Day 160, Year 2: Rainy Day in Ouvea
Date: Monday, October 1, 2007
Weather: One Moment of Early Morning Sunshine, Then Overcast and Rainy
Location: Mouli, Island of ouvea in the Loyalties, New Caledonia
Today was not the day for drying laundry. The very early morning was cloudy, but then the skies cleared and we had some sunshine. That lasted only long enough for me to get my laundry out on the life lines and for Mark to give the dinghy a good scrubbing. The fiberglass floor had gotten really grimy and the gray rubber pontoons were a little grayer than they should have been. So with a clean dinghy and clean clothes hanging out to dry, we, along with Ranger and Scot Free II, took our dinghies
to shore and went in search of the village chief to pay our respects. It is an old custom here for visitors to a village to present the chief with a small gift. We have read that traditionally a few meters of cloth, some money, and either some food items or something else you have chosen should br presented as a token of respect. Off we went looking for the chief’s domain. I remembered reading that we would recognize the compound by the logs surrounding it. I thought the logs would be piled
around, but what we found was an area fenced off by large driftwood logs standing upright. It was another version of a tree fence. A local confirmed that we were in the right place, but we could find no one at home. Inside the driftwood palisade there were three or four traditional cases or homes and a huge long meeting house. Cases are cylindrical with steeply pitched thatched roofs and the long meeting house had a thatched roof and open sides. Since no one was around we decided to come back
later, but just as we were leaving a young woman talked with Gerry and explained that the chief has been in Noumea for the past week, but that his young son would welcome us. Jean-Pierre was a very expressive young man, probably in his late twenties or early thirties. He spoke French so Gerry was the only one who could understand. Once again we are so indebted to Gerry for being about to translate for us. We have read that almost no one on this island speaks English and our experiences so far
bear this out. Sign language only goes so far.
After meeting with Jean-Pierre we were free to roam about the island, snorkel and swim in the water, and take pictures. But about this time the clouds took over and finally the threats of rain became a reality. The startling shades of blue in the lagoon are toned down a bit when there is no sunshine, but this is still a beautiful place, sunshine or not. There is a very picturesque little Catholic Church in Mouli, a couple of gites or backpacker type accommodations, and that is about it. It started
to rain, so Gerry and Donna had to get back to their boat to close up. Paul and Marie, Mark, and I decided to try to walk down the road to the Baie de Lekiny. Ouvea is an atoll with the main island looking something like a very thin crescent moon with little stars (islets) forming the rest of the circle. The water within the circle is called the lagoon. And just north of us there is a bay that goes inland from the lagoon. The paved road that goes from one end of the crescent to the other crosses
over the bay. We had hoped to make it to the bridge as we have read that you can stand there and see beautiful fish entering the bay. Well, we didn’t make it. The rain persisted and the three or four mile walk just got longer and longer. We decided to try again tomorrow either by bicycle or dinghy. But one way or the other we will get there tomorrow.
By the time we returned to Windbird, the laundry was much wetter than when we left it and the rain looked like it had set in for the remainder of the day. We invited Ranger and Scot Free over for dinner so we could discuss plans for seeing more of this beautiful island. We aren’t sure how many more days we will spend here, but at least three or four. We will then look for a weather window to allow us to sail south to the Iles of Pines.
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| 071001 Day 160 Loyalty Islands, New Cal–Ashore in Village of Mouli |
