Exploring Niue with World ARC Pacific
by World Cruising Club 12 Jul 2023 18:29 AEST
World ARC Pacific © World Cruising Club
The World ARC Pacific fleet reunited in Bora Bora at the end of June after 6 weeks free cruising exploring the islands of French Polynesia. Moored in the bay in front of the Bora Bora yacht club they joined their fellow boats in the fleet to catch up and swap stories of their time cruising the islands over dinner at the Yacht Club. Following a skippers briefing the two groups started for the island of Niue around 1200 nm from Bora Bora on what was a week's passage for most boats.
Niue is a small island in the pacific ocean home to the self-proclaimed smallest and largest yacht club in the world, headed up by Keith, originally from New Zealand who has made Niue his home for the past 2 decades. As described by commodore Keith, it is the only yacht club he knows of that has no boats, nobody who knows how to sail and is run by two octogenarians! Despite being such a small operation they work hard to give a very warm welcome to visiting yachts and show them the island with Keith and his wife running tours for the participants to beauty spots around the island.
The first group arrived from Monday and made the most of the programme with the first function on Tuesday evening. Welcome Drinks were held at the Manuiz bar at sunset, a stunning location on top of the cliff with a view over the mooring field. Hosted by Niue Yacht Club participants took the chance to catch up after their recent passage from French Polynesia and watch the sunset over the bay.
The following day most of the fleet joined the tour which included a hike to Togo Chasm, followed by a climb down around 150 steps into Anapala Chasm, with its freshwater pool which used to be one of the water supplies for the island. The last stop on the tour was to Matapa Chasm the other side of the island where crews cooled off with a snorkel in the sea.
On Wednesday evening a dinner was held at the Matavai Resort on the south of the island. Crews enjoyed another spectacular sunset looking out over the coastline with a buffet meal and traditional entertainment from a local dance group.
After clearing out, the majority of Group 1 left for Tonga on Friday, roughly a 2 day sail from Niue and group 2 arrived in the bay ready to explore the island.