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Unique Niue
Niue is a nation of early risers, so we dragged ourselves ashore at o'dark-thirty for the
Tuesday produce market, optimistically anticipating fresh, vitamin-rich goodies. Sadly, this
was the one disappointment Niue was to deliver. Savvy buyers snapped up the pitifully
small quantities of produce before they even hit the sales tables by intercepting vendors in
the parking area. Being a quick study, I copied the maneuver with the next arrival. After
“window shopping” through the windshield, I helped myself to bananas right out of the
hatch and proceeded to make change among three eager buyers for one quick transaction
with the vendor - all before she had “finally” emerged from behind the steering wheel.
Eventually, we discovered that the true key to successful produce procurement on Niue is
simply smiling: several times during our stay, friendly residents gave us bananas and paw
paws (papayas) growing on their properties. One woman even made a special trip to the
wharf to present the yachties with bunches of deliciously sweet bananas. Welcome to Niue,
indeed!
Which brings us to the town wharf with its infamous dinghy crane. Since the towering dock
is exposed to the pulsing swell, small craft cannot safely remain tied up in the water. The
solution is an ingenious crane that lifts everything from small dinghies to heavy fishing
skiffs bodily out of the water. We quickly discovered that much like the poisonous sea
snakes, the dinghy crane is all bark but no bite. You simply approach from the water, attach
your dinghy's three-point harness to an oversized hook, and step ashore. Then it's a simple
matter of pressing the “up” button on the electronic control box, swinging the craft ashore,
and rolling it out of the way on a hand trolley (considerately provided by NYC). Using the
crane is a smooth and easy operation, unless of course the swell gets up, when the lift can
get “interesting,” “challenging,” or downright “unusable,” in the words of Commodore
Keith.
We ended our stay on Niue at a “village show,” a monthly event hosted in turn by each of
the island's communities. In addition to handicraft exhibits and dance presentations, the
program included events like an uga contest, in which bowling ball-sized coconut crabs
tipped the scales. In the show's finale, the few foreign visitors were called up for a special
contest: speed coconut husking. We immediately observed that “speed” is a relative term
when sailors take on coconuts. As we hacked, thumped, tore, and swore at our stubborn
coconuts, locals erupted in laughter at our pitiful techniques: the over-the-head, slam-it-
down with all your might approach; the pound-and-grind in close quarters approach; and
the even less effective chip-chip-chip from the wrist technique. Unable to watch such in-
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