Les Îlots de Nouméa

Saturday, June 10th – Cleared officially into New Caledonia, we were pleased to find that one of the marina’s small number of visitor berths is available. The usual MO upon arrival from a passage finds The First Mate running around provisioning and then cleaning up the insides of the boat while The Captain takes care of a bunch of maintenance and cleans up the outside of the boat, especially its coating of dried-on salt crystals. This time, though the clean up is still needed, we have limited grocery needs and no maintenance is required. It seems, and we feel, much more relaxed. Could it be that this is our third time checking in at Nouméa, and knowing exactly what to expect and where to go makes getting settled in so much easier? Most certainly!

The local Saturday Market is at the top of the First Mate’s list, and she returns to the boat laden with fresh fruit, vegetables and two very nice crabs for dinner.

Monday, June 12th – 71 years The Captain turns today, and it’s the First Mate’s task to find a restaurant. This would normally be easy in a place like Nouméa, except that his birthday happens to fall on a Monday. Why is it that all the good restaurants choose to close on Monday? The First Mate gets it. Monday is the day after a weekend. The day most people would not be inclined to go out to eat, but what about the some people who do? Is McDonald’s the only choice? Yes, there is a McDonald’s in Nouméa! The marina office is no help with suggestions. Again, it is the internet to the rescue. A restaurant is found. A 4.5-star one at that, and they even take reservations on line. Responding to her schoolgirl French, we are confirmed for Monday, any time between 7:00 and 8:00. They don’t seem to have a preference.

It’s about a half hour walk. We could figure out how to get a taxi, but it’s a beautiful evening for a stroll up the hill past our favorite restaurant Au Petite Café, which is closed, and down the hill in the direction of the touristy section called Anse Vata. As we walk down the hill, it is evident that the economic level of the area is rising. Sidewalks are in better repair. Buildings are more significant. We have entered an area which the French ex-pats inhabit, and it shows. Marmit et Tire-Bouchon is the name of our restaurant, but we have no idea what the name means, because we cannot find where we have tucked away our French/English dictionary. Losing something on the boat is something neither of us does, but search as we did, we could not find it. The restaurant is just what The First Mate wanted for this celebratory repast: small and intimate with an excellent menu and wine list. We splurge on a foie gras appetizer, magret de canard for her, poisson for him and a decadent birthday dessert. Our wine choices are perfect, and our espressos complete a delicious meal. Contented and happy, we stroll home to Avante.

Tuesday, June 13th –  Enough of this doing nothing much of nothing here in the marina! Yes, we are enjoying some fine restaurants, but it’s time for us to be on the move. What do we want to do while we are here? The little islands in the southern lagoon are a favorite, but The Captain suggests that we take advantage of the forecasted light winds over the next few days and head for the islands and coast north of Nouméa. We sailed a little in this area the last time we were here, but strong winds precluded anchoring overnight at the interesting small islands which provide little shelter.  A plan is made, and off we go.

For the next 6 days, we island hop from one delightful anchorage to another. Most of our stops are at small tropical islands with a reef, a beach around at least part of the island, and thick bushes and trees in the interior. Since New Caledonia is part of France, these small islands are called “îlots.” They range in size from a 12-minute circumnavigation to maybe 30 minutes. None of them are inhabited or show signs of ever having been inhabited except for one. The local population, native and ex-pat, use them as weekend getaways from the big city. Many come out in their boats just for the day. Others spend the weekend in make-shift tents. It’s delightful to see these nearby islands so well enjoyed.

Our first anchorage is Îlot Te Ndu, though more commonly it is called Îlot Signal, so named for the conical limestone signal erected on the island to guide mariners through the outer reef into the lagoon.

This is one of the nearer islands to Nouméa. A long pier has been built for small ferries to drop visitors off for the day.

A nature trail goes around the island with picnic tables and camp sites located just up from the beach.

Here anchored off Îlot Signal, we try our Weber Baby Q for the first time on the boat. Positioned regally on the aft deck, a clever rope system, rigged up by The Captain, keeps it there in case we get hit by a wayward wave. Entrecote we have tonight. Barbecued to perfection. We are both so pleased to finally have a barbecue on the boat that really, really works!

The next day we head to Îlot Mbo Kouen, which is a postage stamp of an island, the 12-minute walk around. Sand dollars are plentiful on shore, and though she already has quite a few, The First Mate cannot resist adding a few more perfect ones to her collection.

For a while it is just us and the birds on this spec of an island. Is this not a tropical paradise? Returning back to our dinghy, we see another one pulled up on the beach, and shortly afterwards a couple comes walking toward us completing their circumnavigation of the island.

Eva and Brian Oldfield, off of s/v Zofia,  are home based in Perth, Australia. They came over with 20 other boats in a rally which left from the Gold Coast a few weeks ago. This is their first Pacific island adventure, though it must be admitted that the amount of sailing they did crossing the Great Australian Bight and then sailing in Tasmania was as rough a passage as any offshore experience is to these islands. They invite us for sundowners later that afternoon. As is the tradition, we show up with a bottle of wine and an appetizer. Cruisers always bring their own drinks and an appetizer to share when invited for sundowners. Stocking up a boat when cruising the islands is hard enough without the worry of having enough for possible guests. With no handy store to dash out to for extra supplies, this custom is the perfect solution.

