Sunday, June 15, 2008

Journal Entry - June 15, 2008 Noumea, New Caledonia – Arrival Day


Position: 22˚16’.66 S 166˚26’.37 E

Author: Scott

Noumea is a city that many people in America have never heard of and yet it is a full fledged city of traffic, people, food, shopping, pollution and the other various attributes we all associate with urban living. Actually, Noumea is probably the first of many destinations this cruising year that many people in America have little knowledge of.

Today we completed out voyage from Koumac under mostly blue skies. We entered the barrier reef through the Passe de Uitof under rainy conditions (just to make the entire event even more exciting). However, the entry through the pass was straightforward and much less complicated than Passe de Koumac. We sort of had an arrival plan but it was very loosely defined. Since we were arriving on Sunday, ahead of schedule, we knew that the Port Moselle Marina office would be closed. This limited our options and would mean that the marina’s invitation to provide us with a guide to our slip would not be an option on Sunday. Our plan was to either anchor in the bay with the other cruising boats, or pull up to the visitor’s dock, if there was available space. In either case we would then check in with the office first thing on Monday morning.

The sail inside the barrier reef was absolutely stunning. To our left were the blue and purple mountains that form the spine of New Caledonia. The water was deep turquoise blue and the world’s larges lagoon was studded with islands and “ilots” that would fit perfectly on the front of any South Pacific travel brochure with lovely white sandy beaches and palm trees. The three hour cruise through the lagoon was beautiful, calm and uneventful. I imaged a bustling lagoon like San Francisco bay but in actuality it was very open with little boat traffic. We still maintained a person on the bow, so lunch was spent sitting on the bow of the dinghy alternating between eating a sandwich and looking through the monocular. I can’t complain however, because Pam got bow duty through the pass in the rain and I got bow duty languishing in the sunshine.

As we reached the entrance to Port Moselle the traffic did increase with a number of vessels ranging from dinghy sailboats to giant cats. As we approached I asked Pam to turn on the windlass (anchor winch) breaker so I could prepare for a possible anchoring. I decided to check the winch out and it was a darn good thing I did, because when I stepped on the switch I was only given a click and no whir of the motor. “Bugger!” Apparently our anchor windlass was playing up again! So, my next move was to pull 30 meters of chain onto the deck by hand in anticipation of the possible anchoring, all the while wondering what happened to our newly repaired anchor windlass.

Anchoring did not turn out to be a necessity. As we approached the marina we were able to follow a few boats into the marina. Pam and I switched positions and Pam began the process of guiding me past the breakwater. We did experience a minor moment of sheer terror when Pam became uncomfortable with the distances to the breakwater and we had to quickly switch positions so that I was on the bow again. The drama ended as quickly as it started and we were inside the secure waters of Port Moselle Marina.

The next bout of drama came when it was time to pull up to the visitor’s dock. We had no problem finding the visitor’s dock, as we had scouted out the marina on our road trip, and the visitor’s dock was wide open on the end tie. However, as we slowly pulled up to the dock no one acknowledged our presence and Pam had to yell to some folks who were just looking at the boats. Within seconds these French speaking sightseers were live participants in our arrival. They grabbed our line, fumbled with the cleat but succeeded in helping us bring Starship to rest along the dock. We had successfully reached Noumea, New Caledonia.

With our feet solidly back on land we started the process of cleaning up the boat and settling ourselves down from the prior dramas. As we were getting settled we were visited by Rebecca and Graeme from “Listowel Lady”. We briefly met Listowel Lady when we were at the fuel dock in Newcastle. They were fueling up and had their two dogs Zeus and Dogga onboard. Apparently Zeus and Dogga were not making the journey to New Caledonia due to quarantine restrictions. Zeus was quite active playing with the infamous Harry, Graeme (Sailability Graeme not Listowel Lady Graeme) and Loretta’s dog. Both dogs are Jack Russells. In Newcastle it was a brief hello that so often can turn into a friendship when you meet up again on foreign territory. This was our experience with Listowel Lady as we ended up at the marina restaurant munching peanuts, drinking cocktails and comparing voyage experiences. It became quickly clear that Graeme’s laid back silly nature and Rebecca’s friendly warmth would make much welcomed cruising buddies. Listowel Lady also ran into bad weather but they ended up making a repair in Coff’s Harbour that saved them from the worst of the madness at sea, though they managed to snap a jib sheet, which is a clear indication of some pretty nasty weather.

Dinner was steaks on the barbie and gooey baked potatoes, a virtual feast! We went to bed dog tired with the satisfaction of reaching another port.

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