Limu Pools

Limu Pools are on the north-western coast of Niue, a raised coral island of two hundred and sixty square kilometres with around two thousand people on it, self-governing in free association with New Zealand. There is almost no sand anywhere on the island.

That absence explains the water. Niue is a single uplifted atoll — limestone all the way through — with no rivers, no runoff and no sediment of any kind entering the sea. Visibility offshore routinely exceeds fifty metres and is sometimes cited above eighty, which is among the clearest coastal water measured anywhere. The coast is terrace, chasm and sea track rather than beach, and swimming is done from ledges into pools.

Limu is two connected pools of fresh and salt water divided by rock, entered down steps, with reef fish visible without a mask. Fresh water seeps through the limestone and mixes at the surface, which produces a visible shimmer and a cold layer. The island rises in two terraces to about sixty metres, and the whole coastline is the old reef edge lifted clear of the sea.

Humpback whales come extremely close inshore between July and October — close enough to see from the cliff paths — and Niue licenses swimming with them under strict conditions. In 2020 the whole country was certified as an International Dark Sky Place, the first nation to be so in its entirety. Matapa Chasm and the Talava Arches further along the same coast are the island's other sea tracks, both reached on foot through forest.

There is no sand on Niue and there is no sediment either, which is why you can see fifty metres down. Swim from the ledges, wear something on your feet, and accept that a coastline can be worth recording without a beach on it.