Author: Pam
This week was a combination of organizing the trades people we need to get Starship sorted, learning our way around our immediate neighborhood, working on our seemingly endless list of administrative tasks and immersing ourselves back into the cruising life and community. Each day seems to have had elements of all of the above, leaving us with the feeling of plugging along through a list again, which seems to be par for the course whenever we are in a marina.
First thing Monday morning we headed up to the office to check in and organize help moving to Starship’s new home in “C9”. A slip (or pen for our Aussie friends) that we said, sure we can fit in there when it was presented as the only option in this huge marina. We walked over and took another look before we moved and were immediately reminded, yes we will fit, but yikes it is going to be tight. After closer examination of how narrow the fairway is we abandoned the idea of parking stern in. We waited about an hour for one of the marina employees to come and say he was ready to catch our lines. Rebecca and Graeme had also offered to help, so Graeme was on the bow with me and Rebecca headed over to “C” dock. Well, it was a two times is a charm parking attempt. Graeme’s job was to tell Scott when to start turning into the slip, but not being familiar with Starship’s slow as a dog response his call was just a tad too late and we ended up basically wedged sideways in the mouth of our slip. The owner of the boat on one side was pushing Starship off of his freshly painted dinghy hanging off of his stern, as it also seemed people came out of the woodwork to help get her pointed back out of the fairway for take two. The second attempt was flawless and Scott stayed calm, cool and collected through the whole ordeal. Besides being jealous of his ability to do this, I am left wondering sometimes if he really knows what is going on from the cockpit. I know for sure he doesn’t have the same perspective as looking at your future neighbor’s face as you are wedged up next to the stern of his boat. But, once again he parked our beast and though we have to get on and off amidships and our stern is out past the dock, we fit, well kind of sort of.
On Monday evening Tugdual stopped by to say hello. He is an acquaintance of our friend Bruce in Newcastle and after receiving email of our arrival, he came by to offer his local knowledge. He said he knew the canvas maker we were referred to by Bruce in Newcastle and said he would bring him by the boat the next day. He recommended the electrician I had asked earlier in the day for his card and said he would be seeing him that evening and would ask him to stop by as well. He is a math teacher, owns a Kelly Peterson 44 here in the marina and is a father of two young daughters. It is amazing the difference it makes to meet people who will share the local knowledge, I’m sure he will be a wonderful connection for us.
By Tuesday we had two quotes for a new dodger. The quotes were comparable, but we decided to go with James, who is Australian and has done work for Bruce, our friend from Newcastle in the past. We decided our ten words of French would not get us the dodger we want or need, so being able to communicate was a definite plus. James has some good ideas on how to make the dodge simpler and hopefully stronger. Unfortunately, he is not able to begin the construction until July 7th and has estimated two weeks for the job. This delay increases our planned one week stay in New Caledonia to at least six, we are very hopeful his estimation is accurate and we can be back underway by July 20th.
On Tuesday evening we had our first “sundowner” on Starship of the season. Uta and George from “Miami” and Graeme and Rebecca from “Listowel Lady” came over and we chatted the evening away sharing past and planned adventures. Scott’s favorite story of the evening was the one Uta shared about the time she caught a shark while fishing from their dinghy, which dragged her, the dinghy and dinghy anchor before she could cut it free. When George came up from diving, he reported he had seen a shark in distress, to which Uta responded , “oh really, how strange.” It was a really nice evening and a nice way to feel like we are back in the cruising community.
We also found a mechanic (Patrick) who diagnosed the problem with our engine. We are still a bit awe struck that our brand new baby gave us a lick of trouble, but we are apparently not completely out of the engine doghouse, for reasons we can not even begin to fathom. It turns out the electronics box that controls all of the electronics for the engine had an internal short and needs to be replaced. This was not a result of seawater from the wave, it was just going to happen sooner or later. Patrick took the engine warranty documentation to the Volvo dealer as proof of the age of the engine and they have ordered the part from the US which is suppose to arrive next week. Box number two ticked.
On Thursday evenings in Noumea there is a festival with a theme. This Thursday was the Island of Ouvea, one of the Loyalty Islands. We walked to the Plaza de Cocotiea (the town center) with Graeme and Rebecca to experience the culture of this island. There was local fish, fruits, vegetables, carvings, clothing and flower head pieces for sale. It was very crowded which made it difficult to see, but the energy was good and Scott enjoyed his sausage and onion on a bun.
We also experienced the local culture on Saturday evening at the annual music festival that happens throughout New Caledonia. We went to the Plaza de Cocotiea again with Graeme, Rebecca, Caitlin and Dan (they had just arrived from Australia) and listened to music ranging from a local reggae band, a drumming group of children and adults, two really bad bands that we couldn’t figure out how they got to be there, to the salsa band with Latino singers from Australia. It was obviously a not to be missed event by the size of the crowd. I had been feeling like I was coming down with something all day, but I was happy I didn’t miss out on the fun.
By Friday I had eaten tuna five or six times, I lost count. The fish market next to the boat is very nice and there does not seem to be a lack of Thon in New Caledonia, well not yet anyway.
As mentioned we discovered the anchor windlass was not a happy camper during our arrival in Noumea. This was a disappointing discovery since we had it installed in New Zealand, repaired in New Zealand and then repaired again in Australia. It is another example of gear on the boat that has been non-operational more than it has actually worked. It is also the piece of gear that put the nail in the coffin for buying second hand equipment, at least if it has a motor or moving parts. We were ready to bite the bullet and buy a new one here in Noumea so we would have the piece of mind you need when anchoring. We went to the chandlery and researched our options. There was only one option that would be adequate for Starship and upon closer inspection Scott discovered it did not have a manual recovery option. Without this safety feature it was not an option for us and the staff at the Chandlery were surprised that they were selling windlasses without that feature. However, the week ended on a very high note after Scott and Dave from “Harmonica” spent the entire day on Sunday taking apart our windlass, cleaning the motor and reinstalling it with their fingers crossed. Dave’s dog with a bone persistence and previous experience with his own dodgy windlass proved to be just what ours needed. They were champs and at the moment it is purring like a kitten and Scott now knows how to take it apart if we need to again in the future, which was a great bonus. Box number three ticked. After their hard day of work we spent the evening with Dave and Jan on “Harmonica” and had the pleasure of meeting Cam and Arnie from “Jade”. It was a lovely way to end the week.
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