by Judy Handley | Oct 9, 2007 | New Caledonia, Sailing Logs Year 2 |
Day 168, Year 2: Exploring Kuto
Date: Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Weather: Another New Caledonia Beauty
Location: Kuto Bay, Isle of Pines, New Caledonia
Early this morning we went to shore to check out the possibility of renting cars tomorrow for a group of us to tour the island. The Hotel Kou-Bugny is right on the beach and it rents cars. We made the arrangements for tomorrow and then kept walking. Just past the hotel there is a path leading to Baie de Kanumera. Baie de Kuto is on one side of a peninsula and Baie de Kanumera is on the other side. Kuto is the best anchorage, but most definitely Kanamera is the most beautiful. At the head of
the bay there is a huge rock, Le Rocher, totally covered with vegetation and it is linked to the mainland by a white sand walkway. There are only two things that are forbidden on Isle of Pines. One is topless bathing and the other is climbing the wooden stairs that lead to the top of Le Rocher. It is most tempting, but absolutely tabu. We took lots of pictures of the bay and then walked out on Presqu’lle Isle or the Kuto Peninsula. In the 1800’s France built a prison on the Isle of Pines to
the north of Kuto. On this peninsula, they built a home for the Governor and surrounded it with a tall stone wall as a precaution in case any prisoners should escape. Today there is modern wharf on the peninsula and the old Governor’s home is now the gendarmerie. There is also the Boutique Creations Ile des Pins. Naturally we had to check this out as we had read about the boutique’s owner, Hilary Roots, her selection of books for sale, and the hand-painted clothing done by Albert. We had not
read about a young woman named Marian who has a separate shop selling jewelry she makes from shells, seeds, and coral, and some small wood carvings. Marian was a wealth of of information about places to snorkel and about the names of trees that are the source of seeds for her jewelry and the wood for the carvings.
After visiting the boutique and the wharf, we walked back to the main road and headed north to the prison ruins. The prison was built around 1870 and was used until 1913. It is now just rock walls and buildings overgrown with vines. Nature is doing a great job of reclaiming the land, but we really enjoyed walking through the structures. Mark became my guide as he explained what he thought each building must have been used for based on evidence I didn’t notice. Some of the buildings had small,
single cells, but then another building had very large rooms. Mark pointed out how the holes in the wall appeared to once hold the supports for bunks for inmates who were allowed to be housed together. He also noticed metal supports over every window that looked like they once held some sort of sun awning. As we were leaving, he also noticed the shards of glass that were imbedded in the top of the rock wall to deter prisoners from escaping over the top. I thanked him for the guided tour and suggested
a new career for him–prison guide! We also visited a building that houses a water reservoir. It was built at the same time as the prison and has been restored and is still used today.
I forgot to mention that just across the road from the prison ruins there was a rotisserie, a source of lunch. We ordered what we thought was going to be sausage and french fries. We got the fries, but the “sausage” was foot-long American-style hotdogs sans bread. Each order was enough for two people, so next time we will order only one for the both of us. After eating lunch and visiting the ruins, we walked another kilometer north to the Cimetiere des Deportes. In France in 1871, just after
the prison was built, there was an uprising in Paris and 3,000 people were deported to the new prison in New Caledonia. Over 240 of these people died on the island and were buried in this cemetary. The graves are very simple, small rectangles surrounded by stone. The political prisoners still living were given amnesty in 1879, and after that true convicts from France populated the island prison.
We hitched a ride from a local back to Kuto, went back to Windbird to regroup, and then headed back to shore to snorkel around Le Rocher, the rock in Baie de Kanumera. Marian at the boutique had told us that it was good snorkeling, and she didn’t mislead us. After getting over being greeted by a poisonous water snake, Mark, Marie of Ranger, and myself slid into the water. Obviously the fish here are fed. We have never snorkled where the fish were so friendly. Marie discovered a little alcove
in the rock where Gorgonian sea fans were in abundance. We need to go back during the morning to get good pictures of the sea fans and to enjoy the friendly fish once again.
