To Sea Again
Storyteller
Tue 29 Sep 2009 04:48
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Position, 20.43S 166.25E
John writes:
After watching the thrilling Aussie Rules grand
final at the Anchor Inn at Port Vila we had a quiet night on the sea wall before
leaving at first light for the 200 mile trip to Ouvea.That is, after Sue ran up
to the supermarket to buy the weekend Australian and Sydney Morning Herald that
go on sale at 6am!
The first 12 hours were pretty uncomfortable with a
beam wind of 20kts giving us very rolly conditions. Late in the afternoon one of
our fishing reels started sceaming and we were horrified to see that we had
hooked a very large marlin which was dancing across the water and taking out
masses of line. One and a half hours later we had recovered our line and
the huge and beautiful fish was close to the boat. At this point we realised
that it far too large to get into the boat, so as we were preparing to cut it
free, it gave a lunge and broke the line. I estimate that it was at least 2m
long. Ray and I both have very sore arms and shoulders.
We arrived at the Ouvea Atoll in the Loyalty
Islands in eastern New Caledonia, mid morning on Monday. The lagoon
provides protection from the SE trades and the turquoise water colour
contrasting with the white sand beach and the clear sky are what most
people dream of when they think of Pacific islands. Anchored in 8m we
can clearly see the sandy bottom. A fine white sandy beach stretches away into
the distance and is deserted. Fortunately the Island Cruising Association
arranged and paid for immigration, customs and quarantine to fly out and clear
us in so we can now go directly from here to the Isle of Pines before going on
to Noumea. Until very recently the Loyalties hd been off limits to visiting
boats due to the Swine Flu epidemic. We were a little shocked when the
quarantine officer arrived to inspect what we had on board, but fortunately Ray,
Helen and Sue had had the foresight to squirrel away some of the 15 days worth
of fruit and veg we had bought at the wonderful market in Port
Vila.
We had planned to take the Selene back to New
Zealand early in November. However, we are now thinking that we will take it to
Brisbane late in October. We can then cruise the Barrier Reef next winter
in company with our friends on Harmonie and then, maybe, go across to Dawin and
join the rally to Indonesia and on to Malaysia and Thailand. Plenty of options!
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