Coming Full Circle - Hello Australia
On 23rd October 2017, after a very rolly night and waking to a beautiful sunrise, we weighed anchor, cleared the pass between Recif To and Recif Le Sournois and entered the Coral Sea. With that, it was goodbye to New Caledonia and goodbye to the South Pacific Ocean, or so we thought, but not before we received a lovely send off as a large pod of dolphins crossed Paw Paw's bow as we exited the pass.
We had expected to motor-sail for the first 24 hours of this leg of our passage after spending the end of our previous leg anchored off Ilot Amédée, but around 1300 we entered the transition zone between the low pressure system, which had just passed southeast of New Caledonia, and the leading edge of the approaching high pressure system. That meant we picked up winds of 10 to 15 Kts, backing from the southwest through south to southeast, much sooner than forecast and allowed us to switch off the motors and enjoy a SOG (Speed Over Ground) of between 6 and 8 Kts as the wind speed strengthened and weakened. That definitely gave our VMG (Velocity Made Good) a boost for the day. In layman's terms, VMG is a measurement used to help us capitalise on our COG (Course Over Ground) that will give us the most direct course to our destination.
By 1600, though, in very lumpy seas, the winds dropped, so on went the engines again. Thankfully that only lasted for less than two hours before the winds picked up again and by sunset we were reefed down for the night and sailing at 6.5 Kts in 12 Kts of wind. However, just when we thought we'd be able to sail through the night and pick up the slightly stronger south-easterlies forecast for tomorrow, the wind shifted to the east at around 2200 and dropped, causing the mainsail to slam in the swell. So, under a clear moonless, starry night we were motor-sailing again, but on headsail alone. It certainly was a mixed bag for the day, none of which was forecast as usual.
By 0530 on 24th October 2017, the south-easterlies we were expecting had kicked in, so, up went the mainsail and off went the engines. However, by 0900, we started to encounter some squalls, so back out on deck to furl the head sail and reef the main. Fortunately the rain passed fairly swiftly and gave Paw Paw a nice freshwater rinse, but with slightly stronger winds than forecast, we decided to keep the main reefed before unfurling a full head sail and, with that, we had transitioned into the high pressure area; sunny blue skies, with a scattering of puffy white clouds. Of course, with all this activity, a few dolphins popped by to see what was going on.
Fortunately these conditions held and Wednesday, 25th October 2017 was another gorgeous day under sunny blue skies, with winds around 12 - 17 Kts out of the southeast. Perfect sailing conditions on a beam reach for Paw Paw, allowing for speeds of 8.5 to 9.5 Kts in relatively subdued seas on a single reefed main and full genoa. Other than a few birds, a cruise ship and a number of cargo ships, we had no other company, but we were in contact with other yachts that were also underway via the SSB/HF radio nets and with family and friends via email.
As expected, though, we ran out of wind around 2100 as we entered the calm area of the high pressure system and slowed down as planned. We altered course to avoid the Kalso Bank a few miles north of us and then set a course for our theoretical "mooring ball" in order to remain north of 25S and east of 155E, where we had planned to hove-to for 6 - 12 hours, if necessary. This was a contingency option to allow the worst of the weather associated with the tail end of a low pressure frontal system that was passing south of us. Our hope was that Mother Nature would clear the way sooner and allow us to alter course, without delay, directly for Southport, Australia. In the interim, with the cruise ship, Pacific Aria, for company and Paw Paw surrounded in bioluminescence, under a waning moon, we continued westward.
On 26th October 2017, we enjoyed a very peaceful and relaxing day under sunny blue skies and flat seas, so we decided to enjoy a barbecue for dinner and use up the last of our fresh vegetables. With the latest forecast still showing the frontal weather to the south of us, but starting to clear, the winds had shifted to northerly and dropped to below 10 Kts as expected. As a result, we motor-sailed through part of the night, then switched off the engines and dawdled along under sail at 4.8 Kts, taking us to our revised theoretical "mooring ball" and negating the need to hove-to overnight.
