Niue · Limu PoolsBlue Tide Pools
Niue has no rivers at all, so the sea stays clear for tens of metres.
What you’ll hear
- Tidal water
- Sea breeze
- Seabirds
In the 3D scene you can change the time, season and weather, or follow the local time.
About this place
Niue is a raised coral island in the South Pacific, about 260 km² in area and ringed by limestone cliffs. It has no rivers and nothing washes silt into the sea, so the water stays very clear. The Limu Pools, beside the village of Namukulu, are two natural pools enclosed by reef rock, with an arch you can swim through. The year has two seasons: hot, wet and showery from November to April, cooler and drier from May to October.
The camera sits just above the water under a rock ledge. The lead is a blue-legged hermit crab that grooms its antennae on the rock, climbs down into a small pool to feed and retreats under the ledge when it rains. Small fish drift in and out from the open sea, and a shore crab, a cleaner shrimp or a turban snail turns up now and then. By day white-tailed tropicbirds circle above the arch and noddies skim the sea in small flocks. Humpback whales come close to Niue’s shore to calve from July to October, though they are not in this scene.
Through the year
A rough guide from published sources; the whales are offshore and not in the scene.
Month by month
- JanuaryHot and showery; the noon sun nearly overhead
- FebruaryThe hottest month, averaging about 27°C
- MarchThe wettest month
- AprilThe wet and cyclone season winds down
- MayThe cool dry season begins
- JuneThe driest month
- JulyCoolest, about 22°C; the whales arrive
- AugustPeak whale season
- SeptemberPeak season; mothers with calves
- OctoberThe whales move on
- NovemberThe wet and cyclone season begins
- DecemberWarmer, with more showers
Four seasons
January · Warm wet season
The noon sun is almost overhead, showers arrive without warning and the rock shines wet afterwards.
July · Cool dry season
Mostly clear with few showers, the sun in the northern sky and the shore plants slightly yellowed.
Best moments
Dry-season blue
Jul 20 · 12:25 · Clear
July noon: the pool so clear every stone on the bottom shows, with open sea beyond the arch.
Wet-season noon
Jan 20 · 12:30 · Clear
January sun straight into the pool, the water at its brightest turquoise and a hermit crab below.
Hermit crab at dawn
Jan 20 · 06:10 · Clear
Pink dawn light, a hermit crab climbing the rock, the pool still in shadow.
Sunset over the pool
Jan 20 · 18:50 · Clear · Pool light
At dusk the sun sets on the sea beside the arch and lays a path of light across the pool.
Dusk under the overhang
Jan 20 · 18:50 · Clear · Limestone arch
Back under the overhang, sea and sky all pink-orange and the arch in silhouette.
Light in the pool
Jan 20 · 12:30 · Clear · Pool light
Down at the pool’s edge, sunlight shifting on the bottom and small fish among the stones.
The arch
Jan 20 · 12:30 · Clear · Limestone arch
Looking out from the cave mouth to the limestone arch standing over turquoise water.
After the shower
Jan 20 · 12:30 · After rain
Just after a shower, the rocks still wet and the sun coming back through the clouds.
Based on the Limu Pools, but the arch, ledge and pool are a re-creation at hermit-crab scale, with simulated weather and tide. The surf and seabird sounds were recorded elsewhere, in Iceland and Australia.
In the 3D scene you can change the time, season and weather, or follow the local time.
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