Dingo's log: New Caledonia: East Coast, Ouvea, Ile des Pins, West Coast

Church Ouvea

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!

Church in Ouvea

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)

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.

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.

Sunset in Ouvea

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.

Resort, Ile des Pins

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!

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

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.

Fashion parade, Place des Cocotiers, Noumea

Noumea Cultural Center

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