By Friday, 27th October 2017 it was a case of “feast or famine” regarding the weather conditions, which had continued unabated during this sailing season, just as they had during the previous one. In the early hours of the morning the north-westerlies kicked in about six hours ahead of the forecast which resulted in us having to alter course before reaching our preferred position. We weren't too far off, though, in the grand scheme of things, passing just 30NM to the south of our theoretical "mooring ball". This earlier course change brought with it the stronger winds and higher seas as expected, given that we were sailing around the tail end of the front. While the skies remained sunny all day, the conditions were a total contrast to those we’d experienced the day before. We were sailing with a third reefed main and a double reefed headsail in anything from 15 to 23 Kts of wind and in at least a 2.5 to 3 metre swell. The good news was that these conditions were forecast to moderate and subside overnight, as we approached the Australian coastline, which they did. By then we were sailing on a double reefed mainsail with a full genoa and definitely looking forward to "land ahoy".
On our last day at sea, the winds and seas moderated and we started the day sailing in light north-westerlies, then motoring in light westerlies, but as the wind swung back to the southeast at around 0800 we enjoyed another fabulous day of sailing at 8.5 Kts in 12 Kts of wind and flat seas; it doesn't get much better than that! That night we "drifted along" on a slither of a head sail, since we had to wait on the flooding tide the next morning before we could cross the sand bar at the entrance of the Gold Coast Seaway.
In many ways this passage reminded us a lot of our Pacific Ocean crossing, with the exception of our penultimate day at sea, where the very tumultuous sea state reminded us of our New Zealand to Fiji passage. Fortunately it was only for a few hours and not days and there was no cyclone involved! At this point, though, we had nothing but praise for the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and their extremely accurate forecasting, which allowed us to plot our course for the most favourable conditions, something which had been hit and miss using the other available weather forecasting services. Having accurate information to make our decisions made the world of difference!
On Log Day 657, Sunday, 29th October 2017 we reached Australia; a momentous occasion for any sailor on a circumnavigation since it denoted halfway, but for us it felt like we had come full circle. Some thirty years ago and a few years before our son was born, we sold up everything; house, cars, furniture we didn’t need, etc, rented a small townhouse and used company cars for transportation. With both our job offers in Sydney finalised, we awaited our final documentation to immigrate to Australia. Then both Elaine's sisters gave birth to a son each a few months before Christmas of that year and Elaine realised she didn't want to move country, away from family and friends. Although exasperated, Roy went along with the decision not to move to Australia and our lives took a very different path. Two years after that decision was made, we had a son of our own and a few years later we moved country anyway. In fact, we moved country five times after that, ending up in the US before moving on to Paw Paw and becoming full-time cruisers in March 2014. There was definitely a surreal feeling at the idea that we were now sailing into Australia, all these years later. Reaching Australia and getting settled as soon as possible also meant we got to fly back to the US to see our family, especially our beautiful grandchildren; nearly a year since our previous visit had been far too long!
At around 0600, Elaine shouted "land ahoy" and, with that, it was "hello Australia". We couldn't have asked for better conditions to transit the Gold Coast Seaway in completely flat seas. In fact, it was so calm it reminded us of our approach into the Galapagos Islands. Having contacted the VMR (Volunteer Marine Rescue) services at the Seaway on our approach, given the slight conditions, we obtained directions to proceed straight down the centreline, even though it was an hour before low tide. Finding our way to the quarantine dock in the Southport Yacht Club marina was just as straight forward. We had arrived safe and sound and definitely in one of the most sophisticated places we had ever sailed Paw Paw into.
