Learning the geography of
the Pacific is a new discovery everyday. Islands just grow on our
charts like mushrooms in the woods. We left Mopelia on a non-wind
condition and motored for two days in direction of Palmerston. The
most southern island of the Cook archipelago, where apparently a man
saw his dream place and brought there 3 wives and had dozens of kids.
For the ones who sail west, it's a nice stop over, that can be chosen
also after Suvarov, another island a few miles north. Also that one
has a nice story of a man that decided to live there alone and wrote
a book that inspired lots of sailors to arrive there.
It was only after 24h
navigation that we realized we couldn't make it. The wind started to
blow over 30kts and even if LJ was proceeding between 12 and 14, the
feeling was to be into a washing machine. The girls on board were
doing well though the noise of the sea, the drop of temperature and
the waves that were making navigation quite tricky. We tried to push
hard the boat but approaching the island at night was not on our plan
so, we rapidly set up a new route and calculated that with this kind
of weather maybe we could push LJ over his record of miles made in
24h. So we headed directly to Niue with full sails in bad weather.
LJ was pushed really hard and we were staying all the time close to
the pilot to correct in case of stronger wind. At the end we made it
on time. 255Nm in 24h, the record of the boat. Welcome to LJ at Niue,
one of the smallest countries of the world and at the same time the
biggest coral block in the world. Even if it's independent, Niue has
very close bounds with New Zealand: for example their currency is the
NZ dollar. All the crew was extremely happy to be on a buoy after
being bumped by the agitated sea and the consequent big stress. The
first inhabitant of the island to welcomes us was a big sea snake,
than the dolphins and apparently we also had few whales close our
boat by the sunset. Although we didn't even realize it because we
were already asleep.
After a mighty night of
sweet dreams we filled our empty and needing stomachs with a rich
breakfast: Alice and Mme Nicole were so hungry that they decided it
was omelet time!! We all definitely needed a good meal after a 5 days
and 5 nights of bumpy navigation. With our belly full of good stuff
and the smile on our faces we went to discover this totally unknown
island and what we found is another little corner of paradise. People
smiling and slowing down to say hello even from their cars (that they
drive on the right, God save the Queen!), green and variegate
vegetation, one fantastic supermarket with local and western products
(TWININGS!!), gorgeous natural caves and pools and even a fancy
Indian restaurant!
Meeting people from the
Pacific Islands makes you really feel like something in western
countries went really wrong. We eventually find ourselves once again
amazed and astonished at the same time, because here people are not
scared of you and you can feel safe as never before. But there is
more than a safety issue here: people have different needs than in
Europe, or we can better say that they have needs that can be
satisfied completely and that's it. I feel like we are trapped in a
vicious circuit after which we have always more needs that create
further needs. So we never reach a total satisfaction. Here life has
different rhythms and, above all, totally different priorities. We
are honored to learn and happy to share what we discover.
It's only after the
sunset of our second day in Niue that we have finally the chance to
meet the “sacred” treasure of this place: the humpback whales of
Niue. Every year they come from the cold Antarctica and go to the
warmer waters of Mexico, French Polynesia, Cook Islands,Tonga to
breed and raise their calf. Here in Niue these mysterious mammals are
not only respected, but also jealously protected. They came really
close to the boats in the wharf, we could hear their blows when they
came up to breathe. In the middle of the night I woke Alice up and
together we were pleased to hear them singing! This was a very good
signal for us, because when we woke up in the morning here they
are!!! Two blows on the horizon but not far from the boat and two big
tails diving in the water. With no hesitation, all the 4 of us jumped
on the dinghy and went to meet these gorgeous creatures. We still
didn't know that what we were doing was totally unlawful and the
risk was a 5000 dollars fine or 18 months of imprisonment!! It seems
crazy, but it's the LAW!!! In Niue you are not allowed to do whale
watching activities without a licensed operator. So we took advantage
of our ignorance and, following our exploding enthusiasm, Alice and I
took the kayak and paddled towards the whales after lunch. All day
long they stayed in the bay right in front of the boats and jumped,
played, breached, made so many things to show off that even Hugo, the
Niue diver instructor, was astonished and didn't believe his own
eyes! We lived the most exciting day of Niue whale season! So far so
good! Our enthusiasm cannot find limits. Mme decides to make me an
early birthday present and gives me a whale swimming day trip, but
it's a very risky and hazardous one. The Niue Dive Center asks 150
for an interaction with humpbacks, but if they don't show up or if
there's a mother with a calf you cannot jump in the water and swim
with them and the center doesn't refund a cent of what you pay. So,
of course, we take the risk and on a chilly, cloudy morning we leave
the bay with Hugo and his beautiful girlfriend Maria and go to sniff
some whales. After one our with no signs of them, even our enthusiasm
dropped a little bit., but at least we got to know very nice and
interesting people. Right when we were starting making a hot
chocolate to warm our bodies, here they are! Very close to our boat,
2 blows indicated their position. We got a bit closer (not too much,
it's the law) and only when the instructors were in the water we
could gently slip inside as well. The adrenaline was powerful and I
swam faster than the instructors. Suddenly something happened: the
young male we were all staring at in front of us turned around and,
like a curious dog, came straight to us as if he really wanted to see
what these creatures were. Everybody pulled back, even the
instructors were disoriented and told us to go back to the boat. But
our little new friend was just curious and was already taking his
path far from us. Everybody was so excited! The second time we can
jump in the water we meet two big adult females and it's so wonderful
to see them play around, flip upside down and dive together that it
seemed still a dream. After few good shot with the whales, we still
have time to snorkel on a well protected reef and spot even some sea
snake, a group of barracuda and a very curious turtle.
So I really have to thank
Mme Nicole for the perfect birthday present that I'll surely never
forget. Before to get back on board, I felt my beautiful girlfriend
staring at me with the chicken killer look, so took her to eat a lamb
curry with a coke to celebrate the day!!!
What else could we ask to
this place?
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