New Caledonia has been a complete change of pace from where we’ve been these past few months. It’s more akin to New Zealand than Vanuatu, yet Vanuatu is only a few hundred miles of ocean away from here. The biggest surprise has been the air temperature. Those few hundred miles separating Vanuatu and Fiji from New Cal are all due south. It’s hard to believe how much of a difference that mileage makes.

At night, it’s almost cold – cold enough to prompt us to dig the fleece out of deep storage and a blanket for the bed – 2 blankets actually. New Caledonia tourist literature claims the weather here is “perpetual spring”. The claim rings rather true.

Let’s be clear: The daytime temperatures are in the mid to high 70’s, nights are mid 60’s. Being from the Seattle area, it’s hard to keep a straight face when describing these temps as cold, but after spending a few months in the tropics it is possible to get used to 80’s and 90’s with 90% humidity and feel chilled by anything less. Regardless, the cooler temps and lower humidity here in New Caledonia are quite nice and something of a relief. The best part is sleeping in a cool cabin under a cozy blanket with a cool, clean breeze coming in through the hatches.

Our sail from Vanuatu was quite fun. Rather than doing it all in one 400+ miles of overnight passages, we broke it up into short hops stopping first on the island of Lifou, which is in the Loyalty Islands and politically part of New Caledonia.

Lifou has a small marina at the community of We’ (pronounced Way). The marina is essentially new and in immaculate condition – but a little empty. We got Double Diamond into an unoccupied slip, assisted by some locals on other boats and once secured, walked into town to check in with the local Gendarmerie, as the customs rules proscribe. We did so, chatting up the very friendly Gendarme present, but he never asked for ID or paperwork – or anything. Actually, he asked for our passports, but we forgot them on the boat and he was OK with it. Same back at the marina – there was no harbormaster to be found. It was pretty clear by the quality of the infrastructure – we walked almost two miles to town on a pristine sidewalk – that we were now back in the first world or something close to it if still somewhat rural. Lifou was super quiet and laid back. So laid back that we never found anyone to take our money for the evening’s moorage fee.



We left the following morning after a nice calm nights sleep in the marina – our first time at a dock in almost 6 months. It was heaven. And as it turned out… free!

We intended to sail to another island in the Loyalties that day, but couldn’t quite sail high enough to get there without a lot of tacking. We were feeling rather lazy after our blissful night at the dock. We decided to go for Havana Passage, an entrance through the reef surrounding the main island of New Caledonia and then anchor for the night at a bay just inside the reef.



There was one complication with this choice: we would arrive at the entrance to the reef in the dark and then anchor in the dark. But after our experience with the quality of the We’ marina (and it’s well-marked entrance) and the spot-on accuracy of the local charts, we went for it, confident that everything would be as advertised in terms of entrance lights and the like. And it was! The main reef entrance even had a lighted range, giving it the feel of landing at night on an aircraft runway. The bay we chose (Port Boise) was also as advertised on the charts, even with its own lighted reef entrance.

Wow. What a treat to be back in the 1st world. It feels very safe here.