New Caledonia
New Caledonia was not part of the World ARC itinerary and remains the case; however, two events provided us with the opportunity to add it to our list of destinations. Firstly we learnt that New Caledonia is a French overseas territory and we love the French islands. Further investigations revealed that it consists of the main island, known as Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands of Atoll d’Ouvea, Ile Lifou, Ile Maré and Ile Hunter to the east, Isle de Pins and Ile Ouen to the south and the Iles Belep to the north. It is the fourth largest island in the South Pacific, exceeded in size only by Papua New Guinea and the North and South islands of New Zealand. New Caledonia is located at the southerly portion of Melanesia and, although tropical, is neither too hot nor damp. Captain Cook was the first westerner to find the islands in 1774 and named it New Caledonia because, to him, the pine-clad ridges bore a resemblance to Scotland. It became a French colony in 1853 and was essentially used as their penal colony, in a similar way to how the British colonised New Zealand and Australia. It is also surrounded by coral reefs, bathed in the world's largest lagoon and has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008. Together with the fact that, besides being the second largest reef in the world, it also includes a very rare "double barrier reef" and a great diversity of coral forms, extensive turtle nesting sites and breeding areas for emblematic and / or threatened species like the dugongs, humpback whales and a variety of marine birds, including the osprey.
Secondly, when we officially left the rally in Tahiti in order to have a slower pace through the South Pacific, there were three additional destinations that were added to our adventure for the 2016 sailing season; American Samoa and Somoa and then New Zealand for the 2016 / 2017 cyclone season. That meant we were able to return to Fiji during the 2017 / 2018 sailing season, but also add New Caledonia to the list of destinations before sailing onwards to Australia for the following cyclone season. What we weren’t expecting was to have the opportunity to return to New Caledonia during this past sailing season, given itinerary changes required again as a result of an unexpected medical issue uncovered soon after our arrival in Australia. New Caledonia is the only other island destination we returned to and we are glad we did.
During our first visit, given it was the last of the islands we visited prior to the start of the 2017 / 2018 cyclone season, our time was limited to a very short six weeks. As a result we had to select a subset of the areas we wanted to visit and be content with the sampling we received. These primarily included the south and south-western parts of Grande Terre Island and Ile des Pins, still on the top of our list of favourite islands in the South Pacific.
On the morning of Monday, 18th September 2017, we were up at daybreak to weigh anchor and set sail for New Caledonia from Anatom Island, Vanuatu. 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. We knew this speed would mean an earlier arrival at Canal de la Havannah, our first hurdle, but we'd decided to hove-to, if need be. As things transpired, we arrived exactly at slack water on 19th September 2017, but turned around after our first attempt at transiting the entrance, given the surprising and extremely strong outward flowing current. So, while bobbing around and the arrival of a second yacht, Cavelo, who also decided to bob around, we enjoyed lunch and waited for flood tide. Then we spotted a third yacht, Lucy, on the AIS (Automatic Identification System), but coming in the opposite direction and we couldn’t believe what happened next. Suddenly, Lucy appeared out of nowhere. It looked like she was launched from a rocket as she was spat out from the mouth of the channel towards us, going from 2 Kts to 7 Kts in as many seconds. After overhearing a brief chat on the VHF radio between the crew of Cavelo and Lucy to understand their experience and conditions better, we decided it was our turn and 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 Cavelo close behind.
Our first night, we "yellow flagging it" while anchored in a lovely tranquil bay just off Canal Woodin. While enjoying the peace and quiet, after having the ocean roaring in our ears for 30 hours, we were struck by how desolate New Caledonia seemed and by the striking coppery colour of the landscape, which appeared to be the aftermath of surface mining. We later learnt that, while parts of the exposed landscape was a result of cobalt, chrome, nickel and iron ore mining, the vast majority was soil erosion. Regardless, while the sights and, particularly, the smells of Vanuatu made us feel like we could have been anywhere in Africa and, therefore, not really a new experience for us, we were definitely looking forward to a different experience in New Caledonia, especially the French culture we both love.
It was yet another early start as we weighed anchor at daybreak in order to make our way to Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia, for our clearance. Our first sighting of the New Caledonian capital revealed high rise apartment complexes as well as modern homes and arriving in the Port Moselle anchorage area reminded us of Le Marin in Martinique; yachts everywhere. The marina was a modern facility with very helpful staff who pointed us in the right direction to clear Immigration, Customs and Biosecurity.
