The resort had a great view of the area, and the wide expanse of ocean right in front of it was truly inspiring. In the right season, you are supposed to be able to see whales off the deck of the resort as well.

They had a great deck, pools, and reception - the only place on the island that felt truly modern (not sure if that's a good or a bad thing). I heard that apparently, one of the very few (maybe only one or two) Chinese people on Niue worked here.

On the way to Ana'ana, I make a quick stop at Matavai Resort, the only large-scale / luxury resort on the island. On a somewhat random note - for some strange reason, when I see the Google buses that say "Bus to MTV", I've internalized that as "Bus to Matavai."

Another view back towards the beach. The north (left) side of the beach appears to have a basic small dock.

View back towards Avatele Beach. Fascinating sharp rock formations like this are all around Niue - I'm starting to understand where the name "Rock of Polynesia" comes from. I'm also starting to see how the belief that the "above-water portion of Niue is wider than the underwater portion" can develop - there are so many overhanging rock formations around. Actually, I still don't know if that belief is true or not.

I noticed these urchins that appear to me boring trails in the rock. They were tiny. Are these baby urchins? Are these the so-called "rock urchins?" And why are they chewing through the rock? Looks like another interesting thing to read about when I have some time! I love encountering and learning about new things on my travels.

Looking south from where I turned back. I did see the buoy Willie told me about, and strongly considered jumping off the ledge and swimming out there, but can see myself get stuck out in the ocean since the waves made the reef area treacherous to swim through - and the entire area including the beach is ringed by reefs. Someone mentioned I might be able to swim back through a channel in the coral to the beach, but the ocean looked pretty choppy and I wasn't certain where the channel was.

A quick video of the pits being filled and drained. They look harmless when full, but scary when drained.

The waves were pretty large here, causing the potholes to fill and drain rhythmically. With larger waves, the holes would overflow, sending a gush of water everywhere around it. I was careful not to get too close to them and not to slip since I didn't want to be sucked into one by a strong backflow.

The other tricky part about walking along the ledge is the numerous potholes, especially near the edge of the ledge, which becomes tricky at narrower areas.