The Winds of New Caldonia
Sailors complaining about too much wind? Well, unfortunately, yes. Not only have we experienced rough, lumpy anchorages off some of the prettiest Pacific islands we have seen, the wind has cooled the air and made swimming in the gorgeous crystal blue waters of New Caledonia’s southern lagoon a chilly experience. As much as we like New Caledonia, a little less wind and a few more degrees of warmth to air and water would certainly be appreciated.
Thursday, October 18th– Today is a day of work and errands in Nouméa followed by an evening hike partially up one of Nouméa’s seven hills to Au Petit Cafe, a highly recommended dinner establishment. We arrive at their door at 7:00, a bit early for dinner here in French New Caledonia. Do we have a reservation? No, it’s Thursday night. We did not think we would need one. The young lady tells us that they are full. We look around at the mostly empty seats. Sadly, all are reserved. Could we make a reservation for tomorrow night? No, full also. The owner then comes over and says that if we do not mind, he can offer us a table, but we would have to complete our dinner in 1 1/2 hours, Of course we can! We accept and enjoy the best dinner we have had in Nouméa. With time to spare, we linger over our espressos relaxing on their outdoor patio. We leave the restaurant to stroll home at 9:00 just as it is filling up for the evening. The hours of operation of this very popular establishment amaze us: Tuesday through Friday! How many restaurants can make a go of it on just 4 nights per week and no Saturday opening? Apparently this one can!
Friday, October 19th – Our last full day in Nouméa. While The Captain treks from government office to government office officially clearing us out of New Caledonia, The First Mate completes her purchases of fresh veggies and fruit. Left for tomorrow morning is a final stop at the boulangerie for bread and the poissonniere for fish.
In the afternoon, we take bus #40 to the John Marie Jaubau Cultural Center, a vast undertaking that the French built between 1994 to 1998 to appease the Kanaks by honoring their culture. The bus ride turns out to be much more pleasant than expected as we wind through the hills above Centre Ville.
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The Cultural Center itself has its ups and downs. Set on a beautiful piece of land, it is impressive. Stylized modern interpretations of Kanak Cases rise strikingly upward as we walk toward the main building.
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At the front entrance, a remarkable Kanak stature awaits our inspection. While The Captain takes photos of what he considers primitive wishful thinking, The First Mate wonders at the single-minded aspirations of the opposite sex — past, present and future. Somethings never change, she philosophizes.
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Despite the promising beginning, the inside of the building is a disappointment. We had expected exhibits of Kanak culture. Instead we find contemporary art exhibits and what look to be extensive research libraries. All are done exceptionally well, and though we do enjoy the exhibits and browse though the libraries, they just are not what we had come here to see.
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Our biggest disappointment is found outside where a walk dedicated to the heritage of the Kanak people had been let go to ruin. A large park area holds several examples of different tribal Cases. It appears that this open space is used for large gatherings on special feast days, but to us, it has a forgotten and neglected air.
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The inside of the case is open allowing us to enter. What a surprise it is inside! The walls are stone and cement. There is a large central column ascending up to the conical peak of the roof. Those carvings must signify something, but there is no information.
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The intricate lattice work of the reeds and timbers that make up the roof is amazing. We gaze up at its height in wonder. So many questions that we would like to ask, but there is no information available and no guide around to ask. We came to this cultural center to expand our knowledge of the Kanak people, but there was nothing offered here to do so.
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A part of Nouméa that we have not yet explored is the upscale hotel area at Anse Vata. To get there, we take the #11 bus. Not sure where the best spot to disembark is, the decision is made for us when we finally arrive at the end of the line. We descend to walk through a bustling area with hotels and shopping plazas interspersed with luxury gated communities. We find few restaurants that interest us and decide to walk back along the main route hoping to find one that does. We stop at one with the unpromising name of Fun Beach and enjoy a very nice dinner in a quiet restaurant overlooking a rocky beach. To our surprise, all bus service stops at 8:00 each evening, and we have to wait while the restaurant calls up a taxi.
Saturday, October 20th – Up early, The Captain heads off to the boulangerie for 5 baguettes while The First Mate visits the poissonniere for fresh fish. We are checked out of New Caledonia and should be leaving the country and heading offshore, but weather for the passage to Australia is not favorable. We fuel up prior to leaving port and then raising only the jib, make the short sail across to Ilôt Maître in the blustery winds we have come to associate with New Caledonia. Here we will wait until a favorable weather window cycles our way.
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Located less than 5 miles from the harbour of Nouméa, Ilôt Maître is a convenient day trip or weekend break from the city for local residents. The mooring field and anchorage off the island on weekends can resemble a Walmart parking lot, and even from a distance, we can see that this summer Saturday is no exception.