After a lovely long walk along the waterfront to stretch our legs, we found the Immigration offices just before they closed for the day, which is around 1100. A brisk walk to Customs in the hope of catching them before their lunch break didn't payoff, however. Unfortunately we were a few minutes too late so, instead, we enjoyed a delicious lunch at Restaurant Captain Cook, where Elaine had a steak accompanied by a Roquefort cheese sauce and Roy had octopus in a creamy tomato based sauce. Unbeatable French cuisine and the perfect start to our stay! After completing Customs and en route back to the marina to meet the Biosecurity official, we couldn’t resist the temptation to stop in at Les Petits Choux patisserie to enjoy a “grande café au lait” (large coffee with milk) and some French pastries.
What never ceased to amaze us about any of the French islands we visited in the Caribbean is that there was never any fuss during the clearing in and out processes and the most it ever cost us was a small donation to cover the cost of the ink and paper for the printed clearance form or, in most instances, it cost us absolutely nothing. New Caledonia was no exception. It didn't cost us a single Franc, not even the cost to have our leftover organic produce incinerated by Biosecurity. That evening we bumped into Discover II (Gillian and Dirk), whom Elaine first met in Fiji and enjoyed a rather extended happy hour with them. We had definitely commenced our stay on the right foot!
With nowhere in particular to go the following morning and the fact that it was rather chilly, getting out of bed was definitely not a priority. When we eventually did surface we enjoyed a breakfast with the last of our bacon from New Zealand which hadn't been confiscated and the last of our eggs that had to be removed from their shells the day before so that the shells could accompany the rest of our organic waste for incineration by Biosecurity, after which we dinghied ashore and commenced our explorations in earnest.
First stop was the marina office at Marina de Port Moselle to inquire as to where we could get our usual list of amenities required; laundry, garbage disposal, groceries, propane, diesel, petrol and a data service plan. We also took the opportunity to get directions to other patisseries in town so, armed with a map and directions to all, we set off. Of course, the next stop was one of the other patisseries to enjoy another “grande café au lait” and some French pastries. From there we made some additional inquires at a local cell phone store on what data services were actually available, given that we had been told so many different stories, including one that indicated we would be unable to buy a service plan at all because we weren't residents or that any available plan involved a six month contract. That meant we'd be bound to using the extremely slow wifi facilities offered by various businesses in return for using their services, like purchasing a drink or ordering something to eat. Surprise, surprise, we discovered that we could, in fact, purchase a data plan that didn't involve any contract. All we had to do was find the right person with the right information and voila!
Once that little issue was resolved, we visited the local Casino Johnson supermarché (supermarket) and discovered a very well stocked store full of all our favourite French goodies. We were also very excited to learn that there was a Carrefour supermarché, having had the pleasure of one in Tahiti, an experience that still has fond memories for us, given that we have never been so excited to see a tomato or a piece of beef or a lamb chop after our Pacific Ocean crossing and time in the Marquesus Islands and the Tuamotos. Unfortunately, we were very disappointed to find the bulk of the products American rather than French, not to mention extremely expensive. On our second visit to New Caledonia, however, we decided to take another walk to Carrefour supermarché and on this occasion we were pleasantly surprised to find a vastly upgraded facility full of French products, although just as expensive, making Casino Johnson supermarché still the far better option for us. En route back to Paw Paw from Casino Johnson supermarché we discovered a number of waterfront restaurants and cafés which we were definitely looking forward to visiting at a later date. Last stop was the obligatory visitor's centre, which provided us with a host of tourist information on the area.
Satisfied with our morning explorations, we returned to Paw Paw to enjoy one of our favourite lunches, al fresco-style dining in the cockpit under glorious sunny skies, surrounded by turquoise waters; French brie, fois gras, a freshly baked baguette, a granny smith apple for Roy and a pear for Elaine, accompanied by a refreshing glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Our gastronomic delights carried over to our dinner onboard, following an afternoon nap, given that all our sailing of the past few weeks seemed to catch up with us all at once. While we watched the sunset and the locals out in their pirogues, something we haven't seen since leaving French Polynesia, we enjoyed our dinner of tuna sashimi for starters, then a delicious tuna steak on the barbecue, accompanied by a fresh salad for our main course, all purchased from a cursory stop at the fish market in Le Marché de Noumea (Noumea's Market).
