Marine Reserve Lookout

Just beside the road North of Alofi, if you don't pay attention, you'll probably miss the entrance of the track to the Marine reserve lookout. The problem is that the sign is placed facing the other side of the road, meaning that when you are approaching the area, you see (or not) the sign from the side. We passed this place several times looking for it and missed it. It was only when coming back from Limu Pool and going very slowly on the road that we finally saw it.You can park your car in front or at the side of the sign, this way you'll be doing a favour for other tourists to locate the narrow entrance of the lookout.

It seems that not only us had missed the place at first instance, due the number of spider webs on the trail. There were so many spider webs that it seemed  that no one had visited this look out for more than a year.  Due the number of spider webs, we had to go back to the car and grab our wood walking sticks to use it as a sword to push webs out of the way. The track up until the lookout is very short and easy, being flat most of the way and walking under a beautiful dense forest. Once there, the superb views from the top of the lookout are brethtaking. If you look South you'll see  Alofi in the far distance. Looking in front, there are nice coral formations on the bottom with canals and sand bottoms between the formations, making the sea as inviting as it can be. Looking Norht, there is a large reef flat also at some distance, and that's it. To go there, appreciate the views, and come back won't tak you more than 30 minutes, even if you spend some time taking photos.

During the Whale season from June to October, the lookout is a great place to spot Whales. With luck you may also spot  Dolphins and schools of fish playing around. As a Marine Reserve no fishes can be taken from its waters, but anyway, we found no access down the cliff. The reef platform shown in this picture is also part of the reserve, and no shelling of fishing is allowed from the flats. What grabed our attention the most, was how clear the sea water was despite the overcast day. It was immensly clear with no ripples or suspension particles, just like a blue diamond. Well, we going to end this page with a larger photo down below to demonstrate what I am talking about.