Adventure Magazine December 2019/January 2020

"Fishing in Niue is on a whole
new level. We spent half a day
with Fish Niue Charters and
pulled in over 16 fish."
The water is blue, so blue and deep. Within a few meters if the
shoreline the water drops away to phenomenal depths thus the whales can
get in so close, but it also makes it fantastic for diving and fishing. As there
is little runoff of water from the island in the way of rivers or streams, so
the visibility for diving is off the scale with regular visibility of 70 metres.
Due to the location, not only is the clarity amazing, but there is also an
abundance of fish life. Because of the limestone formation, the coastline is
riddled with swim-throughs and unique underwater terrain. There are a few
dive operators on the island, but if you are looking to go out it, it will pay to
book way in advance.
Fishing in Niue is on a whole new level. We spent half a day with
Fish Niue Charters and pulled in over 16 fish, BJ our skipper for the day
modestly said, ‘it’s not always this good’, but I think it is!
Due to the coastline and lack of a sheltered harbour, all boats have to
be craned in and out of the water. We arrived at 5am just as the sun was
looking to rise and we were fishing within 5 minutes of leaving the wharf
and within ten minutes of having rods in the water we had our first strike.
The gear on the boat is brand new which is not the case on a lot of fishing
charters in the South Pacific, so there was no fear of loss because of a
breakage of gear, and the equipment took a pounding as did we. A Wahoo
is a crazy fighting fish- aggressive long and narrow like a torpedo and just
as fast. We caught a range of fish; yellowfin tuna, pacific barracuda (which
is edible in Niue), but the Wahoo stole the show. We did catch the head
of an enormous Skipjack tuna the rest was shared with an even bigger
predator lucking in the dark deep blue depths – key Jaws music!
Our days in Niue were spent lapping up the afternoon sunshine, but
in the morning, we looked to do an activity of some sort. We explored a
few of the chasms, we fished two mornings and one morning we went out
with Buccaneer Adventures Niue Dive and looked for Spinner dolphins. We
basically rode around the bay in front of the resort until we saw them – we
then cruised along very slowly with a mask and fins on and in the crystal
clear blue water you could see the pods of the small spinner dolphins just
playing in front of the boat. Once they had had enough of our company they
departed, and we moored and snorkelled along the cliff edge just outside
the wharf. We saw more dolphins, sea snakes, turtles and millions of
small fish. Once again, and sorry to repeat the same observation, but what
made it so amazing was how clear the water was. Swimming in Niue is like
swimming in gin.
It is hard to put your finger why Niue is so appealing because it's not like
any other South Pacific Island; maybe that it… maybe it’s just because it is so
unique. Thus their latest marketing #nowherelikeniue is right on target.
To have your trip taken care of top to bottom, flights, fishing, diving and
where to stay contact www.travelandco.nz/niue
• www.niueisland.com
• www.niuedive.com
• www.fishniue.com
• www.scenichotelgroup.co.nz/locations/south-pacific/niue/scenicmatavai-resort-niue
• www.airnewzealand.co.nz
Top to bottom: Amazing diving - image provided by Anthony Brown,
Buccaneer Adventures Niue Dive / Greg Knell in the heavy end of a big
Wahoo / Smiling till our faces hurt - great day with Fish Niue Charters
102//WHERE ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS/#217