Niue - Help/Advice Please :)

[divermike1011]

Hi everyone!

My wife and I are interested in traveling too, and diving in Niue. From what I can discover online it seems there is only one dive operation on the island. I am looking for any and all information about Niue from people who either have been there or know a lot about it. I did a search on SB and all I could find were people listing it as a bucket list place to go. Have you been there? Did you dive? How was it? If you were about to be demobilized and looking for a Pacific Island to get away from it all would you pick Niue? Etc. etc.

Thanks in advance for the help :)

Michael

[Heg]

Hi Mike
We are off over there on 5th August for the 5th time. Yes- there is only one dive shop -Niue Dive run by Ian and Annie Gray. Fabulous people and they run a very tight ship. They have three boats and its 4 divers to a boat.
If you want beaches and fine dining and kids clubs -do not go. If you want friendly locals, basic but fresh food and stunning viz, then book now. Oh -and no cellphone reception:D Heaven.
One flight a week from Auckland with Air NZ. Leaves on a sat and arrives Friday.

We stay at Nic's place (opposite the dive shop) as we prefer to do a bit of self catering. There is only one hotel -The Matavai, which has a pool and a restaurant and bar. Basic but clean and it next door to Niue Dive.
The reefs suffered quite badly in Cyclone Heta but are really starting to regenerate. It's certainly not going to blow you away with soft corals and abundant see life, but the diving is still good. Lots of caves and plenty of sea snakes.

We are going over again primarily to swim with the humpback whales. Awesome experience. It's one of the few places in the world where you are allowed to do so. From what I have heard, it beats Tonga hands down. For a start there will only ever be two boats out there , so a max of 12 snorkelers. To say we got up close and personal is an understatement.

I guess it's a kind of love it or hate it place. We love it. PM me if you want to know anything else.

[divermike1011]

Heg:

Thanks so much for the quick reply. Bit slammed with work today/tomorrow, but will send you a PM. THanks again!

Michael

[sipadiver]

Hi Mike
We are off over there on 5th August for the 5th time. Yes- there is only one dive shop -Niue Dive run by Ian and Annie Gray. Fabulous people and they run a very tight ship. They have three boats and its 4 divers to a boat.
If you want beaches and fine dining and kids clubs -do not go. If you want friendly locals, basic but fresh food and stunning viz, then book now. Oh -and no cellphone reception:D Heaven.
One flight a week from Auckland with Air NZ. Leaves on a sat and arrives Friday.

We stay at Nic's place (opposite the dive shop) as we prefer to do a bit of self catering. There is only one hotel -The Matavai, which has a pool and a restaurant and bar. Basic but clean and it next door to Niue Dive.
The reefs suffered quite badly in Cyclone Heta but are really starting to regenerate. It's certainly not going to blow you away with soft corals and abundant see life, but the diving is still good. Lots of caves and plenty of sea snakes.

We are going over again primarily to swim with the humpback whales. Awesome experience. It's one of the few places in the world where you are allowed to do so. From what I have heard, it beats Tonga hands down. For a start there will only ever be two boats out there , so a max of 12 snorkelers. To say we got up close and personal is an understatement.


I'm going to Niue in late September with a friend for a week of scuba diving. Can you recommend good dive locations at Niue?

[Heg]

Have you booked your diving yet? If not, get in quick. There is only one Dive shop on the island and the have three boats, so a max of 12 divers. This is peak season as it is also whale season, so they will be very busy. Email niuedive@niue.nu to see if they have room for you.

If your diving is booked, then some good sites are Bubble Cave, Snake Gully, Matavai Bommie.
Cheers
Jo

[sipadiver]

Have you booked your diving yet? If not, get in quick. There is only one Dive shop on the island and the have three boats, so a max of 12 divers. This is peak season as it is also whale season, so they will be very busy. Email niuedive@niue.nu to see if they have room for you.

If your diving is booked, then some good sites are Bubble Cave, Snake Gully, Matavai Bommie.
Cheers
Jo Yes we have booked our flights already, thank you. We are currently looking into finding a dive operator. I didn't know there was only one on the island.

[sipadiver]

Have you booked your diving yet? If not, get in quick. There is only one Dive shop on the island and the have three boats, so a max of 12 divers. This is peak season as it is also whale season, so they will be very busy. Email niuedive@niue.nu to see if they have room for you.

If your diving is booked, then some good sites are Bubble Cave, Snake Gully, Matavai Bommie.
Cheers
Jo Yes we have booked our flights already, thank you. We are currently looking into finding a dive operator. I didn't know there was only one on the island.

[Heg]

That's what I meant -Not 'have you booked your flights' but have you booked your dives? We went one year and a couple who just showed up without booking only got one dive in the entire week:(. Email the dive shop NOW!!!

