Category: Pacific

Songline rises and falls gently on the huge, confident yet gentle swells as we approach the lights of Fiji at 3am after 5 days at sea. There’s almost no wind and we are motoring, with the sails up to steady the motion and to catch the small gusts that blow over the back of these marching giants of water. Generated thousands of miles away in the south by some sub-Antarctic storm, probably, they have carried that immense energy all the way to the tropics to explode onto the reef, each side of the pass we are now approaching.

It’s been a challenging passage. The first two days we were pounding into a strong headwind, and then Rose and I came down with a nasty tummy bug. At the best of times unpleasant, but with nowhere stable to lie down – everything always moving!- our insides just didn’t stop. And no time to rest. One night I spent curled in a ball on the cockpit floor, no energy to pull ropes and just enough to poke my head up from time to time to watch for ships.

The the wind dropped- that was on Tuesday I think… So we’ve been motoring for days now.

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We’ve recovered from the bug and energies are improving.

The strong, tropical smell of land comes over the warm breeze (which still isn’t enough to sail). Smoke from bonfires, soil and vegetation. Being at sea for days tunes the senses. Ears are always listening for creaks, pings, plops, bangs or squeaks that give early warning of trouble ahead. The air is ultra clear, there are no smells (other than dirty bodies and engine fumes) – so when land comes you can really smell it from miles away.

A little while later, we motor through the reef pass (still in the dark) and then, finally, just as the sun is rising over the land, the breeze fills in enough to turn the engine off. Yay! I wake Rose up with a cup of tea so she can enjoy the arrival as we silently slip along in the flat waters of the lagoon, heading for the check-in marina at Vuda point.

We arrive a short while behind Santana (as usual) and tie to them while we wait for officials to arrive. Check in (part 1) complete, we motor into the customs dock for the final stages; immigration and biosecurity, where they take away some fresh foods and our honey… Boo.

And then, fully checked in to Fiji, we are welcomed in the traditional way with a garland of frangipani flowers and a happy clappy song!

Next few days we’ll in the marina washing, catching up with emails, news, work etc.

We left Ouvea at dusk, after walking back from the airport. The passage to Vanuatu was about 200 miles; two nights at sea. The south east trades make it harder to sail east as we’re going into the wind, so we timed out departure for a period of lighter wind; while not ideal, motoring in light winds with the sails up for an extra boost is one of the better ways to cover miles in the right direction.

This passage was a bit noisy as a result, with 28 hours of motoring over two days. Even when the wind picked up on day 2, it was dead on the nose and we needed engine power to make good ground.

As we rounded the southern tip of Tanna island for the final miles before the anchorage of Port Resolution, the volcano came into view. Throwing big black ash clouds into the sky it was pretty dramatic.

We dropped anchor among 8 other boats (including Santana who had arrived a couple of hours ahead of us). Around the anchorage hot steam vents from the cliffs, boiling water streaming into the sea. On the hillside a big plume of steam is rising between the coconut trees. Black sand on the beach. Dense, lush vegetation.

Adventure awaits!

The only true atoll in New Caledonia, Ouvéa is a huge 25km-across lagoon with the land on the eastern side and shallow (12m) flat water on the west. With the wind blowing over the land, it’s a sheltered spot to spend a few days, and a good place to leave the boats and families when we go back to Nouméa to check out.

First couple of nights we spent anchored off the Hotel de Paradis, swum, walked and relaxed in good weather. The Loyalty Islands are much more Kanak — local — than the main island. Even so far as being firmly anti-French, so we took our french courtesy flags down and made it clear we were English / Australian. Beautiful turquoise water meant lots of sand… But no coral or fish for snorkelling, so for the third night we headed south a few miles to an anchorage closer to the cliffs and coral; off the village/”tribu”/tribe of Mouly.

Local custom here (“Coutume”) dictates that you ask permission from the local chief before you swim in his water, walk and explore. We found the chief, presented ourselves and a gift of rice and cloth, and made it clear we were not going to be fishing (taking their precious resources). Unfortunately this chief was reluctant to let us go up the beach towards the cliffs – from what I could ascertain from his French anyway. We hung out on the beach for the afternoon. Being a Sunday all the local kids were out playing and our gang had good fun with them in the sea and sand.

Next morning I phoned the airline to confirm the flights… They are on! So we sailed up north a few miles to be anchored close enough to walk to the airport in the morning. Jumped in the dinghy to go ashore and find the chief… Who this time was a jovial bundle of welcoming smiles in a scruffy falling-apart tee shirt who had no problems with us doing what we wanted.

