The Central Pacific - Pacific Crossing Notes: A Sailor's Guide to the Coconut Milk Run - page 300

Niue: the Rock of Polynesia
For all his discoveries, Captain James Cook did register a few misses. The great navigator
sailed right past Sydney Harbor, for one thing, and failed to notice New Zealand's gorgeous
Milford Sound. In the grand scheme of his three epic voyages, these oversights can be ex-
cused, but we can't quite forgive his dismissal of little Niue, a speck in the Pacific he called
Savage Island. After a brief encounter with stone-throwing natives, Cook made a quick exit
and curtly noted in his log: “Seeing no good was to be got of these people or at the isle we
return'd on board … and made sail to WSW.” Admittedly, a lot has changed since 1774,
but we humbly beg to differ.
Today's Niue is a delightfully welcoming place, a unique steppingstone along the South Pa-
cific Coconut Milk Run. Nowhere else in Polynesia did we find such unbelievably clear
water, a comparable landscape, or as warm an association with the letters NYC (that's Niue
Yacht Club, for the record, not New York City). Locals include visitors in community
events, whales let you snorkel alongside, and yes, even the poison sea snakes are friendly.