Îlot Mbo is a slightly larger island, maybe a 20-minute circumnavigation. Walking along, we become aware of an agitated bird flying around above us. We must be nearing a nest. Looking into the bushes and trees toward the center of the island, we see nothing. Then ahead of us we see the branches of a large tree washed up on shore and stuck firmly in the sand. Woven into the branches is a huge nest. Looking inside, 2 eggs can be seen. 2 different eggs. Either this mom is playing surrogate or birds lay different patterned eggs. We did not know that.

We continue on our walk leaving mom and her nest alone. Looking back, she had settled contentedly back on her nest keeping those eggs warm.  She is high and dry now at low tide, but at high tide, the tree that her nest is in will be surrounded by water. It never ceases to amaze us where some island birds choose to build their nests.

Ile Ndukue is the largest of the islands which we visit. It is just off the main coast and has a very sheltered and pretty bay. We spend 2 nights at anchor here not because we have run out of islands but because the overcast day with threatening rain and no wind does not compel us to move onward. Tonight we roast a prime roast beef on the Q. What a treat! A Weber Baby Q does more than barbecue. It can roast a roast, bake a bread and cook a pizza. Speaking of pizza, that is exactly what we cook up for lunch!

Île Ndukue is too rugged along much of its coast to circumnavigate on foot so we launch the dinghy to explore the area.

Well out into the bay, the motor inexplicably stops. Turning around to investigate, The Captain lets out a gasp and jumps away for the motor. Did he burn himself? Pinch himself? What is it? A snake! A yellow and black striped island snake which also happens to be a water snake and which also happens to be poisonous. The chances of getting bitten by the creature are almost impossible because it has such a tiny mouth. Still, neither of us wants to take any chances, especially The Captain who is positioned closer to the thing and is also going to be the one to somehow coerce it to leave. But how to do so? Of course, the question arises as to how it even got itself where it now is. Snaking out from inside the engine it is. The Captain wants to flick it out of the boat, but with most of its length still inside the engine casing, he cannot do so. We are stuck, mesmerized, watching this thing until finally it slithers most of its body out of the engine. (Click on the photo to enlarge it and get a look at this little, poisonous guy.) Then with a quick uplifting motion, The Captain’s towel wrapped hand flicks it up, out and into the water. There in the water, it slowly slithers away totally nonplused by the event. We, on the other hand, sit there unnerved by the encounter. The Captain turns to restart the motor. Fortunately, it roars to life, but as we motor on, he’s keeping a wary eye on that engine and on where he’s placing his hand. Where there’s one, could there not be another?

Saturday, June 17th – We start heading back south toward Nouméa and stop at Îlot Ndue. It’s now the weekend, and two other boats are at anchor. Several small motor boats are pulled up near the beach. Tents can be seen set up in the wooded area off the beach. There’s even a jet ski plowing through the water with its awful thrum and whine drowning out the sound of the island birds and surf. We decide to wait until the next morning to go for our walk.

Sunday, June 18th –Luck is with us the next morning when shortly before heading ashore, a boat full of campers and the jet ski leave. The day is unbelievably still. There’s hardly a breath of wind which is so unlike  what we have previously experienced along these shores.  Avante rests out there looking more like she’s on a mirror than the ocean. Before Îlot Ndue fills up again with Sunday visitors, we decide to weigh anchor and go to an island further out that most likely will not have as many weekend guests and, hopefully, will be too far out for a jet ski to venture.

Îlot Mba is the only island where we find evidence of having once been inhabited. We read that it was a former nudist colony. Looking at the state of the buildings, that was quite a while ago. From the 60’s, we surmise, when nudist colonies were in vogue. After our snake encounter, The Captain, still wary, speculates that they built these buildings with a second floor to keep the snakes out. “How do you keep the snakes from slithering upwards?” asks The First Mate.

We spend the day anchored off this island. It is so still and finally so warm that The First Mate actually goes into the water for her bath. Instead of our usual 4:00 shower off the aft end, she decides to take advantage of the afternoon warmth. 2:00 will do just fine. If she waits until later, even with only a light breeze, it will have turned chilly out there on the aft end. Nobody is around. We’ll all alone out here on our island. Attired as the former inhabitants of the place once were, into the water she goes. Heavenly!

We’re in no hurry, not really, though today we should return to Nouméa so that, positioned in the harbor on Monday morning, we can get an early start to check out of New Caledonia. The Captain has been monitoring the forecasted weather between New Caledonia and our next port of call. Fiji is further east and like our passage to New Caledonia, this direction is against the prevailing 15 – 20 knot trade winds. He has learned to keep The First Mate happy and thus to look for those weather windows with no headwinds and with no strong winds in the forecast. Usually this is impossible, but he has been watching a significant low beginning to head across the Tasman Sea which should disrupt the normal weather pattern and have winds blowing out of the west. Our weather service, Commander’s Weather, agrees. “This trip looks good!” says their email. Though we do not want to leave just yet, we have to be in Fiji by early July when Berlin, our granddaughter, is  joining us. It could be 2 weeks, 3 weeks or never before we get such an opportune window. “We’re going!” says The Captain.

Monday, June 19th – Checked out, provisioned and fueled, we direct Avante out Petite Passe. We leave New Caledonia sadly, but content with what we have been able to do and see here. The only sailing adventure we had not done is a circumnavigation of Grand Terre, the big island. That was because we never had enough time here in total to do that. We have, however, covered much of the country that is New Caledonia by sea. From Grand Terre’s huge lagoon to the outer Loyalty Islands, we will remember it as a land of many islands surrounded by unbelievably blue, blue water. While Tropical Paradises are scattered throughout the Pacific, New Caledonia can justly claim its fair share. Exploring this country has been a wonderful adventure. Merci beaucoup, Nouveau Caledonie!