Arrival in New Caledonia
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Mon 28 Sep 2009 05:40
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20:42.985S 166:25.258E
Piece of cake. Or as Don would say, 'piece of
baklava'. Either way, it was an easy trip. We had good sailing last
night until about midnight, then we cranked the engine on and off again a
number of times before we turned it on at 4 am for good as
we motorsailed the rest of the way to Ouvea. We arrived at about 1pm this
afternoon (9/28).
The pass into the Ouvea lagoon was marked and our
chart was right on. Wow. Somehow we can tell that New Caledonia is
still run by the French. The lagoon is huge and completely turquoise
blue. The thirty rally boats anchored across the southern bay barely make
a dent in the wide expanse. The air is cooler, the boat is rocking gently
in the tiny swell and it is very quiet. No chatter on the radio, no noise
from shore, no dinghies buzzing around. It's mighty quiet for a crowd
made up mostly of Kiwis that have been known to throw a party or two. We
have all been instructed by our rally leader to remain on our boats and keep
quiet until the customs brigade arrives from New Caledonia's capital city,
Noumea, tomorrow morning to check us all in. It's a struggle, but so far
everyone appears to be abiding by the rules. The quiet is a little
unnerving though. We are more used to random Kiwi chatter on the
radio. During the sail yesterday, there was a lot of, 'How you do'in
mate?', 'How are you going?', 'A marlin jumped your line? Good on you!',
'We are having a wee bit of tea.', 'I see you back there, I've a mind to put the
screecher up to keep you there!', and 'Yeahr, yeahr, I reckon that's
so.' on the radio. It's boater talk with a Kiwi twist. Don and I
aren't ashamed to admit that we listen in to all the radio conversations and
then giggle every time we hear a particularly peculiar Kiwi word or
_expression_. We'd probably give yesterday's Kiwi radio
chatter a 7 on the 1 to 10 entertainment value scale. As the
Kiwis would say, 'Not tooooo baaaaaad!'
Trip summary:
Total distance traveled: 214 nautical
miles
Total time: 31 hours and 15
minutes
Total time sailing: 18 hours and 15
minutes (58%)
Total time motoring and motorsailing: 13
hours (42%)
Average speed: 6.8 knots (7.8
mph)
Degrees of latitude traveled: 3.5 to the
south
Degrees of longitude traveled: 2 to the
west
Lowest wind: 0 knots
Highest wind: 18 knots (21 mph)
Number of calamities: 0
Number of dinners consisting of microwaved frozen
casseroles: 1
All in all, a pretty tame ride.
Au revoir from Nouvelle Caledonie -
Anne
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