The Edge of The World

Reaching the edge of the world isn't our claim but the translation of the name of the Bar/Bistro next to the Port Moselle Marina. After we'd cleared in, celebrated and had a big night of sleep we headed in from the Baie D'Orpheliant by dinghy to treat ourselves to a mighty 'Petit Déjeuner' at Le Bout du Monde!

Dinghy jetty beneath the Bistro

We lingered over our omelette, fried eggs and jambon (no bacon here but the ham is devine), cut up baguettes plus several cups of coffee that were so smooth and yummy that The Bloke didn't even require any milk. In a short time we were joined by Julianna and Hugh from Sans Souci plus their sister and brother-in-law crew. Spirits were sky high even if we'd not had much luck logging into the internet hotspot. This pointed to a pressing need to locate SV Tauranga and together visit the Post Office nearby to obtain a local SIM card. This would enable local phone and internet services. We weren't so much after phone services since our Telstra phones are not actually disconnected and can receive calls, plus we have  the Iridium satellite phone. We did however want to be 'www' enabled. It costs 400 XPF (around 6AUD) for a 24 hr connection (unlimited download) or 100XPF (about 1.25AUD) for 1hr.

Hugh, Julianna, The Bloke, me, Josie, and Greg

The trip to the Post Office was interesting. All comers were required to take a ticket and wait their turn; the local French, Kanak and Islanders alike. There were a few instances where locals were not having anything of this ticket taking business but they were very quickly sent to the ticket dispenser in a flurry of protest.

The Bloke specifically asked if the SIM card would work in our Telstra modem." Non"! was the end of the matter even though he'd bought it along. The SIM was popped into the Bloke's iPhone instead with instructions how to request the internet time. The girl across the counter was helpful and gorgeous and The Bloke came away semi-triumphant. The new SIM locked up his phone however, which might not have been 'untethered' from Telstra so the euphoria was short lived. We then decided to resurrect my old iPhone 4 which we'd kept for just such occasions and hoped to use it as a hotspot. Possibly an operating system incompatibility made this a dead end too and the SIM was too large for my phone. With nothing to loose and everything to gain The Bloke put the SIM in the Telstra Modem. Oh, Happy Days!! Although it's a bit of a fiddle to activate the internet via a TXT message on the old phone and then take out the SIM and stick it in the modem, we do at least have a result..... and that's how we roll at the edge of the world!

The dinghy jetty revealed that there were some inventive scrimpers among the live aboard community that we'd observed just outside the marina.

Good Morning New Caledonia!

We had such a weird last night at sea. We couldn't settle into our usual routine. Lunch had been late and too much. Efforts to eat up some of our fresh provisions with an extra large salad didn't pay off. We didn't feel like dinner and to be sure, excitement of making landfall by morning had been mounting. The Bloke would not go below and get his rest despite it being necessary for him to be alert by morning while we negotiated the 'crinkley' bits - The Dumbae Pass, Amedee Lighthouse etc..

We continued to be bothered by strange current that twice spun us about which must have been very disconcerting for Cruising Kitty, a Rally boat that had been ghosting us on our southern horizon all night. Somehow they had become disconnected from Paw Patrol and were lagging behind.

We thought we should spruce up and fly our new Red Ensign - the other being very faded

Land hiding beneath those clouds and we were beginning to smell it too

Seeing as we were in New Caledonian waters it was time to raise the courtesy and quarantine flags

We were really a bit fatigued, so when the radio started to crackle to life at dawn, it was a bit difficult to make sense of what were were hearing. An Australian girl's voice announcing something like "This is Australian Woolchip Wungo". The Bloke cottoned on much sooner than me hearing the transmission through a different speaker and asked in a jocular fashion, if we were at war with France. Of course not, it was just the HMAS Woolongong- or Australian Warship Woolongong, heading into Noumea. Oh, how very nice of them to escort us in and just as well that we'd improved our appearance!

Clearly, our AIS was on the job!

Early glimpses of the outline of the Amedee Lighthouse - although it had been flashing at us half the night.

We were very excited to discover that Two Up Together, one of the two catamarans that had left the previous week, had spotted us on AIS and were coming out to greet us. Our journey time from the Gold Coast Seaway to the pass through the Reef at Amadee was exactly 6 days.

   

It doesn't get much better than that - being greeted!

We flirted and took photos of our boats for a while and exchanged information before heading into Port Moselle to complete our arrival formalities and re-connect with the rest of the  Rally fleet.

Our flags were the wrong way round but we fixed it as soon as we realised

One of the benefits of joining The Downunder Go East Rally was that much of the arrival formalities and running around was being taken care of by an agent - the marvelous Herve. We'd arrived at the tail end of a 4 day public holiday and none of the earlier arrivals had been able to clear in. Everyone had been confined to their vessels pending the first working day. The delay in departure due to the cyclone, also meant that marina berth reservations were all messed up. Everyone was anchored out in the Baie De Orphelinat. The Bloke took the dinghy into Port Moselle Marina to fill in the Customs forms and drop off Passports etc and we joined the queue to be visited by 'Biosecurity'. Our proximity to the first of the 'after lunch bunch' rather than our arrival time, meant that we were the 2nd boat after lunch to be inspected. This didn't give us enough time to eat up or heat up more of our fresh produce and we greeted the Biosecurity staff with cheeks bulging with cherry tomatoes -ooops!

John Henbrow - Rally organizer delivering the inspectors.

   

Enough with the P's and Q's - we'd been cleared in.
With the formalities completed and $30 of fresh produce destined for the incinerator it was time to celebrate our achievement - safely crossing the Tasman/Coral Sea, shorthanded to a foreign land. A culmination of 6 months of planning and work.

