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.
