Niue is a Pacific Island paradise like no other, one of the smallest countries in the world, and one of the largest coral atolls on earth. Niue is a small, oval island in the South Pacific Ocean, to the east of Tonga. It has an area of 260 square kilometres, a road around the coastline of 64 km and a high point of 68 km.
For divers, Niue is renowned for it’s great visibility and in the season – Humpback Whales!
We were spoilt diving in Niue with water temperatures of 27 degrees and visibility so good it was hard to measure – just slightly better than the conditions we left behind in Wellington.
As a rock island many of the dives involved swimming through canyons and into caves and in one infamous site, The Chimney, you drop in on top of the reef at 5m and descend down before exiting the reef at 26m. Love them or hate them Niue is famous for sea snakes, both the Banded Sea Krait and the native Katuali, fascinating animals which we were lucky enough to see on every dive.
There are some great areas of hard corals in Niue but these are often impacted by cyclones. Soft corals and anemones are not as common here as other Pacific Islands but the variety of marine life kept us entertained. The staff at Niue Blue were great and looked after us, showing us some of their favourite local species including Clownfish, Ribbon Eels, Turtles and for the boys – a White Tip Reef Shark!
Niue is a great destination for non-divers as well and we were busy in the afternoons exploring Niue. It may be small but there are many caves, chasms and sea tracks to explore. These are well sign posted and well worth a look and provide a great opportunity to go snorkeling.
The highlight on everyone’s trip report were the whales! We would watch whales while having breakfast, from the dive boats and from shore as we were exploring the island and never got bored of the sight. Our day whale watching is one we will never forget. Both groups headed off in opposite directions but each saw a number of whales. Although the first few attempts at swimming with whales didn’t pan out we finally found them just hanging out below us before swimming up for their next breath – amazing!
Overall our Dive Club Wellington trip was a success. We all had fun, ticked off all our boxes – diving, snorkeling, exploring and swimming with the whales and we would definitely recommend
Niue for your next tropical diving destination.