You may recall that we stopped overnight in Anse du Pilote after coming through Canal Havannah. This was a good move, as it was dead quiet and we slept really well, for about 9 hours - you know how it is, for just two nights' sailing, you don't get into the routine of watches very well and we were tired and really needed the kip.
We then came up to Port Moselle, tailed at a distance by a French catamaran we had previously met in Lamen Bay. They are a family, and really not nice people - very snooty and stereotypically "Gallic". When the mother introduced one of the kids - a 5 year old - to Shauna in Lamen Bay, he responded by thumping Shauna on the thigh very hard, with just a benign smiling reaction from the proud mother.
They have an AIS transceiver, and as we came through Canal Woodin on our way to Noumea we could see them on our AIS receiver - it told us their speed and heading. With the binoculars we had seen their Q flag, indicating that they, like us, had to complete Quarantine and clear Customs. (It is worth noting that at times the marina gets crowded and sometimes full, meaning one has to wait a day sometimes to come in.) They stayed about two miles behind us at roughly our speed or less, but as we got close to the marina the AIS display showed them suddenly, greatly increasing speed (we were both motoring by this stage) and they changed course radically so as to try to head us off. They were going to pass us to enter the marina first no matter what, and were on an almost collision course with us as they hit quite high speeds and tried to cut us off at the marina entrance - really irresponsible.
We remembered the 100 Years' War and Waterloo and just quietly held our line and slow speed, as was appropriate, knowing we could always safely bear off from them if they proved suicidal as well as just rude. They suddenly realised they had to pull back or hit the breakwater wall. They stopped dead in the water after almost T-boning an anchored yacht and circled around to allow us to proceed. and we just glided in to the dock.
Some people!!!!
PS: Noumea photos - click here