We also spend time organizing Impulsive. We hope to leave
tomorrow morning.
It is lovely to have Prue and Bob on board with us again.
They join us ready to leave for the Isle des Pins.
Unfortunately because of the weekend we have had to wait to
have a few boat issues checked and fixed. It is soon apparent that we will need
to wait another day so we can get there in good light. We are all very relaxed
about this and settle in for a quiet day.
We hope to provision mainly at the market but have been
wrongly informed and find it is closed. However the supermarket is open and is
very well stocked.
1.Rubber is perished
on the gasket on the sea water inlet (this would have caused problems with the
toilets)
2. The connection on the seawater pump is corroded
3. The bracket on the fridge compressor is broken
4. The mast light
5.The connections for the Raymarine equipment are checked.
6. We find evidence of being anchored near the volcano with
small pumice on the deck and fine, dark debris in the seawater strainer.
Apparently several boats have suffered this.
We have a delicious classical French dinner at La Chaumiere
with its traditional old colonial architecture. Prue enjoys speaking French
here.
There is lots of evidence of the open nickel mining which is the island’s main resource. Unfortunately this causes devastation to the landscape and the vegetation.
There has been a lot of opposition from the local Kanaks to try to protect their environment and culture.
The beautiful and calm anchorage tonight is at Ile Casy in this bay. It is a beautiful small island but with a poor holding over old coral (it is written up as a reasonable anchorage).
It is disappointing to see the small resort here has closed down. It has obviously been a lovely place to stay with its architecturally attractive colonial cottages. We enjoy the walk along some of its white sand beaches and through its luxuriant and diverse forest with many lovely views. A very friendly large and well fed dog bounds along with us so there must be someone living here but we see no signs of them.
Wednesday, 28th. August
We leave at 6am to track cross across to Ile des Pins in as
calm a sea as possible. We are disappointed and surprised as it is very rough
as Impulsive slaps into “short” waves. There are only 15kts. of wind in an
E/ESE direction. These conditions are mainly caused by the favouring current
into the wind. It takes us 7 ½ hours to reach Kuto and we anchor in the lovely
protected haven at Baie de Kuto. There are some resident turtles
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| Ross going to top of mast to check the mast light |
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| Baie de Kunumura |
We walk across the narrow neck of land to the Baie de
Kunumura. In the warm, late afternoon sun this seems like a magical place to
be. The small island here is sacred and we are not permitted to go there even
in low tide with its exposed sandbar.
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| Sunset at Kuto |
After a very pleasant dinner of fresh lobster ashore we have
“the dinghy incident”. At 10pm as Bob is partially in the dinghy he manages to
do an elegant reverse roll (ie backroll with half twist) into the sea. He says
he has told the truth of the incident but he now can’t remember how it
happened! He now claims he slipped and fell out. In his defence he says Enid
Blyton stated that every seventh wave is a big one.
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| View over the south of Iles des Pins |
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| Prue and Bob at the top |
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| Coming ashore at Port de Vao - Ross, Prue and Bob |
Later we motor SW out to port de Vao in shelter opposite Vao
village at Ile Kutomo. It’s a long dinghy ride across the bay to Vao which is
distinctive with its large attractive C19 church and the small chapel above it.
As you arrive on shore there is a statue of Christ surrounded by wooden carved
totem poles.
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| Port de Vao |
The houses are attractive set in their well tended gardens,
using netted fishing buoys as artefacts. This seems indicative of a calm ,
unstressed and happy place.
The following morning we track across to Ile Moro east of
Kuto. This is a small coral island surrounded by reef so we enter the very
narrow pass and anchor in the lagoon on the leeward side of the island. This is
a protected day visitor’s site set up in the forest near a white sandy beach.
We are not really at ease to swim here because we see many black and yellow
striped see snakes. It is fascinating to see them come out of the sea and glide
up the sand and then up into the tropical forest. These snakes are very
poisonous but are shy and have tiny heads and jaws so can only bite very small
and thin objects.
Late afternoon the only other yacht here leaves. As we are
going to bed the wind comes up to 23 kts (10-15 kts. is forecast). Ross decides
we should take anchor watch during the night because the reef is close to the
boat and we don’t trust the anchor alarm in this situation. The wind drops at
2330 hours so he has some sleep until it blows up again at 0400 hours. This is
a popular little island apparently but it isn’t our favourite.
We up anchor at 7am when we can see the reef easily with the
sun behind us and head back to Kuto, a sun bathed, well protected haven.
Now today is a relaxed day and we treat ourselves to a
special lunch and dinner shore,
looking over the 2 idyllic bays here. Swimming here in the
pristine aqua and turquoise waters and enjoying the white sandy beaches is a
treat.
The old prison ruins at Bagne date from the mid C19. It is rather chilling
to walk through these buildings. Criminals were sent here from France, and
later political prisoners.
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| Ross checking the water supplies of the prison |
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| The old prison |
We would like to go up the west coast of Ile des Pins but
even though we have the suggested way points plotted to do so some of the
depths give us some concern so we decide to track up the east coast.
