Gawjus Gadji

Quite a few rally boats had raced to Ile Des Pins with their delivery crew immediately after arriving in New Caledonia. Some even had the crew's wife fly in for a holiday on board by way of a 'thank you' for assisting with the passage. One spot they all raved about was Gagji - so long as the weather wasn't wild. Fortunately the weather seems to have settled in recent weeks. We haven't been checking the brochures quite so much to see what a place might look like without the clouds. Time to go to Gadji.

View to an Ilot on our first night

Daytime colour of the water

View from the transom at dusk

There is a settlement at Gadji but we can't tell you about it as we don't plan to explore ashore. It's probably about 1nm away across a very shallow lagoon area dotted with rocky coral islots and bommies. It's probably the only settlement we didn't go through on our whirlwind car trip. This lagoon area is stunning. Yes, this is what we signed up for!

Having spent the morning shopping, we didn't leave Baie Ouamaeo until 14:30 and although we were able to arrive at Gadji an hour later on a rising tide as recommended, a thick clump of cloud was obscuring the sun. When attempting to negotiate waters known to be sprinkled with coral heads, no sun translates to 'no go'. So we anchored in a known anchoring area for the night in 3.5m of crystal clear water. I watched the anchor hit the sea bed in a puff of fine sand and disappear. We looked in amazement at Zofia's shadow on the sea bed accompanied by her baby sister Marilyn, the dinghy. In fact we could see those shadows just as clearly at night in the moonlight.

Dawn heralding a fine day with sunshine enough to dodge the hazards.

Where we'd anchored for the night was a compromise - safe but rolly as hell. There is plenty of current swirling around a myriad of small islands and in the absence of any wind to speak of, we rolled all night long and for some periods we were slapped on the stern (bum slap) by a small fetch. Somehow, The Bloke managed to sleep through it all but for me it was a night on the couch amidships. No matter what, we'd relocate to the inner anchorage as soon as the sun was high enough to see the trouble spots!

Our track into the anchorage

A catamaran motored past at dawn between us and our adjacent island. When we explored the way into the outer anchorages in the dinghy, taking soundings with the hand held depth sounder as we went, we found that it was 3.5 -4.0m all the way to the island (no shoaling, no beach, just rock wall). In the end, we took the route from the Rocket Guide (334). We steered parallel to the island until the white beach was abeam, then turned in missing the reef to starboard. The bommie that we needed to miss was kept to port and after passing it, we turned sharply to port aiming at the stand of pines on the island that now faced us. Then we turned into the enclosed lagoon to anchor in 2.5-3.0m. Since we only need 1.6m to clear the bottom we shouldn't have trouble staying afloat! Having practiced our run in the dinghy and seen what we'd use as guides, it made the entry easy-peasy. Oh, and what a reward!


We are sharing our 'room' with Squander, another Jeanneau from our Rally. The inner anchorage is in an adjoining 'room', and much shallower, and occupied by 'Paw Patrol' - the catamarans Sans Souci and Cruising Kitty.

Tweetie Pie awaiting crew to go exploring

The Bloke watching as I paddle away

Squander and Zofia framed by 2 ilots

       
These photos barely do this area justice but it really is an absolute jewel. There's quite a bit of dead coral but live coral too. I found 1 bommie with 5 different corals on it, complete with resident striped angel fish and iridescent blue fish. Might go back with the GoPro camera to show you!