In the end I do not leave until Tuesday but even then the forecast is not accurate. The wind was supposed to be easterly 17 to 20 knots. I get 27 to 32 knots from the south east with heavy rain for 24 hours. There is a lunar eclipse that night; also the full moon rises at exactly the same time as the sun is setting. So what? My visibility is less than 100 yards!

My very beauitful, very expensive battens are breaking. The manufacturer denies liability. By the time I arrive I have broken five in total. Approaching the Loyalty Isles, about 80 miles from the reef pass, these very beauitful island disappear in yet another rain squall. Conventional advice is that there will be slack water in the reef pass one hour before low water. I chance it at two hours before and get 4.25 knots against me and huge overfalls. I reckon I have got the tide times wrong but a passing policemen (in a fast patrol boat) tells me I am right. I go back out and make a cup of tea and come back at low water. I do not get slack water until one and a half hours after low water and then arrive at the narrow and dog's leg shaped Wooden Passage in the dark. And it is very dark. So I set the boat up to go straight down the middle. And then see an AIS image at the far end. It is a high speed catamaran (HSC) doing 30 knots. I quickly (very!) slow down and alter course to starboard and pray that the eclectronic charts are accurate. I can see nothing. Except lights coming at me at 30 knots! Eventually I arrive at my chosen anchorage, feel my way in and drop anchor. When I am satisfied that it is well set I have a very large scotch!

Next day the weather is kind and I have a very nice six hour sail up to Noumea. The lanscape is spectacular; I pass one of the many nickel mines largely worked by Irish people employed by Roadbridge. Nickel is the main source of wealth here. I anchor, have a run ashore, meet up with friends and then come ashore next morning to clear in. To make it easy for us the authorities give cruisers 72 hours to clear in. I wish every country had such an enlightened attitude.

Everywhere is flat around the capital so I get my bike out for the first time in ages. I has suffered a bit from being stowed in a salty atmosphere but I have all the spares needed and soon I am whizzing arould the city and surrounding areas. I source tubular alluminium and build five new battens in a way that the wonderful varnish on my masts will be protected. These, I hope, will get me to Australia when I will re-invent the wheel. On this note I have my first email about my Australian visa. It is a complicated process as I want to stay for more than six months. But things are moving along...