Tomorrow at 7:30 we meet Ranger, Galaxy, Incognita, and Scot Free on shore to go rent the cars and start our day of island exploration. Ten of us are going to squeeze into two small cars, so it should be a most interesting day.
by Judy Handley | Oct 8, 2007 | New Caledonia, Sailing Logs Year 2 |
Day 167, Year 2: Arrival in Isle of Pines
Date: Monday, October 8, 2007
Weather: Sunny Day, Winds NE 10-12, Turning SE 10 in Anchorage
Latitude: S 22 degrees 39.477 minutes
Longitude: E 167 degrees 26.403 minutes
Location: Kuto Bay, Isle of Pines, New Caledonia
Interesting day. The waxing moon, just barely a crescent, came up just before the sun. It was a glorious morning. We had spent the night slowing ourselves down so we would reach the Passe de la Sarcelle at 10:40 AM, our best estimate of low tide. We had used local tide charts to reach this conclusion, but we now think our information was just not correct. At 7:30 AM, Scot Free II, Ranger, and Incognita arrived at the pass and decided to enter. They reported back that it was calm and that they
had only a half knot current against them. Since we had not planned to enter until 10:40, we noted the information, took the reef out of our headsail, and sailed as fast as we could. We had only turned the motor on twice during the trip at this point, and only then to motor to the east into the wind to slow ourselves down. In the end, that was a bad decision, but based on the information we had it seemed best at the time.
We arrived at the pass at 9:40, an hour before mean low according to our information. But it was not a pretty sight. The sea was a seething froth of white and there was no way to tell what was reef and what was not. We entered the seething water and found ourselves surfing down six to nine foot waves that were coming from directly behind us. Mark was having to wrestle with the helm to keep Windbird on course so I rolled in the headsail giving him a little more control and then went out on the
bow to watch out for shallow water. At this point we were totally relying on the electronic charts and hoping that they were correct. In some places they are a few hundred feet off, sometimes more, sometimes less, so when you first arrive in a new location you have to watch carefully until the offset can be established. Once in the middle of the pass, we could see the reef on each side and a small islet ahead. Using those as points of reference, we deemed that the charts looked roughly correct,
so we relaxed a little and surfed our way through. Galaxy was behind us and they chose to sail up close to the reef on the northern side of the pass and follow the reef in. Theirs turned out to be a much better choice as they had much calmer waters had only three knots of current against them at their worst point. We had three, then four, then finally back to two the further in we got. We were running the motor at 2800 RPM’s and still going only three to four knots. Once we got through the pass,
we continued to motor through the lagoon. We had talked to Bruce on Incognita and he had taken a shortcut through the reef-laden lagoon and reported that the path was very wide and easy, so we went that way. We arrived in the Baie de Kuto anchorage not far behind Ranger, so the shortcut clipped off almost two hours of motoring through the lagoon. Galaxy came in shortly after us, along with two other boats. There were already about ten boats in the anchorage, so we have lots of company here in
beautiful Isle of Pines.
We set the anchor and almost immediately a beautiful green turtle came to the surface of the turquoise water to greet us. She surfaced four more times before swimming away, and we felt warmly welcomed to New Caledonia’s southern lagoon. The colors of the water here are not quite as stunning as in Ouvea, but the tall pines and volcanic peak of Pic N’ga hovering over the anchorage give it a very different look. There are white sand beaches here, plenty of them, but not one that is 25 kilometers
long. The Lonely Planet says you can walk to the top of the 262 meter summit of Pic N’ga in only 45 minutes. Bet it takes us two to three hours!
We want to spend time in this anchorage exploring the nearby sights, but we also want to go around to another anchorage near Vao. From there, you can explore the Baie de Upi, one of New Caledonia’s gems. It is very shallow so you can only explore in a dinghy or you can rent a sailing pirogue, a traditional outrigger with a triangular sail. Pictures of this bay are so beautiful and I really want to go there. From the upper reaches of that bay, you can walk to a beautiful blue hole, a clear blue
pool cut off from the ocean by a reef, where they say the snorkeling is delightful.
