Day 171, Year 2: Climb to the Top of Pic N’ga
Date: Friday, October 12, 2007
Weather: Sunny Morning with Partly Cloudy Afternoon
Location: Kuto Bay, Isle of Pines, New Caledonia
The highest spot on Isle of Pines is Pic N’ga, a mere 262 meters high, but a good climb over a rocky track. Paul and Marie of Ranger went with us. We left our boats at 7:30 AM and returned at 11:30, and this included a side trip to Kuto Bay’s only grocery store and bakery. It is looking like we will be leaving early in the morning to head out to some of the islands near the outer reef, so it was time to stock up on the essentials.
The climb to the top of Pic N’ga is advertised as a 45-minute walk, one way. I guess if you only count the time from the bottom of the mountain to the top, that might be the case. But there is the half-kilometer walk from the the main road to the start of the trail, and the walk through the bush to get to the bottom of the mountain. Considering that, I think we made great time and all of us made it to the top. Walking on rocks is not my favorite activity, but the views made the climb totally
worth it. For us, New Caledonia will always be memories of beautiful weather, azure water, and white sand beaches. From the viewpoints on the way up the mountain, and from the top, you could see Isle of Pines in all of its glory. The shades of blue to green in the water and in the sky, contrasted with the white beaches around the island, made quite the picture. My feet hurt tonight, but I’m glad we made the trek.
Later in the day, we went snorkeling around Le Rocher, the huge rock in Kanumera Bay just across from our anchorage. This was our second snorkel there and it did not disappoint. We saw the strangest silver fish today that swim around with their mouths wide open and their jaws dropped down. They look like they have a thin film connecting their dropped jaw to their head. We’ll have to do some research to figure out this one. We revisited the recess in the rock where Gorgonian fans abound and once
again enjoyed the colors from white to pink and red to orange. Mark tried to get a picture of the purple anemone that we saw on our first snorkel around the rock, and then we just enjoyed the abundance of fish of all varieties.
We ended our day with a planning meeting on Ranger. We compared weather information, possible stops between here and Noumea, and waypoints. If we are going to make the Port to Port Rally gathering in Noumea next Friday, we have to get moving. Tomorrow north winds or winds just west of north are predicted, so we have planned a 40-mile trip to the island of Kouare which lies to the west of here. All other possible stops are directly north or right into the wind, so we think we have found a good
alternative. From there we will just have to make decisions day by day to coordinate our island hopping to Noumea with the weather. And hopefully we will get to do a little more snorkeling along the way.
