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| clear water, see the anchor! |
We are back in
Koumac marina after a great two and half weeks of sailing. The weather has been
mixed, quite cloudy, cool enough not to require the deck shade covers and to
occasionally wear trousers and beanies.
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| clear water |
From Koumac we
headed toward Poum, stopping for one night tucked in behind a mountainous isle
Tanle. Poum is a tiny town with two gas pumps and a small store that stocks
magnums (cheaper than OZ!). Here we met local character Leon, a Kanak fisherman
who sold us 10 pomelos, 3 papayas and 1 soursop. We are still eating the pomelos (they keep
well onboard).
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| one of many islets in the lagoon |
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| Rejane after her encounter with a shark |
We took off for
our first isle in the lagoon but as the wind was gusting and the sky overcast
and the anchorage somewhat tenuous, we bore away and ran down wind to the large
deserted island Neba which had a good protection, fine walking beach and a
couple of wild papayas. From here we headed direct to the village of Waala on ile
Art, the largest island in the Belep group right at the north of the country.
The anchorage is good and we tucked in near the marina late afternoon and
listened delightedly to the clear laughter of the village kids as they played
in the soft twilight around the bay’s beaches.
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| beauties in Art island |
Next day we made
Kastum (la Coutume) with the high Chef and he told us some of the group’s
history. The island is totally Catholic (solitary fine church up the hill), has
a Gendarme, doctor, nurse, weekly fly-in dentist and physio. The village is
totally Kanak, very friendly and oozed happiness and contentment though for
sure there is the usual noisy discontented youth. Enquiring about buying
bananas, we ended up with three full bunches to take back to the boat!
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| new beanie for the skipper |
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| Rejane up the mast |
Next island was ile
Pot, further north still, the last of the isles Belep. The narrow entrance to
the large reef-choked harbour once had a WW2 American army lookout post.
Exploring the ruins was rather eerie in such a tranquil setting.
Disappointingly the huge bay was fringed by mangrove and mud beaches with the
only walking on the seaward beaches.
Time to head south
into the teeth of the trades and we beat to windward to ile Yande. This has a
small fishing village and the pilot suggests a rather open roadstead anchorage
which was not much shelter as the wind had a lot of south in it. Instead we
nosed into a sheltered cliff ringed cove on the North shore beneath the 300m
peak. Despite poor holding (hard sand and rock) this turned out to be a gem.
There was a big sea cave in a headland to row into and fine walks, one of which
took us up to a waterfall via a series of magical rock pools. A couple of
fishermen stopped by in a tinnie and asked us not to fish (tabu!) and I have to
admit this was not a problem as so far we have not put a hook in the water.
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| getting into a coconut |
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| the happy divers |
We stayed in ile
Yande for two nights, then rounded the northern point of the big island. As we
left Yande's shelter we found the trades blasting and a big 2m steep chop, this
was a fast beam reach and Dingo delivered a steady 7 knots under jib alone. We
slipped through a shallow channel onto the east coast and the wind dropped as
we beat up to Boat Passage with its very narrow entrance girt with coral and
bommies. We couldn’t get ashore easily so next day we left for the huge ile Balabio
on a fast beam reach and spent the afternoon snorkeling in a patch of bright
sunshine. Once again the reef was OK but not the fantasy one imagines. It
seems, like everywhere else we got under water, that it has been damaged by the
last warm water bleaching event and/or cyclone winds.
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| tropical bounty |
Next day was a
fine beat up a wide reef border channel to the presqu’ile de Pam and its snug
little cove. The nearby gravel coast road gave us two long walks on subsequent
days, we saw a total of three cars in four hours walking.
We wanted to head
south down the east coast but due to strong trades and a narrowing reef channel
we could not make it to the next three anchorages, one of which was Captain
Cook's only landing when he discovered New Cal for Europeans.
This was
disappointing but the wind rules and if you ever sail to New Caledonia, our
suggestion for the best route would be:
Entry at Noumea
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| narrow passage between reefs |
Head south to Ile
of Pines (optional if ban on sailing to other anchorages other than Bay de Kuto
is not lifted)
Leave lagoon
through Havana pass, to ile Lifou
Cross to ile Uvea
Back to big island
re-entering lagoon to the North of Canala
North up east
coast calling at:
-
fabled
Hienghene
-
Captain
Cook's anchorage
-
Presqu’ile
de Pam
-
Ile Balabio
-
Iles
Belep
-
Ile
Yande
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| narrow entrance at Koumac |
-
Poum
Then south to
Koumac where you can exit the country by sending someone down to Noumea by bus
to check out (Rejane will do this in few days’ time), then you have three days
to clear the country. If you are heading east you can depart from Hienghene.
Turning back and
heading for Koumac to check out felt like a real turning point and now just one
offshore passage separates us from Australia and all that the wide brown land
means for both of us.
Oh and by the way
we saw only one other yacht in these weeks in the great north lagoon. Jamie
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| entrance of the Koumac caves |
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| in the Koumac caves |
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| Koulnoue Village resort |
Once back in
Koumac, we hired a car and set off for a night camping in Hienghene. Beautiful
ride to Hienghene through the mountains, especially as the eastern side got
really lush and fecund. We bought papayas from roadside stalls and admired the
food forests that are people’s gardens. As we drove past a resort (Village
Koulnoue), just before Hienghene, we took a look in. Lo and behold, they had a
senior’s special discount at 50% including bed, dinner and breakfast, AND it
was a party night for Bastille day with dancing and fireworks. How could we
resist (I didn’t mind telling them I was over 60!), forget the camping and in to
the king size bed we go!! We had a great evening surrounded by lots of French
people on holiday, we ate and drank too much, we waved our French flags, danced,
watched tv (no tv onboard, so it was a luxury!), had several hot showers, and
totally enjoyed our decision as a storm of rain and wind went through the
night. Rejane
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| bbq on Art island |
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| Koulnoue church |
Next stop OZ.
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| Hiengene |
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| Hienghene |
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| Art island cemetery |
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| goose winging |
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| bbq on Art island |
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| coral |
Officially we had 3 days to leave the country
after checking out, but the wind wasn’t quite right, so we waited in a little
bay. 
After a week at sea, we arrived in freezing
Bundaberg in the middle of the night and anchored in the river till the morning.
Going through customs was quick, but immigration was, as expected, a rather
long story. We were however lucky to avoid to compulsory white ants inspection
that all boats have to go through if they’ve been in some specific countries
(including New Caledonia) for more than 3 months. We were just below the 90
days!
The next day, as we were sailing slowly, we had the incredible pleasure of two whales staying with us for a good hour. Such big beasts they are, and they were so close, alongside the boat, underneath the boat, one of them even nudged the hull with its nose. What an experience that was!! Then the wind dropped and the boat slowed down and we supposed the whales got a bit bored with us. One of them then did this magnificent jump and breach about 20 metres from the boat (“as high as your mast”, said another yachtie on a boat nearby) and then they left. We were overwhelmed with the fantastic experience we just had. The humpbacks are big and heavy, but so gentle and non-agressive, it is really incredible.
The next morning, we got woken up at dawn by a loud snorting. A whale was lying by the boat, and for the next 40 minutes moved from one side to the next, diving and reappearing, looking at us, and us at it. We were anchored, but the whale seemed very interested. At one point, Jim put his hand out and the whale lifted up its nose as if to touch it.
