16 September The supply ship returns in the morning and reanchors. We hustle ashore and get our dinghy out of the water and onto the wharf. The rest of the morning and most of the afternoon is spent finishing unloading the ship and loading returning empty containers and fuel tanks to the ship.
18 September Only 3 places in the country of Niue take a credit card. We had become ignorant about the amount of cash that is needed to live because 95% of what we spend at home goes on the credit card (for frequent flyer miles); therefore, we quickly went through the NZ$700.00 that we brought. There are no ATMs that work on the island. Therefore we were forced to go to the only bank to exchange our $US 700.00 for the local currency which is $NZ. The bank is based in Papua New Guinea and nobody in Niue, including visitors, like it. They pay very low wages, charge exorbitant fees and make 13% profit on currency exchanges. Normally it would cost about US$.86 to buy a NZ$1.00 but this bank charged US$.9515! They can get away with it because it is the only bank in the whole country. There are three ATM machines in the country, but they have remained in their crates for a long time. We can understand why the bank would not like to have them operating.
19 September We spent most of the day touring the northwest side of the island. There are a number of paths that go down to the sea, often at interesting places. We did about 10 of those today, although just visiting and taking pictures. We did not snorkel at any of the sites, as the coral is just starting to recolonize the reef, 8 years after the cyclone//hurricane hit. At one parking lot, we got high-centered on a rock and just barely got off. Why they do not routinely put a lift kit on rental cars is beyond me. This is the second time that we have needed a lift kit on this low-rider station wagon. We also spent a lot of time looking for and photographing birds. We finally got some pictures of the Banded Rail. We have seen a lot of them, but they are very wary and flee as soon as they see a car, or the car stops, or the car door opens. We finished up our time ashore with a hot shower at the Yacht Clubs facility just above the dock. It used to be for the fuel tank farm personnel, but the Yacht Club took it over when the tank farm abandoned it. After dinner on the boat, it was time to clean out the frig. EEEW!
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| Banded Rail |
20 September After we bought Sunrise, I decided that it would be useful to have a drain on the bottom of our aft fuel tank so that we could remove any water that might get into the tank. Sunrise came with a plug on the bottom. I had about a quart size tank welded up with a hose coming off the side at the bottom that would screw into the drain hole. Unfortunately, it seeped a bit of diesel. Well, after adding 15 gallons yesterday, the seepage had increased to a Drip, Drip, Drip. DANG! I tried to reach under the tank with a long bar to see if I could turn it a bit. Instead, it broke off and diesel was pouring out at a prodigious rate. DOUBLE DANG!! Although our two 5-gallon diesel jugs were empty, they were in the car on the wharf. TRIPLE DANG!!! We had just emptied the water out of three of our water jugs, so we started pumping diesel into the jugs. We will now have to buy new water jugs, as the diesel taste and smell is probably permanent. We lost 15 gallons of fuel into the bilges and were able to retrieve most of it for use after we pour it through a filter. There is still a lot of diesel coating the area under the fuel tank and in the bilge. Afterwards, we went to the gas station and filled the diesel jugs. Because of all the extra effort to move the container sized fuel tanks after the 2004 cyclone, fuel is about $10 per gallon in Niue. OUCH! This is a lot more than before the old tank farm was damaged in the cyclone. They tell us that a new tank farm for fuel has been built, but it is has not been activated yet.
21 September It is a beautiful sunny day with gorgeous clouds. We are leaving Niue and headed for Minerva Reefs. North Minerva is an atoll with no motus (sandy islands). It has a passage into the lagoon on the west side. South Minerva is a double atoll with the shape of the number 8 and a passage into the northern lagoon. You anchor up inside the lagoon in relatively calm water in the middle of the ocean with nothing to see but a reef awash when the tide is out. We have passed it 5 times before without stopping. This time, we are going for it.
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| Reef of Minerva |
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