Yesterday morning we were up at daybreak to weigh anchor and set sail for New Caledonia. With full sails up, under glorious sunny skies, dotted with fair weather cumulus, we enjoyed a fabulous sail all morning. By the afternoon, though, the winds had started to pick up, bringing with it very lumpy and confused seas. With that, it was time to reef. We'd no sooner put one reef in the main, when it was time for the double reef and a reefed headsail. By midnight we were double reefed on both sails and still making excellent timing, doing around 8 Kts. A very fast sail indeed!
We knew that would mean an earlier arrival at Canal de la Havannah, but we'd decided to hove-to, if need be. As things transpired, we arrived exactly at slack water, but turned around after our first attempt at transiting the entrance, given the surprising and extremely strong outward flowing current. So, while bobbing around, we enjoyed lunch and waited for flood tide. Then we saw another yacht, Lucy, appear out of nowhere. It looked like she was launched from a rocket as she was spat out from the mouth of the channel, going from 2 Kts to 7 Kts in as many seconds. We couldn't believe our eyes. After a brief chat on the radio, we decided it was our turn. What an unusual experience we had. It was like trying to sail across the surface of a giant jacuzzi, with a 4 Kt current against us, even at flood tide. Parts of the surface were slick while other parts had breaking waves, but we made it through safely with yet another yacht, Cavelo, following close behind.
Tonight we're "yellow flagging it" while anchored in a lovely tranquil bay just off Canal Woodin, following which we'll make our way to Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia, tomorrow for our clearance. While enjoying the peace and quiet, after having the ocean roaring in our ears for 30 hours, we're struck by how desolate New Caledonia seems and by the striking coppery colour of t he landscape, which appears to be the aftermath of surface mining. Regardless, we're definitely looking forward to our explorations and enjoying some French culture again.
