Whales and Fish in Niue

with feet in the water

More images from Niue

Sunday we went to Church, there are many to chose from and it is a real experience even if you are not a Christian: everybody is welcomed and the singing is lovely. We choose the Church in the village of Avatele, and for the rest of the day people in the village commentend about it "So, you went to Church this morning!" even people who didn't come to Church commented, they all heard about it, I guess that we were very 'noticeable'. From Avatele we drove around the interior, and then visited the only resort in the Niue: the Matavai (very tranquil and low key, in tune with the rest of the Island), and we also went to the largest 'beach' that there is (mostly rocks and chasms here), which is actually small and with no sand, but fine coral pebbles, and clear water.

Church: wear a hat. Street sign, not so steep really! The swimming pool at the Matavai Resort, the only one!

In front of the beach there is the Washaway café, a real Sunday institution because it is only open ... on Sunday! It is run by Willie, who also run the Crazy Uga café in Alofi (open the other 6 days), and the car rental service. Willie lived in Auckland for many years, but now is back catering for the few tourists who make it here. He actually says that statistics on population are wrong, there are only about 1000 people on the island. The Air NZ plane can take just over 170 visitors per week (our plane possibly had 150, half of them visiting family or returning home, the other half tourists), plus we can count a few more who arrive by yacht, so at any time there may be about only 1200 people on the Island.

Willie and the Washaway café

One of the most spectacular place we visited today was the Tavala Arches, a bit of a bush and rock walk to get there, but then we were rewarded by a beautiful scenery, and the sighting of whales (the first time for me, and I saw my very first whale through this Arch!). And then the coral and fish! I don't have the right camera, so I took these photos with my iPhone (with my feet in the water), but I think that these can give you an idea of the place: the snorkeling was amazing and we were the only ones there for hours, until another family arrived.

Tavala Arches

Added this post to Jim's Magnificent Monday :-)

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©