[sipadiver]

Hey Heg, Yeah I'm talking to Annie Grey now and booking our dive trips. We can only do 10 dives during our week stay there due to the limited capacity of the operator. Fair enough. They also operate whale snorkel trips but they cost about NZ$110 per trip. And my friend whose going with me might not be able to afford to go for all. Is it a good choice to do a shore dive or snorkel around the beach area by himself?

[Heg]

The whale trips are awesome and worth every penny. It is one of only three places in the world where you are allowed to snorkel with humpbacks and it is a truly amazing experience. There is some good snorkelling around the island. Not sure about shore dives. Not even sure you can do them. Access in and out of the water is limited as there are no beaches as such. Most dives sites are a boat ride out of the harbour.

[sipadiver]

Yeah, you are right. I was just informed that shore dives are no no. But apparently we can do snokeling around the island. Do you have any recommendations for the snorkel sites?

By the way, do you have any recommendations for places to stay in Niue. We would prefer of course to stay as close as possible to the Dive operator.

We were told there is a backpackers place in Alofi - but you would need to hire a car to get to and from the dive shop each day (approx. 10 minutes drive).

The dive operator is located alongside the Matavai resort. Have you been there?

There is also Nic's motel and Lanu Tahi guesthouse. Any suggestions?

[Heg]

We are staying at Nic'd this year as it is right opposite the dive shop. You'll need a car no matter where you stay, in my opinion. There is no public transport and it makes it easier to get around the island to snorkel and to do some of the walks.
If you stay at Nic's , they''ll organise a car for you a tiny bit cheaper than if you hire yourself. Stone Cottages in Alofi is also a great place to say, but you'll have to drive to the dive shop every day (about 15 mins max ). You will however be able to walk to the shops from here.

The Matavai is ok . IT is the only hotel on the island. It has a pool and a restaurant open for lunch and dinner (and breakfast if you stay there). Quite pricey and no option to self cater (if that is your thing). Great deck out side the restaurant -ideal for whale watching.

[sipadiver]

My friend and I are trying to choose between the three places- Matavai, Nic's Bungalow, and Lanutahi.

Of the three. Lanutahi is the cheapest and also has two days free car hire. It seems to also have a kitchen where you can cook your own food. Have you heard anything good or bad about the latter? What made you choose Nic's over the other two may I ask?

[Heg]

Last time we were there was late April and it was quite humid. We chose Nic's because it had air con, we could self cater and it was so close to the dive shop. Lanutahi is another good choice if you wish to self cater and is also close to the dive shop. If you want a pool and great sea-views from the deck of the restaurant, then the Matavai is the place to stay, but there are no cooking facilities.
It is such a shame the Niue website is not working (Welcome to Niue (http://www.niueisland.com)) as you would find all the information you needed on it. I have emailed our friends in Niue to let them know and they were going to let the appropriate people know. You can make bookings and organise car hire via the website. It also has details of all of the accommodation with photos and prices. Hopefully it will be back up again soon.

[pychong1]

Helloo.
Am looking around for adviice on Tonga and Niue. Have managed to snorkel and dive with whales but can't get enough of them. What;s the chances of a swim with whales in Nieu? and Tonga?
Thanks for any advice
Angela

[sipadiver]

Hi Heg, The Niueland website was down for Sat/Sunday. But its OK now.

[Heg]

Hi Angela
Highly likely in both places from July to October. Niue much less comercial than Tonga. Only one dive shop so less boats and less people. lDiving not allowed with the whales, but snorkeling is.

[Heg]

Try here for all the info you need on Niue Welcome to Niue (http://www.niueisland.com/)

[pychong1]

Hi Angela
Highly likely in both places from July to October. Niue much less comercial than Tonga. Only one dive shop so less boats and less people. lDiving not allowed with the whales, but snorkeling is.

Helloo!
Thanks so much.
Will Target for 2012!
Do let us know how your August trip goes.

Angela:snorkel2:

[sipadiver]

Helloo.
Am looking around for adviice on Tonga and Niue. Have managed to snorkel and dive with whales but can't get enough of them. What;s the chances of a swim with whales in Nieu? and Tonga?
Thanks for any advice
Angela

Niue Dive, the sole Dive Operator on Niue, charges NZ$110 for each whale trip where you can snorkel with the whales. A maximum of 5 trips can only be booked at one time. If you are planning to go, you must book early because space is limited. Best time on go in July - Sept.

Air NZ flies weekly trips to Niue.

[pychong1]

Will do. Pls remember to update us on your trip!

[sipadiver]

Will do. Pls remember to update us on your trip!

It began with a map, a postage stamp and a strange story.

