It is another 520 nm to Niue, another isolated island which is essentially a large block of coral limestone. It is the one of the world’s smallest independent nations and is in free association with New Zealand (and they supply a lot of funding). There is a population of say 1700 on Niue, but about 20,000 Niueans live in NZ. The trip was enlivened by a visit from a small pod of beautiful killer whales which came right next to the boat. Mostly we had good sailing during the day, but a lot of squalls at night meant crews did not get too much sleep. The Niue yacht club seems to exist just to look after visiting yachts, they provide moorings (it is difficult to anchor on the narrow rocky shelf), a sociable clubhouse, showers, even deliveries of fresh vegetables and an amazing amount of help and support. All the people are so friendly and helpful we were sorry to leave this lovely island after only 2 days, but we made the most of that time what with an island tour seeing amazing caves and snorkelling and a lovely function at the Matavai resort with local dancing and wonderful food, it was non-stop. We even managed to get duty free.