick of time and decided to head back to the other pool to snorkel where everyone else was.
I was enjoying my time, seeing some cool fish.
And some scary tunnels to swim through.
Are you ******* kidding me?? This is like a 300m swim underground from the other pool.
"I told you mother******, wrong neighbourhood" - Snake
After the bully left, I saw a white eel swimming through the reef below, so I jumped down for a good shot.
I don't know if he was some sort of albino eel, or if maybe babies are white and don't get their darker colour until sometime when they are older.
What a great day at such a beautiful place!
**UPDATE**
So I don't seem like such a sissy, I looked up the Niue Sea Snake online and got this from wikipedia:
"The katuali or flat-tail sea snake (Laticauda schistorhynchus) is a sea snake, related to the sea krait, found only in the waters of the Pacific Island nation of Niue. It grows up to 1 metre in length, and is highly venomous, making it one of the most dangerous creatures on the planet."
...one of the most dangeros creatures on the planet
that snake is the stuff of nightmares- glad you made it out alive! i would have died.
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