Niue - Facts
- Important pre-arrival information: The Niue Yacht Club, who manage the moorings in Niue, require notice of arrival and a mooring reservation in advance. See Formalities for all the details.
- The island of Niue is one of the world’s smallest self-governing states and rules in free association with New Zealand. Most Niueans now live in NZ – about 20,000 are Niuean born or of direct Niuean descent – while the island of Niue itself has a population of approx. 1600.
- The island is a raised volcanic atoll of rocky limestone which sits above the largest block of coral and the caldera in the original volcano holds 3 cubic kms of fresh water. Niue boasts an extensive cave system and the diving here is excellent.
- In April 2022, Niue designated all of its 317,000 square kilometre territorial waters as a maritime conservation area, leading most other nations in protectiong the ocean environment.
- In June 2023, Niue re-opened its mooring field for visiting yachts for the first time since the Pandemic.
- Lying on the direct route from French Polynesia to Vava’u in Tonga, Niue is a favourite stop for westbound yachts.
- Niue’s mooring field is an open roadstead on the West coast, close to the main settlement at Alofi. Whilst it offers the best shelter on the Island, it is in an exposed position if the predominant Trade Winds change, with a westerly component.
- The undersea topography of the volcanic slope, coupled with fragile coral regrowth, makes it essential for visiting cruisers to pick up a mooring ball.
- One must always keep an eye on the weather, particularly when visiting ashore.
- Take care on the approach to Alofi Bay as there are two Fish Aggregation Devices (FADs) as you enter the bay. These are unlit. For more details on the FADs and supplies and repairs possible on Niue see Yachting Essentials.
- The pace of life in Niue is relaxed and calm.
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Should be a short comment about the Laundry opportunity included in the article. Hina’s laundry is just a 3 minute walk from the dinghy dock crane in Alofi. Hina and Feti will most likely invite you in for a coffee and take care of you during your stay in Niue. Definitly worthwhile to spend time with them
World ARC are currently in Niue, but there are still limited spaces in the mooring field. The fleet depart for Tonga on Sunday 26th May. There is now a booking system in place, book your mooring in advance online at
https://www.niueisland.com/niue-yacht-club.
FAD positions on approaching Niue
Alofi Nth.
Long. 169°55.229296 W
Lat. 19°02.326004 S
Alofi Sth.
Long 169°55.592968 W
Lat. 19°03.244836 S
Allow for a 500 metre swing radius
Keith
Niue Yacht Club
Niue Yacht Club
“The Biggest Little Yacht Club in the World”
An incredible group of volunteers – all non-sailors – have been helping out cruisers for over 40 years on the delightful, small Pacific atoll of Niue – lying on the direct route from French Polynesia to Vava’u in Tonga. The “Biggest Little Yacht Club in the World” (or Niue Yacht Club) has provided safe moorings, shoreside assistance, a club house and the warmest welcome anywhere to visiting yachts since 1975.
Just in time for the start of Cyclone season, Niue’s Maritime Borders have re-opened after three seasons with no entry to transiting yachts. While this is great news for cruisers planning a 2023 Pacific crossing, the length of border closure now means that the Niue Yacht Club is in trouble and may well be facing closure.
Fighting to find some solution to rising Government fees, lack of volunteers due to a very small adult population on Niue and no headquarters for the Club, long-time member Keith Vial has launched a search for a Commodore at Large for the 2023 cruising season.
For Niue to remain a destination for yachts crossing the Pacific, the legendary NYC must survive and get back on its feet, so now it’s the cruising communities’ turn to support the Club that has helped them so much over the years.
If you have been to Niue and enjoyed the NYCs hospitality, please e-mail keithvial@gmail.com with your support and let’s try and keep this cruisers’ paradise on the Pacific crossing map.
Update from Keith Vial – Christmas 2022:
For a month or two earlier in the year, it looked as though the NYC might founder as we are down to only two of us left. Despite the statistics for the last 14 years that showed 6 600 crew had visited Niue, it seemed the government was oblivious of the economic impact cruisers had here. Initially, even the Tourism office was slow to respond.
However, since “Noonsite” published this article we have been overwhelmed by messages from cruisers. Many of the emails have been from crews who have visited here, appreciated the hospitality of the NYC and all offered assistance in some form.
The good news is help has come over the horizon in the form of NZ Aid to Tourism, with some good ideas and use of technology to expedite the whole arrival process. The NYC’s website is also going to be incorporated into aspects of Niue’s tourism website to make use of social media to ensure an up to date flow of information.
So from our darkest hour, a revamped and streamlined NYC should be ready with 20 safe moorings for the start of the 2023 cruising season. As a note of interest World ARC has tentatively scheduled two fleets of 56 yacht in total to visit, in early June and July 2023.
See the Alofi page for the latest moorings/yacht club info. https://www.noonsite.com/place/niue/alofi/
Update from Niue Yacht Club:
Our cyclone season was somewhat more damaging than previous years.
Cyclone Tino, in mid January, did significant damage to the wharf – so much so it has been out of action since then. Winch motor and cabling swept away, but derrick still standing and as far as I know will be back in action once cable to winch is installed. It is ironic that Cyclone Tino never came any closer than 450 nm and was only a Category 3, but the massive seas that this generated, did the damage.
We don’t know whether there has been any loss of concrete mooring blocks on the sea bed as we have been unable to get a dive boat launched for a survey.
Normally we would plan on starting to put moorings down by mid-April. This is likely to be delayed. Government restrictions means that it is unlikely that there will be any moorings allowed north of the wharf.
Request from the Niue Yacht Club to all yacht captains planning to include Niue on their cruising itineraries in May 2018.
Because of restrictions by the Niuean Port authorities and the loss of some mooring locations, the Niue Yacht Club has a reduced number of moorings available this season.
World Arc yachts are scheduled to visit Niue on their annual visit from 18th to 30th May and there will be no moorings available for other vessels during these 12 days.
We apologise for this restriction as it is the first time in 27 years of our operation that we ask for your help and co-operation during this short time.
Please pass this request on through any radio nets you use.
However we hope you will visit Niue from June on.
Fair winds
Keith
Commodore
Niue Yacht Club
Important Note: The end of May is a busy time here as World ARC stops over and normally moorings are restricted due to cyclone damage. Visiting here from June 1st is recommended in order to ensure mooring availability.