Several years ago, I became fascinated with maps. I used to walk into Travel shops to gaze on their wall to ceiling maps. What attracted me especially were the small remote islands scattered predominantly in the South Pacific. I also started collecting stamps a few years ago and found that these Pacific Islands also produced some of the most beautiful stamps in the 1930s, 1950s. And unlike the British Stamps which usually had the monotonous image of the reigning monarch - these stamps came from beautifully drawn paintings depicting life on the islands.
With names like Bora Bora, Tahiti, Glibert Ellice islands, Phoenix Island, Truk, Caroline, etc.. my mind would wonder over these tiny specks of sand and coral. And I was enchanted.

What would I see there? Would I find magnificent sea creatures? Perhaps an undiscovered and abandoned hidden World War Two naval base? Or uncover some other beautiful object not seen by human eyes? (I'd also settle for a gorgeous Pacific Island mermaid...)

I also noticed that the International dateline cut across the Pacific Ocean like a school child's pencil mark. On one side is one day, on the other marks the last day. And there was this island called Niue (spelt Nu-Ay) which was sitting right on the other side. And thus: To get there, you fly from Auckland on Saturday morning - cross the ID line - and land a few hours later on FRIDAY lunchtime. Wow! I've just gone back in time!!!!

Wow, the thought amused me so much that I had to tell as many people as I could about it - boring many of them to distraction no doubt. But the idea tickled my Singaporean diving friend so much that he caught the fever too. And he then read up on it and found that it had 80m water visibility and humpback whales frequented the bay from July to September. There was also schools of dolphin to be found and incredible limestone caves above and below the sea.

Whales! We get to swim with HUMPBACK WHALES!!!!

Damn we had to go.

I found that its relatively "cheaper" to get there from Melbourne. Fly Air New Zealand to Auckland - then to catch (the one and only) flight on Saturday morning to the place. By-force you have to stay there for one week until the next plane arrives next Friday... so that you can fly back to Auckland on Saturday. Got it???

Niue is a rather sedentary place. Most shops close by 5pm. And on Sunday everyone goes to church or stays at home - even the Radio Station shuts shop. Scuba diving and most active sports are forbidden on Sabbath.

One thing you do notice is the number of wild chickens running all over the island. Other nations have pigeons- Niue has chickens. I just couldn't understand it. Why weren't they caught and housed? But the people there seem to prefer to import their eggs and chicken from New Zealand, strangely enough.

The other thing that caught my eye was the number of abandoned buildings and homes - there must be been hundreds of these derelict structures, some quite substantial buildings made out of brick, carved limestone, others made of corrugated iron or wood - all of them all slowly rotting away in the warm climate, being eaten by the jungle. You would have thought that the land and house would have been auctioned off to be made into something more productive than am ugly testimony to the number of Niueans leaving the country by plane, boat or death.

And the other thing you will notice are the number of graves scattered around the island. Niue does not have a public cemetry, instead the people are buried on their property - which is actually a quaint idea. But it does bear for an unsettling look to the place.

The Niue people are strong protectionist - it has a high import tax - but this does not stop them from accepting a great deal of foreign aid from New Zealand though. Foreigners are also not allowed to purchase property on the island - and even the long abandoned buildings are protected in the hopes that their residents (whether dead or alive) will return to claim their ancestral homes. Many islanders have left- seeking employment overseas.

Niue is a coral island - its foundation are ancient coral reefs now dead. Only a small layer is top soil - which accounts for the exceptional water visibility (no soil erosion runoff) The weather has carved out a series of spectacular limestone formations on its coastline. They look gothic looking. There are arches, lookouts, cave with cathedral ceilings, rock pools. Some of the caves are so huge you could fit a WW2 Japanese submarine inside or a scout biplane complete with crane and docking facilities. That would have been awesome to see.

The small nation is still recovering from a cyclone which not only leveled parts of the island but also destroyed its coral reefs. Its making a comeback - and you'll see plenty of table top corals, mostly hard corals... and the sort of marine fish life you see at Dayang, Maldives, Manado, but not in great numbers. You probably can see more fish further out in the blue - the fishermen hunt for Wahoo and the other bigger fish in the deeper waters. But we didn't dive there.

The divemaster pointed out nudibranches and moray eels for me to see - but frankly, its the sort of stuff that is very common in the Malayan Archipelago, and I gave them only cursory glances. The corals are mainly hard corals. I saw practically no soft corals at all. Fish life wasn't as abundant as in Raja Ampat or Komodo or Sipadan. I briefly glimpsed a shark, a turtle. There were plenty of sea snakes however. In fact, at Snake Gully they came down like rain.

