Niue Sept 2011

YOLO from shore on Niue.

Windswept tree on Niue

Washaway Cafe, Niue's only self-serve bar, open only on Sunday afternoons

Inside the Washaway Cafe. Very ecletic.

The vege lady at Niue Yacht Club. Dontcha love the gumboots and polka-dotted pants?

Uluvehi Chasm
Uluvehi Caves

Uluevehi Canoe Cave. Thsi is 100+ feet above the ocean and the outrigger canooes are here.

Uluvehi Cave pool

Togo Chasm. This is one of the most unusual places we saw. An oasis in a chasm.

Togo Chasm oasis

Jason climbing the ladder in/out of Togo Chasm
Adrian and Jackie from Oceans Dream in Togo Chasm

Talava Arches waters

Talava Arches sea channel
sea channel fishes

Talava Arches pools. The water is ssoooo clear.

Talava Arches cavern; rose and green formations.

Talava Arches cave

B IG spider


Flip flop post a Niue Sculpture park

I Niue sunset

Infamous red bananas that folks used to eat. They are rare now.

Pretty flowers on a walk.

Palaha Cave Pool; So clear and still you can see the little fish in it.

Palaha Cave Pool

Another gin-clear Palaha Cave pool

Palaha Cave pool

Palaha Cave pool

Palaha Cave formation

Palaha Cave formation

Our haul of fruit we grabbed off of trees along the path.

Niue Sculpture Park sculpture. Lots of junk hooked together.

sculpture spare parts pile

Niue sculpture. This is just part of one of the legs.

Another sculpture leg

A carved grave marker along the road

Coconut porridge in a coconut half shell at the market in Alofil

Our 47" mahi mahi.

Matapa Chasm formations

Matapa Chasm formations.

Limu Pool arches.

Ladder to Togo Chasm.

Lacy leaf patterns. Some bug has eaten all but the veins.

Karst formation along the coast.

Karen and Jason at Limu Pools.

Karen in Uluvehi Caves.

Karen with breadfruit leaf. They are huge.

Jason in Uluvehi Cave.

Karen at top of ladder to Togo Chasm. Note the oasis in the background. This is tucked in behind all that wicked looking karst stuff.

Karen at wharf holding one of the dinghy lift ropes. This can be used to pull the crane arm out or back or to get onto or off of the wharf steps to a dinghy.

Jason in Uluvehi cave.

Jason at Limu Pools.

Jason at ladder to Togo Chasm.

Jason with our 47" mahi mahi.

Jason and Karen in Togo Chasm at the oasis there.

A happy dog asleep in the doorway of the Niue Yacht Club. Really, she's asleep even with her eyes open--it's just gravity pulling the lids down.

Kids enjoying the dinghy lift ropes to swing off the wharf.

Loading the dinghy

Lifting the dinghy out

Notice the cracked headstone in the back.

An old stone house.

Colorful old man on Niue

Coconut crab in a cage at Hinoa's laundry. She enters them in contests for the biggest ones.

Butterfly tree. It reminds me of a giant milkweed plant.

Butterflies in tree.

Steps out of Anapala Chasm.

Anapala Chasm. That's Adrian and Jason.

Anthuriums at the laundry lady's house.

Coconut porridge--nane--at the market. Tasty glop, it is!

Jackie and Jason at the pool in Anapala Chasm.

The Alofi wharf.

The shore from the wharf at Alofi, Niue

The market in Alofi.

The wharf with dinghy lift in Alofi.

Minerva Reef Dec 2011

South shore of Minerva Reef. If you blow it up and look at that dark patch, that is the coral bommie I was swimming towards when the shark chased me out of the water!

Dinghies behind YOLO for the party. The blue is so clear.

View from the top of the mast looking down at YOLO and the dinghy, OTIS.

Looking back at YOLO from the reef at Minerva Reef.

N Minerva Reef waters.

South end of Minerva Reef

Covering the holes along the tramps so the candy from the pinata doesn't fall through.

The party group at Minerva Reef.

Tamsyn on her 9th birthday. Her sarong and the pandanus fan were someof her gifts. We had her party on YOLO as it was the only place big enough to hold all the folks.

Tamsyn and her cakes on her 9th birthday on YOLO at Minerva Reef.

Group Jello slurp through straws. The noises were something remeniscent of a pig slop in progress. Kids thought it was great!

Is this all for me? He liked the chocolate cakes.

Mom, Carrie taking her swings at the pinata she made.

Even the adult guests got to whack at the pinata.

Griffin taking a swack at the pinata.

Tamsyn trying to whack the pinata on YOLO.

Group jello slurp through straws.

Tamsyn, Karen and Griffin at the birthday party, complete with paper crown made by Tamsyn.

Kelefesia Tonga

Pangaimotu, off of Nuku'alofa on Tongatapu, Tonga. We took the dinghy into the capital across the bay but stayed anchored here for the protection from the windss.

Kelefesia Island in Tonga

Slip Away at Kelefesia Island anchorage

The fishing camp on Kelefesia. They catch and dry fish here for a couple of weeks and then send it to NZ to sell for money for a church building on Nomuka Is.

Daniel and the island owner's eldest son, Alanoa on Kelefesia with the first of the fish they are drying on the green poles.

Cliff face on Kelefesia. It looks like the Rock of Gibraltar from a distance.

Kelefesia beach

Kelefesia anchorage. You can see some of our buoys holding our chain above the coral heads below.