As soon as we got here, we got the dinghy in the water and we going to shore to explore. But then we found out that there was a late afternoon 60th birthday party on shore for Maree on Galaxie. We met a few new cruisers and had fun celebrating with Maree. Tomorrow we will explore.
by Judy Handley | Oct 7, 2007 | New Caledonia, Sailing Logs Year 2 |
Day 166, Year 2: Overnight Passage to Isle of Pines
Date: Sunday, October 7, 2007
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Winds ESE 15
Latitude: S 21 degrees 19.262 minutes
Longitude: E 166 degrees 33.600 minutes
Location: On Passage from Loyalty Islands to Isle of Pines, New Caledonia
So far we are having a rather uneventful passage to the Isle of Pines. New Caledonia is comprised of the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands of Ouvea, Lifou, and Mare, and the Isle of Pines. Grande Terre is long and thin and lies northwest to southeast. The Loyalties lie in a row in the same direction to the east of Grande Terre. And if you think of New Caledonia as an exclamation mark, the Isle of Pines is the dot at the bottom of the mark. It is an island that is surrounded by
many small islets and is renowned for its beautiful waters and tall Araucaria pines. We are looking forward to our arrival tomorrow afternoon, but for now southeast is the theme. We are headed basically in that direction and the winds are coming from that direction. The winds are less than yesterday and the seas seemed to have calmed, so even though we are sailing as directly into the wind as possible, it is not a bad ride. The winds have steadily declined since this morning, however, so at some
point we will probably have to motor sail. For now, however. we are enjoying a nice day of sailing.
On passage, reading is a favorite activity. The last three books I have read had to do with sailing, but now I am reading a novel by Mark Mills, Amagansett. It is a mystery set on the eastern end of Long Island. The book I just finished was “Over the Edge of the World” by Laurence Bergreen. This was about Magellan’s circumnavigation of the globe. Before that I read Tania Aebi’s “I’ve Been Around.” Tania circumnavigated the globe back in the 1980’s as a teenager. Her book about the circumnavigation,
“Maiden Voyage”, was spell-binding, but I must say this recent book was not as interesting. The book before that was Beth Leonard’s “Following Seas” outlining her circumnavigation with her partner Erik Starzinger in the 1990’s. Magellan’s circumnavigation was in the 1500’s. I have been struck with the differences in sailing around the world then and now. Magellan had a compass of sorts, but used celestial navigation and dead reckoning to find his way. In the 1980’s Tania Aebi did exactly the
same. Even though she had a brand new boat, she had no GPS as it was not available, and no auto pilot. Even in the early 1990’s, Beth Leonard had no GPS, but she did have an auto pilot. As I mentioned in a log a couple of days ago, a few of us were together for the evening and we had a discussion on what is essential for sailing around the world today. The answer to that question all depends on your requirements. It is totally possible to circumnavigate single-handed with just a compass using
celestial navigation and a windvane for self-steering. This is what Tania did, but we have not met one boat out here today without a GPS. We made the decision early on that we were not heading out here to camp out or do a bare bones circumnavigation. So what is essential for us? A boat you can trust with good sails, rigging, and ground tackle is essential–not even on the list because you can’t begin without this level. From there . . .
Number 1: A Reliable Engine
Number 2: Auto Pilot
Number 3: GPS and Navigation Instruments for Wind, Depth, and Speed
Number 4: Ham Radio for Communication
Number 5: Multiple Computers–One for navigation and storage of photos, one for general use, and one for back-up. Most people have only one computer, but we seemed to be more plugged in than most.
Number 6: Reliable Dinghy and Dinghy Motor–This is your transportation to and from land and is very important. There are some hard core sailors out here that have only a rowing dinghy, no motor, but that is not for us.
Number 7: Refrigeration and Freezer–Unlike in Magellan’s time, we no longer need to depend on just hardtack and wine for our provisions. We could do without the freezer, but definitely not without the refrigerator. And the freezer just makes life so much easier.
Number 8: A cockpit enclosure to keep dry (and warm when it is chilly)
Number 9: Watermaker–We could do without, but we like the convenience.
Number 10: A Sense of Adventure!
I’ve written this list very quickly and might find that I need to adjust it, but I just wanted to get it down before I forgot what is important and what is not for Windbird.
while I’m at it, there is one thing we have that is not very important to us – radar. We almost never use it.