Q flag down and Veuve Cliquot out of the fridge

Time to celebrate - and phone the family!

The sun had barely finished setting before we were down the companionway and in our bunk for the first time in 6 days for a leaden and dreamless sleep.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Passage to New Caledonia - Day 6

Following a difficult night with a strange eddying current that caused the headsail to back, the boat to stop, go fastest in the gentler puffs of breeze and slowest in the gusts from 18-20kt. It was a relief when morning finally arrived. Oddly, every night on this trip, the minute the sun went down everything erupted.

Dawn

AIS Target reassured us that the AIS was functioning despite worries that it was not.

View through a porthole - just wind and water.

Feeling relaxed for a moment

 

The Bloke in one of the Lazerettes while the contents had to be placed elsewhere

Just when we were thinking of relaxing the Bloke convinced himself that he could hear 'a noise' emanating from somewhere that equated to the steering. A lazerette needed to be emptied to even 'look' at the steering apparatus. Oh happy day. We'd spent the day on a strenuous heal and now this. It proved to be nothing but a thorough burst of Innox spray was delivered as a precaution.

Zapping along

 

A spangled sunset left us transfixed

Beautiful spangled sunset with the promise of landfall by morning.

Passage to New Caledonia - Day 5

It seems we had visitors overnight. Fish scales on a side step made us look more closely.

Dawn

We found a couple of these customers on their final trip. 

One night, one was blown into the dodger. Wow, did it ever stink!

While inspecting the decks The Bloke found a broken cable tie. All the rigging shackles have them attached - except for one, it seems. 

With the boat running smoothly we decided to get some gunwale time. It's certainly not the Sydney -Hobart race but it was fun to dangle our feet over the side and occasionally feel the water - quite warm too.

The water colour is a gorgeous deep sapphire

There was plenty of exchanges via the Iridium messaging service about the positions of various vessels in our fleet. Paw Patrol - my name for a group of cats (catamarans) traveling together, should arrive in Noumea tomorrow. We should arrive the next day. Without crew and our preference to slow the boat at night by sailing using only our headsail, we are always going to travel more slowly and forfeit 25nm per night.

We have encountered a current that is making us crab, so tonight we'll motorsail to counter this effect. Clouds seem to house some pretty punchy wind too which dissipates as soon as you reach clear air. Good-night!

Passage to New Caledonia - Day 4

We got far enough East that my morning sunrise snap had to be taken from the other side of the boat.


A pretty strenuous night overall with wind puffing away the whole night from sunset onward,  between 16-26knots. This built up a bit of a sea state as time went on, so the beam reach was a hard jolting ride. Just what was required though to break the back of the sea miles to Noumea. Bacon and egg muffins were a welcome start to the day.


Sailing hard all day provided plenty of mirth. I'd got a bit of diesel on the soles of my sailing shoes the day before. Of course I didn't really realize. This was bad. Moments when both hands were occupied and bottom not firmly wedged against something in the galley, would see me slide across the cabin floor. Hey, it's like iceskating - only unexpectedly.


The lunch washing up water kept running away, making it necessary to hunt the water. A paper towel escaped its compartment, fell to the floor and unraveled as it took off. Retrieving it was even funnier.


Two days under sail alone with all our instruments ON and "Austin" (the autopilot) on duty, meant we needed to recharge the battery bank. Our solar panels are sufficient only for refrigeration. We were on such a lean the gennie had to be lashed on to secure it!

The last of the cooked chook was put in bowls for lunch and accompanied by a huge salad. My, how important food becomes on passage!



Cheesy fivers was followed after dark by a warming bowl of meatballs, saffron rice and steamed veg. Why the bowls all the time? So the food doesn't get blown away or slide off our plate!


The boat was put to bed. Mainsail furled away. The headie on it's own would move us along while providing a manageable night. The Bloke downloaded the latest weather at 18:00, entered the new waypoints, checked the setup, then went below for a well deserved sleep.

Passage to New Caledonia - Day 3

06:00 AEST 25/5/2017
26 29.783S : 158 24.805E

The southern horizon was very busy with electrical activity overnight and at dawn the sun highlighted the outline of the thunderheads associated with a trough.


By this time the wind was a Westerly and confirmed that we were traveling along the top of a low pressure system. The swell was down which was pleasing. We were also feeling a lot more settled into the rhythm of the boat and managing our rest periods appropriately. An assessment of fuel consumption was a little concerning for the rate of use - to sum up: Too Much. We were not the only rally vessel bemoaning their fuel consumption either. Other crews had begun communicating via their Satellite comms. It was nice to know where some of them were too because we knew we were all alone and out of VHF and AIS range.

 

Shuffling the fuel cans down the deck

With that task completed without drama, we settled down for cold chicken and salad for lunch. It had been many hours since the Bloke had scoffed his 2 'sausages in a blanket' a-la-Bunnings for breakfast! (The other day we'd had two; one going in and the other coming out! ). Every single movement and task takes so much effort fighting gravity, that appetite is always present.

We were warned by MetBob that there was a band of rain squalls expected. We didn't need the 'heads- up' as we'd already noticed the wind backing, clouds build and the barometer dropping. The forecasts also said we'd be sailing from the evening onwards. Hatches were closed, dishes done, everything secured and a hot soup placed in the Thermal Cooker. We were ready to deal.

Very surreal. View to Starboard and view to Port at the same time!

When the rainy squall was gone we had 'cheesy fivers'. 'No alcohol on passage' rules but we were relaxed and had a soft drink with our cheese board. At 4pm we are so far east, that 4pm is the new 5pm. We'll move our clocks when we arrive.


Good night - Boomshakalaka! Wind on its way and we'll chew up some miles overnight.