Diving Niue - Return to the Rock

It's 5am on a cool Auckland Saturday. My dive kit is packed and I weigh my bag a final time to make sure I don’t exceed the 23kg baggage limit allowed by the airline. 22.6Kg. All systems are go!

I laugh remembering that nearly the whole island comes to the airport to greet arriving guests with a smile and “Fakaálofa Lahi Atu” (hello and welcome). Departing guests are farewelled with “Kia Monuina” (blessings/farewell/good luck). I CAN’T WAIT TO GET THERE. In three and a half hours I will be!

When I told people my destination the first time I came to Niue I would often get “Where’s New-way?” or “Norway will be cold this time of year.” But lately the island has received a lot of press, and a rise in tourism numbers. The leader of the country was recently knighted and now there are two flights a week from Auckland all year round.

Niue is the world’s largest uplifted coral atoll and the world’s least populated nation. There are no rivers or waterways so the ocean water has no land runoff, creating the world’s clearest ocean water. I kid you not, it can reach up to 80m+ and never drops below 30m.

After clearing customs to the sound of Niuean music, we are greeted by the local welcome. We head to our accommodation at the Matavai Resort, drop our bags, and go next door to Buccaneer Adventures Niue Dive to check in. Since it is the winter season, we’ll perhaps see and swim with a humpback whale.

Buccaneer Adventures Niue Dive has 15 regular dive sites, and two weather-dependent special sites. I’m lucky. The weather is perfect on our first day out around the south coast to Gothic City. Here ancient coral growths form medieval looking structures resembling Europe’s gothic architecture. My guide, dive shop owner Krystal, tells me some of the coral colonies are over 5000 years old.

We descend in a bit of swell which causes rainbows of fish to swim in a choreographed dance of colour, twirling one way with the shift in water, then pirouetting and returning in another. We swim to the drop off to be greeted by a school of batfish, and a lone wahoo. Amazing.

Returning to the surface we find the weather has picked up a little, so we return to the protection of Tepa Point in Avatele Bay then head to Snake Gully for a second dive.

Niue’s coastline from the water looks quite hostile, with sheer cliffs and jagged limestone pinnacles carved out by wind and ocean spray. No easy feat for the first seafarers to settle here, and probably the reason Captain James Cook was fought back and denied landing three times before naming Niue the ‘Savage Island’ then sailing away.

Snake Gully lives up to its name. The Niuean sea krait, or katuali, is venomous but extremely friendly. Their curiosity outweighs fear as they swim directly to my mask and make eye contact before continuing on to the surface for air. These are not true sea snakes; they come to land to lay their eggs, usually in one of the many caves. Katuali are an endangered species, though the number we saw would make you think otherwise, and native to Niuean waters.

Diving day two takes us to Alofi Bay where the coral coverage is not as extensive as in the southern bays due to Cyclone Heta a decade ago. Scars from this storm still show in many abandoned houses as it nearly decimated the western and northern communities. Waves sweeping over 30m-high cliffs destroyed the hospital and heritage museum, both of which have been rebuilt further inland.

Whilst the coral may not be as colourful it is regenerating well, but there’s another reason for diving here – CAVES! With Niue made of limestone it’s the proverbial block of Swiss cheese. Caves are everywhere.

Today we head to ‘the Dome’ and ‘the Bubble’ caves. Both penetrate under the island, with air chambers you can surface into!

Inside the Dome we find a sleeping whitetip reef shark, strange looking nudibranch slugs, and adolescent coconut crabs known locally as uga. Here there’s a myriad of macro life waiting to be found and with the clear water, underwater photography is a dream. Bubble Cave, a little smaller, is where I get to be re-acquainted with my slithery katuali friends.

Day three take us out to the humpback whales. After a boat ride of ten minutes we already find a pod, only metres from the shoreline. The guide gets us in the water, and we swim closer. I wait in silence with a small group of eager snorkellers in the deep ocean. The only sound is from waves lapping on the hull of the boat. Everyone on board holds their breath.

Rising from the iridescent blue glow comes a large, black shadow… heading straight for our group. The whale effortlessly glides to us, slowly coming into focus and we see not one, but two of the giants approaching.

The calf is curious and wants to play. It dances around us, twisting and turning, an aquatic acrobat delighted to have an audience to show off to.

Humpback whales migrate to Niue between July and October each year. Trips to see them run from July to September. In-water groups are limited to six persons to allow for an individual experience and have minimum impact on the whales.

Returning to Niue for me was even more amazing than my first time. With still so much to explore both under and on the island I know it won’t be long before another visit is called for. Faka’aue Lahi Niue, until we meet again.