Our crossing from New Zealand to Noumea was smooth, having two more adults onboard, ie Rob and Lucie made the trip very comfortable with limited night-watches. The conditions were very good with good sailing the whole way. The only problem arising during the crossing was the major oil leak in the hydraulic steering. It had been fixed in Gulf Harbour and the Captain is not overjoyed!
After six months on land the boys needed to adjust to the sea crossing and they entertained us somewhat being both ill for 3 days. As we reach Port Moselle, Lucie gets some bad news home and unfortunately has to leave us straight away.
Noumea will not remain a highlight in our trip, the town is highly polluted and the sewage comes straight into in the marina which makes the smell quite unbearable at times. The fruit/vegetable/fish markets are across the road as well as some delicious bakery where we pick up our fresh baguettes and croissants for our breakfast! . We also enjoy a few drinks and great paella with our neighbours from Basic Logic.
We have the opportunity to contact some friends who leave locally and understand more about existing political situation in New Caledonia.
Unfortunately our stay in Port Moselle is longer than expected as a result of our technical problem which we manage to fix and more bad heads straight South to New Zealand which hammers the country with the worse storm of the decade (90 knots wind is recorded in Auckland). We are glad we left Opua in time.
We meet Mathieu, our new crew and decide to leave for Tana, Vanuatu via the Baie de Prony where we hope to watch some whales suggested by various tourist guides. We bypass l'Ile des Pins and the Loyalty Islands as friends coming from London to visit us are joining Chasse Spleen on August 5th. We did not see much of New Caledonia!