22:25.767S 166:47.02E

Wednesday 14^th October 2015

Distance run Day 2:   94 nmiles

Total distance run:  246 nmiles

We made good speeds yesterday and ended up having to shorten sail overnight to slow ourselves down in order to arrive at the pass at slack tide.  In the event we arrived an hour and a half early, but as the tide would be flooding and therefore going with us, we decided not to wait around.  We had 3 knots of tide pushing us along but the sea state in the pass was fairly benign, with only a little bit of chop for a couple of hundred metres and no standing waves.  We were glad the gap in the reef was wide, as we were joined at the pass by a cruise ship on its way to Noumea.

Our pass partner, going in at 18 knots.                                                                  The instruments show boat speed 4 knots, speed over ground 7.

It seems strange to see buoyage in place...                                                          and leading marks on the hillside.

With the wind now behind us, we sailed gently along towards Isle Ouen where we planned to anchor for the night.  The official rules are that you must not anchor anywhere until you have checked in at Noumea, but since that is a further 50 nmiles from the pass, in practice everyone ignores this rule and anchors for a night when they arrive.  We looked in at two bays before we settled on Baie Ur on the west side of Isle Ouen where we dropped the hook and breathed a huge sigh of relief at being in flat water. 

Glad to be safely at anchor after a lumpy, wet ride.