If you have questions or thoughts on the matter, please send us a comment. We will try to get back to you when we reach Noumea late next week.
by Judy Handley | Oct 6, 2007 | New Caledonia, Sailing Logs Year 2 |
Day 165, Year 2: Still Here . . .
Date: Saturday, October 6, 2007
Weather: Nice Day with Some Clouds
Location: Mouli, Island of Ouvea in the Loyalties, New Caledonia
I hardly stuck my head outside the cabin today, so I’m not really sure what the weather was like. But every time I looked out, I didn’t see that beautiful blue sky I have been seeing for the past week. Scot Free left the anchorage just after 6 AM this morning, but they were back by 8 AM. Gerry knew he would be heading into the wind, but he had hoped to be able to sail tight to the wind and keep close to the rhumb line. That was not the case and the seas were higher than expected, so he decided
to turn around and try again tomorrow. Based on his experience and our weather information, we decided to stay put until tomorrow as well. Actually, I voted to leave, but Mark was being a prudent captain and thought we should wait based on the sea state. So we are still here.
We will leave tomorrow morning and one way or another (sailing or motoring), and we will arrive in Isle of Pines on Monday. Scot Free, Ranger, Galaxie, and Incognita are also planning on heading out in the morning. Today Mark spent his day trying to figure out a problem he has been having with GRIB file data the past week and I spent the day researching the Isle of Pines anchorages and naming photos to be posted on the web once we arrive in Noumea. About a week ago Mark started getting GRIBS that
include Australia so he could start watching the weather patterns. But as he discovered today, somehow the larger GRIBS caused a problem with the program that reads the data. So know he thinks he knows how to fix the problem.
We will leave here at 8:30 in the morning and arrive at the pass that will lead us into the Isle of Pines about 24 hours later. Sometime Monday afternoon we will arrive in Kuto Bay on the Ile des Pins or Isle of Pines. Captain Cook was the first European explorer to sight these islands. He didn’t actually land on the Isle of Pines as the surrounding reefs made that too difficult. He did land on a nearby islet and stayed just long enough to have the signature tall pines of this area, the Araucaria
cookii, named after him.
by Judy Handley | Oct 5, 2007 | New Caledonia, Sailing Logs Year 2 |
Day 164, Year 2: Silver Bells and Cockle Shells
Date: Friday, October 5, 2007
Weather: Same Old, Same Old–Another Perfect Day
Location: Mouli, Island of Ouvea in the Loyalties, New Caledonia
There is a shell here that is abundant on the beach. It is a bivalve, basically white, sometimes with some pink to orange spots, and it has one flat side. I picked some up the other day, brought them back to the boat, and washed and dried them. What seemed like a nondescript shell on the beach began to look beautiful to me, so I looked in our only shell book and identified the shells as half-heart cockles. According to our book this is an uncommon Indo-Pacific shell. Whether or not uncommon,
I decided that I wanted to collect as many as possible today. Low-tide was at 7:30 AM, so just after we ate breakfast, we headed to shore to walk the incredibly beautiful white sand beach and pick up cockle shells. We tried to remember the nursery rhyme with “cockle shells” in it, but it didn’t come to us right away. All we could remember is “silver bells and cockle shells” and quickly the conversation went in another direction. When we finished our early morning collection we went back out
to Windbird and saw that Donna and Gerry of Scot Free II were visiting with Ranger. We had talked on the radio earlier about getting together to discuss the weather, so we dropped off our shells on Windbird and went over to Ranger. When I announced that we had been collecting cockle shells, Paul immediately started reciting, “Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?” Of course, Mary’s garden grows with “silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maidens in a row.”
We spent a great deal of the morning on Ranger visiting and discussing the various possibilities for getting from here to the Isles of Pines that are south-southeast of here with winds that are blowing from the east-southeast. We have been watching the weather everyday and Mark has produced new spreadsheets based on the latest information. Whether to leave tomorrow or Sunday is one of the questions, but Gerry decided that he is leaving tomorrow morning around 6 AM. Ranger and Windbird are going
to wait to hear from him once he is out there and then decide whether or not we are leaving tomorrow or the next day. This is one passage where we might have to tack back and forth to get to our destination. Usually we just run a straight rhumb line, but that might not be possible this time.
