Tiffany and Greg Around the World
Vava’u Tonga,
Like Niue, Tonga is favored by the humpback whales as a combination bordello/nursery for the production and raising of young until they get enough blubber to survive the cold of Antarctica. Unlike Niue, Tonga is one of about 3 places in the world where you can actually get in the water and swim with whales. Yes, swim. With whales. How close you ask? Well check out this video of a baby whale breeching 30 yards away from the swimmers!
Vava’u Tonga,
Not only is Vava’u a cruiser’s paradise, the islands and barrier reef of this group make for some fantastic diving. One does feed into the other. In order to get to the dives sites you have to be able to traverse the water between the islands, which means hiring a dive boat or bringing your own. This keeps a limitation on how many people actually get to the sites which in turn keeps the dive areas in pristine condition.
Underwater Tonga was unique in that among all the islands we’ve seen, in Tonga the coral really steals the show. With colors including lime green, purple, red and every hue in between not to mention varying in size from the size of a hand to well larger than a human, the coral in Vava’u was a sight to behold. Most of it was close enough to the surface and received enough sunlight to really bring out the beauty lying just below the surface. The crystal clear water everywhere you went didn’t hurt either.
Vava’u, Tonga
Tonga is made of several island chains and we’re in Vava’u, the Northernmost group.
With over 30 anchorages all within a day’s sail of each other in addition to being partially enclosed by protective reef islands and some of the most gorgeous natural landscapes we’ve seen so far, it is no wonder Vava’u is a cruisers paradise.
Alofi, Niue
…cont from previous post
The absolute best place we went to was Togo Chasm. On the opposite side of the island from Alofi, the chasm is reached by hiking through a forest. Which as we mentioned before is not a normal sight on an island made of coral.
In fact, no one is really sure how these trees arrived. Unlike Rarotonga which had a thriving forest, Niue no longer has volcanic soil. It’s just coral with a thin layer of sand and organic debris. Not much for a tree to thrive in, but somehow these do. The trees are related to mahogany, but we never did figure it out (hey, we’re sailors not botanists!).
Alofi, Niue
We took a driving tour around Niue with a few of our cruising friends in order to better see all that Niue had to offer us. The car let us reach a few really amazing places: Limu Pools, the Talava Arch, the King’s Bathing Chamber and Togo Chasm.
The most striking thing about the flora of Niue is the massive amount of diversity contained in such a tiny island. It took us less than a full day to drive all the way around the island while making several stops and during this time we saw tropical rainforests, mahogany forests, went spelunking and climbed over ancient coral mountains to find soft sandy beaches at the bottom of a 30 foot gorge. Niue does a lot of nature and it does it all ridiculously well.
Alofi, Niue
Let’s start our exploration of what is arguably the most beautiful island in the South Pacific with the diving. Hey, you know what? Let’s start with just the freaking snorkeling, because it was that good! The water here is crystal clear and no, not what you’re imagining – it’s better. By more than a little. You have not seen water this clear in your lifetime. Ever. Seriously.
One of the advantages to having almost no one on the island a tiny tourist industry is that there is almost no pollution. Not having a coral reef encircling the island means that what little runoff there is gets immediately swept out to sea. Continue reading “Then we swam under the island!”
Alofi, Niue
Notice anything different about the description of where we are? Normally we give you the city, the island and the country. In Niue though, the island IS the country. With a total number of 1 island and a total population of approximately 1300 citizens in country at any one time, this island-nation is a very different experience from the other countries we have visited so far. There are more Niueans in the main New Zealand city of Auckland than there are in Niue. It’s actually kind of funny because the Miss Niue beauty pageant is actually held in Auckland and broadcast live over the internet & TV back to the home country.
This isn’t too surprising being as all Niueans are dual citizens of New Zealand, there are only so many jobs a nation of 1300 people can support, and finally, Niue, along with The Cook Islands and quite a few other island chains out here are all protectorates of New Zealand. This basically means that, though the Kiwis play it down a lot, the tiny little country of New Zealand is a major regional power player in the South Pacific. It’s basically France, the USA and NZ that own something like 80% of the islands out here. Which is really impressive that: Continue reading “National Population – 1300”
Avarua, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Before we get too far away from the whole Cook island currency thing we should add an important afterthought. Not only is the money in this country VERY gender specific, it’s also incredibly friendly (no not like that). How friendly? Here’s an idea.
Here my friends is why it’s a good idea to travel during a global recession: everything is cheaper! So not only are things reasonably priced here in actual dollars, Continue reading “Area of Totality”
Avarua, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
The Needle track is an all day hike through the heart of Rarotonga and over one of its largest peaks. Now as many of you have already learned with us, Polynesian islands are formed by volcanoes and island volcanoes do not generate gently rolling hills. How steep is it? Well it’s a 7 km hike (so say 3.5 miles) and they recommend at least four hours. So your travel speed is estimated at under a mile an hour. Oh and yeah, tropics remember so it’s a tad warm to boot.
Having gained experience with this type of hiking in the Marquesas a while back, we were fairly confident that we had a good amount of experience with this kind of trekking and we were right…
…Except for the chickens. Which if you haven’t caught onto yet, really seem to be a running theme on this island. Continue reading “No Wonder They’re So Fit!”
Avarua, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
That’s the flag, So where are we now?
Yep, still in the middle of the blue stuff. Oh but hey, now we’re in the left-middle.
The Cook Islands are a lot different than what we’ve come to expect from the South Pacific.
First off, everyone speaks English! That’s right, the Cook Islands are a protectorate of New Zealand, a member of the British Commonwealth, so therefore they are English-speakers! Which means Greg’s months of struggling to order burgers with fries on the side instead of in the bun are finally over.
But like their neighbors over in Tahiti, there are just some parts of Polynesian culture that simply persist despite all foreign influence. Why these parts revolve around sex remains a mystery to us, but these Cook Islanders ain’t letting go of their freedom of expression anytime soon!
Ok so the dude on their dollar? That’s Tangaroa, their EXTREMELY well endowed god of fertility and fishing. No, seriously, if you want to get fish or get laid apparently this is the guy to see. And it’s no real big secret why; brother-man always has his fishing rod!
He is not only a god in their pantheon, he was also selected, in all his well-endowed glory as it were, to be the international representative of the Cook Island tourism department! As a result, he is on everything: the money, the maps, the government buildings. Everything! If it has to do with tourism baby, the naked tripod guy is prominently featured. If this doesn’t finally prove that Polynesian culture’s perception on sexuality are superior to our own, then you’re just not paying attention!
Oh and just in case you were worried about sexism in their exploitation / utilization of nudity in the monetary documents; put your mind at ease. The naked chick riding a shark is on their 3 dollar bill:
Like this article? Check out our series on “Sex and Jesus” for more on the Polynesian perception on acceptable sexuality in normal society.