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Nellie and Joseph on s/v Epiphany hail us as we close in on the island. We motor over to anchor behind them. As we finish a belated breakfast, they dinghy over to invite us to join them on the island for a barbecue. They will bring meat and greens. We will add in a potato salad, a pâté and some wine.
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The resort on the island has a barbecue area which is conveniently supplied with chopped wood. We speculate that this providence is to keep barbecue enthusiasts from cutting down the few trees and bushes on the island that serve somewhat as a wind block. We head over at 3:00, the time when most of the day visitors pack up to return to Nouméa. How nice! We have the place almost to ourselves.
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Para-gliders, wind surfers and kite flying are extremely popular off the coast of Grand Terre, and after days and days of ceaseless high winds, we now know why. Quiet, balmy days have been the rarity in our experience.
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We find an empty barbecue, fill it with chopped wood and light the fire. The picnic tables with attached seating are cute, but do not provide us any shelter from the winds.
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We move our stuff from table to table in an attempt to find one that is sheltered from the wind. Keeping bits of salad from blowing away and our precious wine glasses standing upright is a challenge. Even keeping our sausages from rolling off the grill is exciting, but where there’s a will, there’s a way.
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Aprés dinner, Joseph unfurls a bargain-buster $10.00 kite. It’s a bit small by the standards of those we see around us, but that just makes it more of a challenge to fly in these high winds.
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Returning to our boats at sunset, we spend another all too frequently endured blustery night at anchor.
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Sunday, October 21st – It is a bit calmer in the morning when Joseph radios to invite us for a breakfast of cheese and pâtés served with his fresh, warm home-made rolls. Yum! While there, we peruse the photos they had taken of their trip to the Loyalty Islands and down the eastern coast of New Caledonia. They were lucky to have the time to explore, and we decide that if we ever return to New Caledonia, we will follow their footsteps and circumnavigate Grande Terre. As all cruisers do, we discuss our schedules and cruising plans. We are checked out of New Caledonia and heading to Mackay, Australia as soon as a weather window opens up. New Caledonia is one of the few nations that tolerate some leeway between checking out with officialdom and the actual leave taking of its shores. We have heard of boats that have hung around for weeks after clearance ostensibly waiting for that weather window. Our weather window isn’t going to take weeks, but it is taking a bit longer than we had hoped. Nellie and Joseph plan to return to Nouméa in a day or so to check out, fuel and provision. Then they, too, are sailing to Australia and planning to detour to stop at Chesterfield Reef. They pull up a website and show us pictures of the reef. It looks uniquely interesting. We remember how amazing our stop at Minerva Reef was on our return to Tonga from New Zealand. (NOTE: see 2011 – “At Anchor in the Middle of the Ocean”) “It’s just a little detour”, enthuses The First Mate. “It is still a detour,” warns The Captain. “We’ll see what the weather is like on our way out.”
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Another barbecue ashore is planned for this evening as well a another session of flying a very small kite in very strong winds. Today is every bit as windy, if not more so, than yesterday. While our fire is heating up, we take the little kite out to meet the big guys on the windward side of the island, but first we must untangle lines and reattach a broken string, a mishap from the previous outing.
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Repaired and none the worse for the wear, the kite shoots skyward in the stiff breeze. All goes well until our kite takes a sudden swooping out of control dive into the shrubs lining the beach. An impossible tangle of lines as well as another broken one force us to call it quits and head back to our food and drink. These we know we can handle successfully.
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Back at the barbecue, the fire is ready. Battling the wind, we enjoy another good dinner with friends, but returning to the boat in 20+ knot winds and getting soaked in the process, The Captain and First Mate mutually agree that we have had enough of the wind and the barbecue. Tomorrow’s repast will be cooked, served and eaten in the quieter confines of the boat.
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Monday, October 22nd – Once again, the wind blew all night buffeting the boat and jostling us sleepers, but by morning, it had blown itself out. We wake up to a beautifully quiet anchorage.
The morning is spent comfortably at the resort logged onto the internet. Besides checking on the weather offshore, The First Mate is filing her Medicare application which should be an easy matter, but given all things governmental, it is not. The only thing not frustrating about our time spent on shore is that, with the reduced wind, we are not chasing around after loose paper and other items for the first time in days. Would that it could stay like this all day, but by the afternoon, we are again being blown around by an overeager wind. Thankfully, though, things do quiet down again in time for dinner. We are able to set up the table to eat on deck in light northerly 5 – 10 knot winds. This is more like it! We relax and linger over our wine well into the evening. Such a simple pleasure!