The islands are remote, a combination of traditional and modern. People live on separate well-tended plots, usually with a traditional thatched hut and a more modern timber/tin shack next door. Nice to see the huts still in use, in the same way as they will have been for hundreds of years. A few French around, in administrative and police roles, but mainly Kanak.

Wandering along the beach we bumped into an old fisherman cleaning his net. With limited French (and a limited number of teeth) but smiling and welcoming, he nipped off into the trees to bring us back some coconuts to drink.

…

Now, writing from Nouméa, we’ve managed to check out! Customs, immigration and port captain have given us the OK to leave the country. Passports are stamped, boat papers signed, and James and I are waiting for our flight back to Ouvéa to reunite with the mums and kids (who spent last night at anchor) before setting sail for Tanna (Vanuatu) tonight. It’s a couple of hundred miles, should take two days, bringing us in on Friday at some point.

Vanuatu is going to be remote and very different from New Caledonia… looking forward to it! After that, Fiji, which is a further 4/5 days on from Tanna. As it’s a slightly longer passage, into the south east trade winds, we are going to wait in Port Resolution on Tanna for a good weather window. Might take a couple of weeks, and we won’t have internet in Vanuatu so next update will be from Fiji, perhaps mid September.

I’ll post mini blogs on the iridium tracker page for the next few weeks.

There are 3 islands to the north east of New Caledonia ‘s large “grand terre” which are less developed, more remote and sounded interesting: called Ouvéa, Lifou and Maré. Checking the weather forecast at Ile de pins, we could see some nasty wet windy weather coming up, and wanted somewhere to hunker down while it blew over. Lifou has a marina, and while we’re not out here to hop from marina to marina we figured we could tie it in with checking out of New Caledonia; captains fly back to Nouméa to do customs and paperwork while the families and boats stay in Lifou.

A brisk 6-knot overnight sail brought us to the port of Wé in the middle of the eastern coast of the island, where we threaded the boat through a narrow entrance between coral heads and into the marina. It’s a tiny little place, just a few boats, and only just enough space for the two of us. Crystal clear water, one other tourist boat, and a few french live-aboard locals.

Snorkeling just outside the marina was amazing for coral, but not many fish. Tilly getting confident in the water and loving looking at everything!

Hitch hiked to the airport to get a flight back to main island to do checkout paperwork… Flight cancelled due to strikes, but managed to rent a car which meant we could explore the island. Squeezed all seven of us into a tiny hatchback (kids in the boot and on laps!) and found caves, cliffs and jungle walks.

No flights, ferries all full. As well as the airline strike, it’s wedding season on the island. 38 weddings this week! So, getting back to Nouméa is looking pretty much impossible for the next week. We’re going to sail up to Ouvea to have a look at a new island (and where there is also an airport). The sailing angle from Ouvea to Tanna in Vanuatu is not as good (more into the prevailing South Easterly wind) so it’s not an ideal spot to leave from but at the end of the day it’s not a significant difference.

Filled the boat tanks with water, bought a few fresh veg from the local supermarket and headed off at dusk on the 17th for Ouvea, an overnight passage of about 70 miles.

We sail overnight so that the 12/14 hour trip ends at dawn rather that dusk… If we are delayed then we still arrive in daylight, so that we can see the reefs and rocks and coral around the island and anchorage. For a single night passage, it’s not too demanding on sleep, with Rose taking the watch for a few hours either at the beginning of the night or (in this case) a few hours at midnight for me to then take over again for landfall. Tilly woke at 3am ish poking her head up into the cockpit… “Time for my watch” she proclaims! We have a good look around, check the chart, watch some phosphorescence in the waves, talk about the sails and the weather, and eat our “night watch snacks” (the highlight of the watch for her!) After a few minutes she decides she’s tired and heads below again to sleep the rest of the night.

Dawn brings us to the pass into the atoll of Ouvea, dolphin welcoming us to the island, diving and surfing around the bow.

Left Nouméa Monday and arrived at ilot Mba after a brisk 40mile day sail. Just enough time to go ashore and explore before dusk. Tons of sea snakes coming out of the sea to spend the night in the rocks and bushes ashore. First sighting of reef sharks, tiny ones in the shallows. Windy, so not great for snorkelling.

One night last week Santana had a sea snake slither aboard through a sink drain into the heads (bathroom!). Not dangerous though. Venomous, but mouth not big enough to bite a human and quite placid.

Decided to make the most of the rare westerly weather to continue down to Ile de Pins next day. Arrived Kuto bay in the afternoon, exactly where I had anchored 7 years ago on Rafiki!

Spent a few days on the island, walking up Pic Nge, the main hill, swimming, tow surfing behind the dinghy, playing on the beach. Then decided to continue out to the Loyalty Islands, another overnight passage.