Niue Island Scuba Diving September 2012.m4v

My wife and I visited Niue in late September 2012 - the main reason was to hopefully snorkel with Humpback Whales, and wouldn't you know it, we didn't see one!... On our second day on Niue we did two scuba dives and this footage is what we saw on those two dives..... Exceptionally crystal clear water, the clearest I have ever seen apart from the fresh water springs in Florida or Mount Gambier.
So, we didn't see the whales but the diving was pretty damn good - I have to be honest, there's not a hell of a lot of marine life on the west coast of Niue, it did cop a beating during a cyclone in 2004 with 300kph winds and 50 metre seas, so you can imagine how brutal the seas must have been, and why to this day the re growth of soft corals is just a matter of time. The islanders do a lot of fishing here too so there's a lot less fish than I'm guessing there might have been 20 years ago.
The blue waters are delightful however, you never get tired of descending into unbelievable ocean water that is so clear it's mesmerizing. There are a stack of Sea Crates (similar to sea snakes) but these are a lot smaller and they show a little bit of interest in you and then move on, usually just to take a breath of air and then return to the bottom where they take refuge in a shallow overhang and then sleep until they again need to return for air.
You'll notice on the video we did see one very large Barracuda on our first dive but as soon as it arrived it fled just as quickly. There were a school of smaller barra later on but they too were a bit skittish. There are a lot of reef fish, coral trout, occasional nudibranchs, moray eels, white tip reef sharks, black cod, anemone fish, and bountiful hard corals that seem to go on forever. The hard corals are possibly the healthiest you're likely to see of the world's best coral reefs... not big in size but the quality is superb so there's obviously the perfect balance of food, water clarity and sustainability as the coral gardens are in extremely good shape, considering they most likely would have been wiped out in 2004.
Apart from the scuba diving (yes we only did 2 dives) there is abundant snorkelling up and down the west coast of Niue. At low tide the plateau of coral and rock extends from the base of the cliffs (Niue is a Coral Atoll) and at low tide you can negotiate the shallows without being buffeted by incoming swells. The corals here are brilliantly coloured, there's stacks of colour and stacks of fish to match. This place is so healthy and there's no sign of any die off of the coral, in fact it's probably growing rapidly as the overall health of the island and its waters says that Niue is one of the cleanest places on earth.
There's vastly more scuba diving to be done here - there are massive underwater caves and caverns and next time I will take the time to do some more. The above water caves with stalagmites and stalactites are just amazing - you HAVE TO come here to see them and I'll have another video up here soon to show them off to you.
So, when's the best time of year to go?... From my point of view, September should have been ok for the whales but realistically July, August and early September is the absolute BEST time of year to guarantee the Humpbacks as well as 25 degree water, and mild, sunny skies. I believe the water remains clear year-round as there are no beaches here, and NO sand so no mixture of turbidity, however you will see a reduction of clarity when you enter some of the underwater caverns. Ultimately the vis would be 40-50 metres in the open areas and 20 metres or more in the caverns. There are also plentiful painted crayfish in the caverns but they are protected - best to indulge in the above water UGU's or better known as Coconut Crab - which when cooked has an absolute divine tasting flesh similar to fresh water crayfish.
On Niue we stayed at Stone Villas, they have a great website and for $150 NZD per night you'll can sleep up to 3 people plus you get a hire car for 7 days.
Eating out at cafes and restaurants was surprising well priced so we just bought a few basic necessities and enjoyed eating out every night, often having a vegemite sandwich for lunch to see us thru our day as we travelled around Niue walking the sea tracks and the caves.
As for tourists, you can be guaranteed that there will be NO MORE than 70 to 80 tourists will visit Niue every week and guaranteed, you'll come across one another quite often in a cafe or walking the sea tracks and when you board the flight back to New Zealand, I guarantee you'll have met some amazing people from around the world who have the same spirit of adventure.
Come here for the adventure, it's not a place to spend a week relaxing - there's so much to see and do, but of course there's plenty of time to have an afternoon nap - just come here with a desire to see what Niue is all about
All the best, enjoy the footage, Niue is a very special place