Tuesday, October 23rd – Maybe we’re turning a corner! Light winds from the north/northwest continued all night and into the morning. What a contrast to the buffeting we’ve been taking! Under a slightly cloudy sky, it feels like it’s going to be a warm day. The Captain and First Mate even talk of an afternoon snorkel out on the nearby reef. We head ashore to log onto the internet to check on the weather for our passage to Australia.
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Weather checked, The Captain tries his hand with The First Mate’s failed Medicare Application. What a mess this has become for something that should be so easy! Even the really dumb can sign up for Medicare. Why can’t she? The First Mate knows she has a social security number and knows she has regularly been receiving documents from social security mainly telling her that she has not worked enough to qualify for social security benefits on her own, but for some reason, on the Social Security internet site, she does not exist or maybe never existed. She pinches herself. Yup, she’s here. What’s wrong with them?
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Our afternoon snorkel is nixed as winds build again. With seas churning around us, we are being bounced around most uncomfortably, and added to our dismay, the winds have veered to west. This is the only anchorage off Ilôt Maître, and it does not offer any shelter from west winds. We are now being blown toward shore. We do not want to let out more anchor chain because we know it shallows up quickly behind us. Instead, The Captain decides to pull up anchor and motor further out to drop and set the anchor again. Afternoon drags on into evening. Winds remain in the 20’s. We spend a miserable night being rocked from one side of our bed to the other. Enough already! We want some peace!
Wednesday, October 24th – The seas around us are so rough that our usual morning trip ashore to check the internet is abandoned. It would be a wild, rough, wet ride in the dinghy. We have also had enough of this anchorage and decide to head back into Nouméa Harbour which is the only nearby anchorage that should offer us more protection and less bounce — we hope. We are going to have to anchor somewhere in the harbor since our clearance out of the country means we should not be in the marina or anywhere on land for that matter. If only the weather would clear up off shore, we could be off! We head back into the harbor we had thought we had left for good 3 days ago and squeeze Avante into a small area between boats on moorings. Initially, conditions are much better. The First Mate looks longingly toward shore thinking how nice dinner in a local restaurant would be. So close and yet so far away. The day wears on, and our much better conditions deteriorate as winds and seas increase proportionately. By nightfall, we are setting personal records for the amount of rocking and rolling one can endure. Battered by the winds, bruised by the seas, “We might as well be on passage,” thinks The First Mate as she applies her sea sickness patch in preparation for a hoped-for departure tomorrow.
Thursday, October 25th – Looks like today is the day. The weather window is finally opening up. The wind is forecast to start backing to the south later today, and the 30 – 35 knot winds between New Caledonia and Australia are disappearing from the GRIB charts. We will soon be on our way to Australia! “Don’t forget Chesterfield Reef” cautions The First Mate. “We’ll see” is all she gets from The Captain by way of response.
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weather is partly to mostly cloudy. It’s a little cool, but the winds
right now are light and from the W/SW. Our plan is to head back to Ilôt
Maître for a final check on the internet followed by a quick lunch
before heading offshore about 2:00. We do all the above and by 12:55,
we are set to leave except for a sudden squall sweeping in and over us.
Forget leave taking for the moment. Who wants to leave in the rain?
Squall over. We start out in heavy overcast with a further threat of
rain bearing down on us. We motor out through the Passe de Dumbéa and
put in the first reef as we raise sails. We have finally left
wind-centered New Caledonia and are on our way to our next port of
call: Mackay, Australia.
In her travels across the Pacific visiting its many island nations, The First Mate has discovered that a word or a short phrase often comes to mind to encapsulate their thoughts and feelings about a country. “Like Pavlov’s dogs, these islands have unconsciously trained us,” thinks The First Mate. When one mentions Fiji to The Captain, he immediately thinks “Reefs”. Mention New Caledonia to The First Mate, and she will respond with “Winds”. The issue with the winds of New Caledonia is that they seem to constantly blow at 15 to 25 knots. That is not a gentle breeze. That is wind! If we had been here in the summer, their cooling effect would have been greatly appreciated. However, we were there in spring. Great though those winds were for sailing, they negatively impacted everything else we did. Too cold to swim, too rough to snorkel, too chilled to eat on deck, too windblown to fully enjoy a barbecue on shore.
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We anchored off some of the most beautiful Pacific islands we have seen in some of the most blustery, uncomfortable conditions we have met.
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Does this all mean that we did not like New Caledonia? Not at all! We loved it. Who could not with daily fresh baguettes, creamy cheeses, rich pâtés and fine French wine? French Nouméa was a joy to us Pacific island cruisers. We marveled at the pristine white-sand islands of the southern lagoon and enjoyed our solitary walks. Would we return? You bet! We do hope to for there is a lot of New Caledonia we did not have time to see and explore, but for now, we are off to Australia and another chapter to add to our memoirs.