Today is Father’s day so there are phone calls and messages
coming in during the day for Ross and Bob.
We wake to a calm morning and with a suitable forecast of
10-15 kts. with SE winds so we up anchor and track E across the southern coast
of Ile des Pins with ½ kt. and up to 3 kts. of favourable current with 8.2 kts
SOG as we approach Passe Ndju
And then up the e.coast to Baie de Ugo (Baie d’Oro). We have
the mainsail up at the start and later the headsail but it is quite rolly
tracking up the east coast with the sun glistening off the sea. The vegetation
looks very sparse along this coastline, but is dense forest inland here
apparently.
We anchor at Baie
d’Oro which needs attentive spotting by the crew of the reefs – thankyou Prue
and
Bob. They also spot some dolphins.
There is a long white sandy beach here. We take the dinghy
ashore and walk along the waterway from the Meridien resort through to La
Piscine Naturelle, a pool of turquoise water protected behind a reef. Swimming
here is unusually refreshing it seems with some restorative effect.
The bay here is very picturesque lined with hundreds of araucaria pines to the east and
enclosed by reef to the west. Reclining on the beach in the late afternoon is
very relaxing, followed by one of Ross’ favourite dinners, salad nicoise, on board.
Monday 2nd. September
We take Prue and Bob ashore to the Meridien resort where
they plan to stay for a few days. We have had a wonderful week with them on
board, and lots of fun. They have been enthusiastic followers of our trip. This
is the third time they been with us. They have left us a good bottle of
champagne to enjoy when we get back to Australia.
We have all enjoyed Iles des Pins very much. It is very
impressive how despite its many tourist attractions it has not been spoiled by
developments and has kept in keeping with its environment.
There are very few
opportunities to buy provisions. All we buy is a bagette. We are told it is
very busy during school holidays.
We need to up anchor by 0845 hours so we can reach the
Passage de Sarcelle with the slack tide at 1500 hours. Even with poloroids and
standing on the saloon roof it is
difficult to see the reef without the sun behind us and the sky is heavy with
clouds. It is a great help we came in here yesterday and can remember our
return route.
It is very calm with 9-10 kts. of wind as we track across
the north coast of Iles des Pins with the headsail up outside the reef.
We average 6 kts. with a variable current so take in the
headsail to come inside the reef– with 1.5 kts. with us, then 1 kt. against us.
We track into the Woodin Chanel and drop the anchor at Baie Ire. This is an
excellent anchorage with a red mud bottom. It has a typical New Caledonian red
sand beach. There has been a lot of nickel mining in this area with its
associated devastation to the landscape.
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| Baie Ire |
Everywhere we can see mountains with their vivid reds in contrast with the lush greens of the vegetation. 80 percent of the plants are endemic.
It has been noticeably cooler in New Caledonia, with the day
temperature averaging 20 degrees. It is lovely dry weather with no humidity at
this time of the year. We had to find a light blanket last night!
We leave early this morning to track west back to Port
Moselle. As we leave there is a 3 kt.
current against us coming through the Woodin Chanel so with 1800 revs. we are
only making 2.8 kts. SOG. Once through this we put the headsail up and average
6.5 kts. SOG. with 18 kts. just W of S. It is very lumpy as it was when we went
in the opposite direction. Fortunately there is a spare berth in the marina.
Our plan is to attend to couple of boat issues, refuel,
provision, vote for the Federal election at the Australian embassy and wait for
the right weather window to set out for our 5 day crossing to Australia.
Hopefully we can enjoy some more French cuisine.
We thoroughly enjoy the french influence which is very obvious here with their language, cuisine at some of the restaurants, patisseries and some chic shops.
It´s also been fun to have our basic french understood occasionally.We enjoy being back in Noumea for a couple of days. We are excited to be preparing Impulsive for our final 5 days sail to Bundaberg to check in at customs. Quarantine is very strict in Australia so we provision just for these days to avoid having to throw food out.
We catch up with people we met here last week, and have a lovely surprise when David and Sheryl come in late on our last day here. We have a fun night with them and a few other yachties on our last night before heading for Australia It seems like a special occasion.
Bruce, who has been our weather guru for our ocean crossings , is away so we organize with Scott that we will get regular weather updates from Passage weather from him. There is a good weather window for us to leave but it will be reassuring to check the situation regularly.
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| Seen off by David, Sheryle, Bowen and Jan |
Letting go the ropes in Noumea
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Thursday 4
th. September
David and Sheryl help us let go the ropes and we set off at
1030 hours for the 785 n.miles crossing to Australia. We are ready and excited
to be making our final ocean crossing for the trip.
Once through the outside reef the winds are as forecast –
S,SE to S,E mainly up to 20 kts. but sometimes up to 30kts, with a 3 m. swell
and a rough, short sea.
