More Re-runs and Rain - Casy Island, New Caledonia
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Fri 16 Oct 2009 10:32
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22:21.429S 166:50.535E
We left Kuto Bay, the Isle of Pines and Storyteller
behind on October 7th and pointed north. There was a brisk
east-northeast wind which made for a perfect 45 mile northwest sail through
the giant New Caledonia lagoon and into the Bay of Prony, which
is on the southwestern tip of Grande Terre Island. We crossed
paths with Achates, one of the ICA rally boats from New Zealand, about a half
hour out from the Isle of Pines. We were sailing merrily along with the
wind behind the beam and they were motorslogging into nearly 30 knots
and all the short choppy waves that come with that kind of wind in a shallow
lagoon. They were headed toward the Isle of Pines. We were headed
away. The scene on Harmonie was serene - the boat moving fast and smooth
at nearly 8 knots under all three sails. The scene on Achates was
different - the boat moving slow, buffeted this way and that by wind and waves,
only a partial mainsail out and the engine on. A very good
demonstration of the difference between sailing upwind and down. Of course
we only say this because we were the ones sailing downwind. We ran into
Achates later in Noumea and had a good laugh about
it. Keith and Chris said the last few hours of their motorslog
into the Isle of Pines was 'Shocking!'. We said we couldn't think of a
time in the recent past when we had had such a nice sail.
We sailed into the Bay of Prony and picked up a
mooring off tiny Casy Island. This is also a place we visited last
year so the scenery was familiar. Tall hills and
mountains surround the Bay of Prony and would be extremely beautiful
if the nickel hadn't been stripped out of them leaving bloody-looking
gashes of red earth with only a thin layer of scrubby growth on
them. At night we could again see the glow from the nearby mining
operation high up in the hills of Grande Terre. It looked nothing less
than sinister, like Mount Doom in the distance.
Casy Island is a nice little place that used
to host a resort, but was turned into a park after the resort went
under. The waters around it are a marine reserve where anchoring is
frowned upon so we were lucky to pick up one of the few moorings there. We
had the place nearly to ourselves and spent three nights. Not once did we
get off the boat to hike on the island or swim. The rainy skies that
existed when we arrived turned uglier and rain like we haven't seen since Fiji
poured down for nearly 24 hours. At first we were happy because the
rain took care of any residual salt clinging to our decks, and
let's face it, one rainy day every three months or so can be very
nice. However, after two days of rainy weather, it started to wear on
us. Yeah, we know, two days of rainy weather is nothing when you are
headed to Syracuse, NY for the months of November and December. Good thing
we'll have lots of family and friends to distract us from what the Aussies
would call 'appalling' weather.
Picture 1 - When the rain ended, we were treated
with this - a full rainbow centered perfectly on the lone palm tree.
Nice. We did have a brief encounter with a double rainbow, but the
pictures didn't do it justice.
Anne
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