We went back to shore in the afternoon with Scot Free and Ranger. While walking up the road, a family came out to say bon jour. Gerry could talk with them and he was asking if there is a craft market here on Tuesdays. I read that in a publication, but we have seen no evidence of anything like that. The family said that there is not, but they produced a backpack with some beautiful cowrie shells that they would sell to us. We all ended up with one or more beautiful cowrie shells and then we walked
on to the Cocotier homestay to visit the boutique there. They have some beautiful wood carvings there, but they are quite pricey. So we enjoyed “window” shopping. We ended up staying there and having a couple of beers and just enjoying the afternoon together. We had a discussion about what is essential and what is not for each of us sailing around the world, and I am planning on writing about that in tomorrow’s log.
Last night I posed a question in my log, and our daughter Heather got back to us right away with her thoughts on the subject. “IF the paper napkins are thrown overboard far enough from land that they won’t litter the beaches, and IF the paper napkins are fully exposed to the water (i.e. not in a trash bag), then they probably don’t pose a big problem. They are definitely easily broken down. However, depending on what your detergent is, it may not be a big problem either (phosphates and nitrates
are discouraged, as they are nutrients that can cause algal blooms). So the question comes down to which requires more fossil fuel energy and creates more pollution in production … paper napkins or detergent? And I really don’t know the answer to that.” When we get to Noumea and high speed internet, we will see if anyone else decided to weigh-in on this question and report those thoughts then.
The stop here in Ouvea has been unbelievably relaxing. Mark and I don’t usually enjoy just doing nothing, but we have enjoyed doing just that here in Ouvea. Being anchored here in Ouvea off the tribu de Mouli has been one of our most memorable anchorages of this cruising season. Now on to the Isle of Pines.
by Judy Handley | Oct 4, 2007 | New Caledonia, Sailing Logs Year 2 |
Day 163, Year 2: Hanging Out in Ouvea
Date: Thursday, October 4, 2007
Weather: Another Perfect Day
Location: Mouli, Island of ouvea in the Loyalties, New Caledonia
If you were going to pick a spot to just “hang out” and wait for the weather, this is great choice. The scenery doesn’t get much better and the weather is beautiful. I just wish there were more underwater possibilities. We have now seen the island and explored the tribu of Mouli where we are anchored. Mark and I rode our bikes to the end of the island today and went snorkeling. The point of the island was beautiful and the water was clear and warm, but we saw very little coral and only a few
fish. I did succeed in finding at least one anemonefish family, my goal for every snorkel, and there were some pretty parrotfish. But it was not a snorkeler’s delight.
We explored some side roads on our way back to Mouli. One led us out into an undeveloped area and the other led us to a wharf built in 2005 to accommodate cruise ship transports when they come to Ouvea. We headed back to Mouli and we saw Paul and Marie and Donna and Gerry walking up the road. We caught up with them and chatted. Donna, Marie, and I spotted some beautiful beetles. They unfortunately look like Japanese beetle relatives, but their colors were bright and beautiful, so we spent time
taking some photos. The guys headed on to the little store. They were looking for the man we rented cars from. Ranger and Scot Free still owe him for some fuel, but the store was closed and no one was around. We talked and waited, but even by 3:45 PM the store was still not open. We gave up for today and they will try again tomorrow.
We have a least one or two more days here before we can take off for the the Iles of Pines. When we do leave, we will have to travel for a day, a night, and arrive in the late afternoon of the next day. Mark and I have been looking at the latest weather information trying to figure out if there is any way to leave here sooner and still have a good ride south, but it doesn’t look promising. If we do have to wait another day or two, I will work on naming photos and studying our next location.
Now I have a question for those of you reading this log. We have been using cloth napkins thinking that choice is better for the ocean environment than throwing paper napkins overboard. But in a conversation with Gerry on Scot Free II, he pointed out to me that washing cloth napkins and throwing laundry detergent water overboard is actually worse for the environment than the paper. But then I am going to have laundry detergent water anyway when I wash our clothes, and I just include the napkins
in that wash. So is it really worse for the environment to use cloth napkins? If you have thoughts on this, please send them as a comment. We won’t be able to read those until we reach Noumea in another week and half or so, but I will be interested in what you think.