We need to leave today with this forecast for the next 2
days and then with the winds dropping off for the last 3 days because there is
a forecast ahead for a deep low out of Coff’s harbour next Tuesday and we want
to be safely moored at Bundaberg before this comes through. We have to check in
to Australia on the coast and Bundaberg suits our program best.
We sail averaging 6.5kts., sometimes bringing the headsail
into half its size. Tonight is the first time this season we have had a simple
pasta dinner on our knees because it is so rough.
Twice the autopilot fuses out as Impulsive comes off the big
waves. We have to steer her manually for a while when this happens. It reminds
us how advantageous it is to have this equipment. It would be exhausting to
have to steer at the helm for a 5 day trip like this. There are 30 kt. winds on
one of these occasions.
Night watch is exhausting because the winds are so variable
in strength and direction. It seems like a long night and we feel we still have
such a long way to go. We sail mostly through the night with some motor sailing
when the winds drop off occasionally.
Friday, 6th. September
We are both tired today and have sleep to catch up on but we
are also in good spirits because we have the N.E. coast of Australia now
showing on the chart plotter. It is still 575 n.miles to go to the waypoint but
we are making progress. We feel more positive this morning.
Today has been much the same, so uncomfortable with a
gyrating type of movement, and tiring, but at least the winds are in the right direction.
Tonight the wind settles as forecast coming round towards E
but more on the port quarter, with 20-25 kts. and then 20 kts. This is much
more comfortable.
Today is a bright, sunny day with winds E/SE and down to 20
kts. We are running with just the mainsail because Ross decides we don’t need
to be worrying about being overpowered with poling out the spinnaker pole.
It is a cam night but very dark again because there is no
moon.
Sunday, 8th. September
Ross discovers some damage in the furling line, just a small
area of wear and tear. He is able to repair it.
After a cloudy and overcast start to the day with a little
rain the sun comes out and sparkles over the ocean. This makes us feel warmer
and more motivated to do odd jobs on Impulsive. We also have time to read, and
Ross has taken to doing crosswords.
We are averaging 6.5 kts.
The winds are changeable but basically in the E and S.E. At one stage
they came up and blew 25 kts. from N.NE. We can see a few birds flying about
even though there are nearly 3oo n.miles to go. This is a sign of good weather.
After another calm night with just a glimpse of the new moon
and the sky filled with bright shining stars
Monday, 9th. September
With the following winds Ross wants to pole out the headsail
today but discovers this isn’t possible
because the furling rope “box” is
broken. It must have been under heavy pressure recently for this to have
happened.
The winds then become very fluky and much lighter, as
forecast, so we bring in the mainsail to save it thwacking and maybe getting
damaged. We are fortunate the winds are not against us.
We receive Scott’s final weather report this evening. They
have been expertly done and we found it very reassuring to receive these
updates. Scott crossed the Atlantic with us so appreciates the importance of
these.
The seas are calm again and hopefully will remain this way
through the night, for our final night watches. We are very excited as we head
towards Sandy Cape and plan to round it in the morning to track our final 42
n.miles to Bundaberg.
Somehow we feel it is a bad omen to talk about plans ahead
until we reach Australia but now we are so close we are. Basically we are both
thrilled to soon be home taking with us all our wonderful memories of the
experiences we have had during our last 8 sailing seasons.
The conditions change and later tonight we have contrasts of
uncomfortable winds followed by favourable winds. As usual they are stronger
than Passage weather predict. Just as we are congratulating ourselves on having
a smooth passage in, the difficult and variable winds come up .
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| Ross tying on the preventer when the wind comes round to the N.E. instead of S. E. |
Tuesday, 10th. September
This morning the winds come up strongly to over 20 kts. from
N.E, then N, and then N.W none of which are very suitable and makes for rough
tracking. (The forecast this morning is for 5-10 kts from various directions).
It is disappointing to wake up to a cold, dull and rainy
morning. Of course we are expecting it to be warm and sunny. The sky eventually
clears and it is a lovely day.
How do we feel coming into Bundaberg?
Seeing the Australian coastline is very moving.
Once we are tied up we are both thrilled to have completed our circumnavigation and have a great sense of achievement. Thankyou to
my wonderful skipper for bringing us home safely and for giving us such a
wonderful adventure together.
What a lovely time we have had on Impulsive which has proved to be a most reliable yacht. We feel a great attachment to her.
There is more excitement to follow with Steve, Megs and
their children coming to meet us at Hamilton Island to celebrate the end of our
circumnavigation. We have decided to leave the boat here as we feel we will
have more use with her here than in Melbourne.
Our favourite recipe this leg:
Risotto aux Moules
1.5ks. green shell mussels
Heat (spray on) oil in large pan
Add finely chopped sml. spanish onion; stir until translucent
Add arborio rice (1 large mug) and stir
Add 1 cup white wine
Gradually add vegetable stock until rice is al dente
Add 1/2 jar "tomato relish" (it has some chill through it) and stir through the rice
Add the mussels until cooked
Serve with green salad and coleslaw (using a small red cabbage)
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