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| Church Ouvea |
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| Rainbow on the East Coast |
The trades relented and
we left Bay des Citrons and reached out eastwards taking a northerly passage
till we could make Canal Woodin, separating la Grande Terre from Isle Ouin. There
we encountered a strong current and standing waves. Turning into the Baie de
Priony we anchored in Magic Bay, part of a new reserve. All day we had been
followed (then overtaken!) by Heidi and Steve in their little Brolga, despite using our motor
occasionally!
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| Church in Ouvea |
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| Jesus was a black man, Ouvea |
Rejane and I went shore
for our first encounter with some tropical rainforest, walked thru it and up
into mountain scrub very similar to OZ. Forty five minutes walk took us up to
the lighthouse and down to the brand new whale viewing platform with its
splendid binoculars (but a month too early for whales).
Next day we slipped round
to Port Boisé and in cloudy weather anchored in a river mouth to walk the north
shore of the bay. From there we sailed out of the Havana Pass and turned north
up the coast, anchoring nightly at:
Yate (a rather open
roadstead)
Ouinne (with its private
mine village where Dede kindly welcomed us ashore and showed us round)
Port Bouquet (the first
anchorage that struck us as special)
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| Lekine cliffs, Ouvea |
Two days later we left at
0300 and negotiated the reef by moonlight to leave the pass into the open sea
around 0430, making good time in boisterous trades and sea to the pass into the
big lagoon of the atoll Ouvea.
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| Felix, our guide, Ouvea |
Our stay in Ouvea was
very nice and, apart from too much dull weather and difficulty accessing coral
reef for snorkeling, most enjoyable. We anchored at four different locations
over 10 days, making ‘kastom’ with two of the chiefs (actually one of them was
the chief’s younger brother, as the high chief was in the fleshpots of Noumea).
This entailed presenting a length of cloth, having a polite conversation and
asking for permission to anchor, walk, swim etc. This was cordially granted
with some ‘tabu’ places being pointed out.
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| Sunset in Ouvea |
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| Virgin Mary, Ouvea |
The farther we went into
the lagoon the more pleasant it became, but the further off we had to anchor
due to shallows. Dan and Rejane went off on a hitch-hiking tour to a vanilla
plantation and coconut oil factory. They also saw the graves of the eight Kanak
freedom fighters who, having killed two gendarmes and taken tourists hostage,
were themselves killed by French marines (1988). An unresolved colonial
situation.
We all took a $20-a-head
trip with Felix, which by the brochure promised “a trip in a motorized glass
bottomed punt, a guided walk seeing medicinal plants and caves, snorkelling on
the reef with masks and fins provided”. All that materialized was the ride in
the punt! Sixty bucks lighter but a
matchless island experience.
We sailed back to the big
island entering the lagoon further north than our exit point and over the next
few days beat, then motored (when the trades thankfully dropped out) southwards
to the Ile des Pins.
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| Resort, Ile des Pins |
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| Ile des Pins |
Ile des Pins proved a
little unwelcoming. We were short of water and there was none available near the
anchorage. The town hall would not switch on the water on the jetty, the
gendarmes nearby would not allow us to fill up from their tap, nor the adjacent
resort. We were also told that the island administration had banned yachts from
visiting any of the bays other than the one we were in (Kuto). If we did visit
other bays we faced the possibility of being stoned!
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| Mass in Ile des Pins |
After a walk up the
highest hill we sailed back to Noumea so Dan could depart, and to wait for our
neighbours Bill and Janelle to turn up. Last night we said au revoir to Dan,
and this morning Bill Janelle and Rejane have gone to the Ile des Pins on the
ferry for the weekend.
After flirting with the idea
of returning directly to OZ from Noumea, we have changed our plans again and
are now heading up the west coast to the great lagoon.
Jim
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| Bill and Janelle at the Baie de Moselle marina |
La suite –
Spending few days with
good friends Bill and Janelle on board was wonderful. That’s despite the
adverse weather, rain, wind, clouds, which prevented us from doing more
touristy things. It was with sadness that I saw them take off in their little
rental car.
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| Fashion parade, Place des Cocotiers, Noumea |
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| Noumea Cultural Center |
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| St Joseph cathedral, Noumea |
Our new plans suit us
perfectly after all the indecision of what to do and where to go. So we set off
as soon as the gale (with 50 knot gusts) ended and the seas calmed down. Our
plan is to sail to the northern tip of New Caledonia. So far, the west coast
has been very rewarding, great sceneries of mountains, good snorkeling
(including at beautiful Ile Tenia with crystal clear waters) and the best
weather and wind to top up the menu. At Ile Tenia, as we were getting ready to
go snorkeling from the dinghy and we were wondering if we would be able to get
back into the dinghy, I dived down to come just about face to face with a
shark. I was back in the dinghy in two seconds flat, no worries!
Today we got into Koumac
where there is a small marina (very welcoming and quiet after Noumea) and a
good internet connection. The day after tomorrow it’s the north and the great
lagoon for two or three weeks.
Rejane
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| Bill and Janelle diving |
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| Bill at the steering wheel |
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| Bill, Janelle, Rejane, Dan |
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| Dan climbs |
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| Dan floats |
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| Dan crouches |
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| Dan in hamac |
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| Dan up the mast |
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| Rejane |
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| Dan and Jim |
Next day we slipped round
to Port Boisé and in cloudy weather anchored in a river mouth to walk the north
shore of the bay. From there we sailed out of the Havana Pass and turned north
up the coast, anchoring nightly at: 
