Noumea

Dawnbreaker
Lars Alfredson
Fri 25 Oct 2013 05:27
18/10 - 25-10
 
We spent a week in Noumea to sort our selfs out.
 
Arriving on Friday at about 17.00 meant that the Marina was closed and we had to anchor among hundreds of other yachts.
Saturday we were told that the Marina was full and the Custums and Immigration was closed for the weekend. We managed to chase up the quarantine man, to give hime our remaining vegetables.
 
We were now allowed to go ashore (inofficially). There is a nice restaurant in the marina and this became our base for the coming days. They had WiFi in the Marina but not a good one. This made contact with the outer world a challenge.
 
On Monday I visited the Immigration office with our passports. That was a bit of an anticlimax. You are in Europe know the man said. You don't need to stamp your passports in Europe.
I spent the rest of Monday and Tuesday to try and buy a mobile broadband stick for my computer, to improve our connection to the rest of the world. After visiting every mobile and computer company I could find in the town, I ended up with nothing except blisters on my toes. It seems that the idea to use a USB stick to connect to 3G has not spread to New Caledonia.
 
Mark had decided to leave us and head back home to Australia, so on Wedensday morning at 5.00, I took him in the dinghy as close to the bus station as possible.
Mark, you are a good mate and I hope to see you again when I get to Australia.
 
On Wedensday I also managed to get a place in the Marina for two days. Now we did all the shopping and filled water etc.
I also managed to install two new speekers for the cockpit. They gave up a couple of weeks ago.
 
On Friday morning we are going out for a weeks cruise around a bit of New Caledonia.
 
Lars and crew (Sanna, Alice, Tif and Diego)