Vanuatu to New Caledonia
JJMoon Diary
Barry and Margaret Wilmshurst
Fri 12 Sep 2008 22:14
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Luganville, at the southern end of Espiritu Santo, is a small town,
rather scruffy, but containing all essential services. After our
experiences of the simple life on some of the other islands of Vanuatu we needed
food and gas and we rather welcomed a bit of quiet comfort. Our
sheltered mooring, belonging to the Aore Island Resort, fitted our
needs admirably. During our 10 days there we were re-acquainted with
some old faces and made some new brief friendships. At a distance
these very short relationships might appear frustrating but they are
nevertheless enriching. A young(ish) German architect and his wife were
very interesting part-time companions for a few days and we enjoyed
some fascinating exchanges with a French
couple with 2 small girls on a very fast and tender boat they had built
themselves in New Zealand. I think the reason we can get such enjoyment so
quickly is that we all share a common purpose and get off to a fast
start each time.
We re-stocked with basic provisions,
got our empty gas bottle filled and tried, without much
success, to put a few things right. In particular, we were in trouble
with a leaky boat and defective bilge pumps. I thought that at least I
should be able to get the manual pump to work but to my chagrin I had to give up
in the end after taking the thing off six times, replacing all the renewable
bits and carefully re-making all joints. We finally set off for New
Caledonia having checked on the position and condition of all the ship's
buckets.
We intended to leave on the Saturday so
went ashore on the resort's 0800 Friday ferry to check out with customs and
immigration only to find that a public holiday had been declared that very
morning! "Luganville Day". The young Germans were very put out. They were
already 3 months late with their plans, were due to sail straight to Bali,
three thousand miles away, the weather was propitious, their finely tuned
1976 Swan tightly stowed and they were properly psyched up. For us,
it just meant a delay until the Tuesday, our initial frustration
soon superseded by the pleasures of Aore. Mags used the opportunity
to dive on the SS President Coolidge. I worked on the bilge
pumps. We understand that the municipal authority at Luganville has been
disbanded and there is a commission investigating corruption. My nice taxi
driver and the very friendly gent at the Origin Gas depot reckon there might be
some connection with the public holiday. Maybe the citizens want some
relief from their troubles. It was good that many businesses remained open
but difficult to understand why government servants should immediately
down tools. On the Monday we had another go, which went more smoothly
until we came to the final bureaucratic hurdle - payment of harbour
dues. The relevant official was not in his office and might, or
might not, "be in this afternoon". Ahead of us in the queue the German
girl was magnificent. Handed the phone she spoke to the supervising
officer (in English, of course), adopting just the right tone and agreed
that his colleague would be with us within half an hour. He
turned up in ten minutes and insisted on taking about half what we were
expecting. Smiles and handshakes all round. Crisis
over!
 The first view of New
Caledonia as we navigate the narrow passages between islands to
Noumea.
On Tuesday morning we set off, an hour
later than we really intended. At the end of the channel
leading south-west from the town we had a close call with a reef
necessitating "hard astern" and a quick roll-up of the genoa. We found our
way round alright but it took a bit of time and then we discovered that the wind
was quite contrary and we could not lay the course. We had to aim to
traverse the pass through the reef round New Caledonia on a rising tide and
in the morning because the tidal stream ebbs at up to 4 knots and the town of
Noumea is still forty-five miles distant. It was clear that we
should have to reconcile ourselves to four days and nights at sea instead of
three - moderate gloom! We puttered on for two days, hard on the wind and
expecting to tack after about forty-eight hours but then there was a
favourable wind shift and I realised that we could motor-sail. If we
really cracked on under sail and power we might make it in three rather than
four. It was quite exciting; the wind was only force 4 to 5 and the sea
moderate but we were travelling at 7 to 8 knots, the boat was well heeled and
there was a good deal of spray. The mate was not entirely
convinced that the heeling and discomfort was worth it for the sake of
one night but agreed we should have a go. On too many occasions this
season we have been battered or uncomfortable - now we were cruising gently
along and the skipper wanted to up the pace. Fortunately for me the
extra speed paid off and we made it in the nick of time, hared through the
reef at 10 knots over the ground and had a wonderful sail round the south of
the New Caledonia through narrow passages between islands along a
zig-zag course between reefs until we found ourselves suddenly, at 1500, in
sophisticated France among wet bikes, holiday hotels and three marinas full of
locally owned boats. We just managed to complete the formalities before
everything shut at 1600 and we relaxed, showered and went ashore to the marina
cafe, indistinguishable by sight or sound from Mediterranean France.
What a contrast! We have been round the town a few times now - we picked
up our e-mails in a smoky internet cafe, ogled the shop windows and
re-provisioned in Champion, just like home. Mags has been telling everyone
lately that she could live the simple life among the islanders. It would
do her good, she thinks, and there would be "time to stand and
stare". However, she is thoroughly ashamed to find that she loved looking
in the shop windows and wants to be off shopping. Fickle
jade!
We have a few things to attend
to. The inner forestay tensioner broke, not for the first time, but I
have dealt with that on a temporary basis. We have had a first
interview with "a man who does" - pumps in particular - but he is very busy and
cannot attend upon us until 0730 Monday. A bit early for
us!
In the meantime, once again, we are coming across old friends and making
new ones. When we have got our bilges drier we plan to visit some
off-lying islands and anchorages. |