Due to a storm, we did not witness the breathtaking 80 metres visibility underwater. I'd say its more like 30m on our diving days. One dive group saw a Manta Ray sailing by gobbling up plankton.

Nonetheless the diving experience was still very good. Jumping into that clear sea water and swimming around is still an amazing experience. In the water I cannot sin. I am at one with the ocean. And I am at peace with God. I tumble down into the ocean depths, baptized yet again by the Neptune's hand. My troubles, my fears are forgotten, beneath the blue azure sea.

On land, there was a subterranean underwater passage that took you to underwater cave maze where you could snorkel through - but the guide was on holiday and so we did not go. We did climb down one of the labyrinthine staircase which led to a natural vault with a freshwater stream. It was really amazing to see.

But honestly what I really came for was to dive with whales, big freaking humpback whales. And there were none to see. Unfortunately the whale season ended earlier than expected. There were plenty in late August but the numbers dropped off considerably by September. One dive group did see a mother and calf on Monday but we weren't with that group unfortunately. I felt like a child who goes to Florida but didn't get to see Disneyland; I was that keyed up, my bad.

We went in the last week of September - but by then the whale sightings had been so subdued that the Dive Operator had cancelled all the whale "hunting" expeditions. If I went back I'd go smack in the middle of the season in August to get a better chance of more whale encounters.

I did manage to swim with the dolphins on three separate trips. On route to the dives the boat might chance upon the dolphins and the divers would get into the water and hang onto the zodiac speedboat while it followed the dolphins. The ones I met were a school or rather a nursery of dolphins, roughly 10 adults and their calves, protected by 2 adult dolphins acted as a decoy group. They were shy though and would swim away from the boat upon being sighted. I wish we had something to feed them to make them stay. It wasn't easy holding onto the speedboat rail rope as it moved with speed.

Accommodation was fairly cheap - roughly NZ$100 a day to rent an entire self-contained bungalow at Lanutahi. It had cable TV, a living room, a kitchen, fridge, cooking utensils, hot water and a personal organic alarm clock, ie. the wild rooster(s) that start croaking at 6am. They woke me up a few times and I went out to greet them with a couple of coral rocks.

Anyway its good to wake up early. The diving started at 7.45am (due to the lack of whales). There were only two dives a day. No night dives. The water temperature was about 26C. I'd recommend a 7mm wetsuit if you have one. I had a 3mm/5mm wetsuit and that was OK.

There is only one dive shop on the island - run by Annie and Ian Gray who are the most nicest of people. Google "Niue Dive". The divers are split up to two or three zodiac dive boats and often go to separate locations. If one of the boat sights a whale or a school of dolphins, the DM radios the information to the other boats. Radio transmission was patchy which made it difficult for the dive boats to communicate.

There are a few grocery shops on the island - and they sell quite a few things, including frozen pork ribs, beef mince, very very delicious NZ apples (which I'm still thinking about), Kikkoman soya sauce, (sadly, no wasbi) etc.. If you want a coconut drink, just pluck one from the nearest tree and borrow a parang to hack the top off and drink the water. You won't find anyone selling it cut though. Paw Paw also grows wild on the island - eat it with fresh lime and you'll think you're in paradise.

If you do intend to bring some food into Niue - just make sure that it is packaged together with your check-in luggage. Air NZ the only carrier into the country only allows ONE check-in luggage. You have to pay $75+ for every additional check in baggage item, even if it comes within your permitted 23kg amount.

If I'm going back there again - I would buy my groceries from New Zealand - stuff like fresh mushrooms, dried herbs, earl gray tea bags, spices, fresh lime, pasta, jelly beans, shortbread biscuits, ... mainly small small stuff easy to carry, not fragile. You cannot bring fresh fruit into New Zealand - to do so would risk a hefty fine. But don't worry, Niue has plenty of coconut trees and paw paw (papaya) growing wild and free for you to collect.

Israel Mart - which is 5 mins drive away from Niue Dive and LanuTahi- stocks the best ice-cream (Movenpick) in the world - it was creamy, fresh (no doughy or icey texture) and for $2 a scoop- I thought it was one of the best treats on the island. I had at least 4 everyday. the passionfruit, and citrus varieties were awesome. I swear it was one of the best ice-creams I have ever had before in my life.

They also stock fresh fish caught on the day - including Wahoo and Mahi-Mahi (Coryphaena hippurus). Pretty good, but you had to descale it. I took the expeditious route by (descaling most of the scales then) slicing off the skin - and frying the skin to a crisp.

Great ice-cream and fresh ocean fish... yum!!!!

Photos of the dive trip can be viewed here
The Gentle Knight - Niue - The South Pacific: The Dolphin Chase (http://ymchiam.multiply.com/photos/album/134)