Pine tree island and crystal clear water at Gadji Bay.
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A clown fish protecting is anemone home--these guys will dart right out and get in your mask. They are fearless.
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9/26/2011 We moved NW again up to Gadji Bay. We anchored in 15 feet of crystal clear water in a pale green/blue bay. Ken and I scuba dived the pass (Bumbu) at Gadji and saw a beautifully colored coral reef with tons of fish--very healthy reef. We then dinghy explored the protected bays and islets around Gadji-- we were alone and walked on white sand beaches that were free of human footprints. We loved Gadji, and the weather was very clam--however, we were not real comfortable as the bottom was thin sand over hard coral and our excellent Rocna anchor would not set. We moved up and over the top of Ile des Pins to the east side of the island. There were strong westerly winds predicted and Baie de Oro would be more protected and safer. Trim and Serenity were the only boats in Oro until we were joined by our friends on the catamaran Na Maka. Gerome, Natalie, and their young boys-- Leo, Artur, and Tetoi are French and we have known them since Niue. We were invited to dnner on Na Maka and had a great evening. Ken and I dived on the reef at Oro and saw large schools of fish. We also hiked to the 'Blue pool' which is a natural salt water pool with tons of fish and clear water. The wind did clock around to the west and we had gusts over 25 knots--but we were protected and safe. Baie de Oro is beautiful and actually has a five star Starwood resort with fabulous bungalows--to expensive for us though. We stayed three nights at Oro then headed back to Noumea, stopping for one night at Baie Uie. We are currently in Port Moselle at Noumea getting ready for our five day crossing to Bundaberg, Australia.
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9/25/2011 After five nights at Kuto, we headed NW up to Baie de Ouameo. Getting to Ouameo was a sphincter puckerer as wehad to 'thread the needle' through coral patches and reefs-- at one point we had .1 foot of water under the keel! By the way, we use Google Earth photos with a GPS integrated to show our position relative to the reefs--it is more accurate that our chart plotter and with our eyeballs it is the safest way to navigate. The next morning an un predicted squall hit with rain and wind over 25 knots from the west--our unprotected side. We were only in 13 feet of water (I hate shallow water anchoring), but our anchor held as I had put extra scope out. Our buddy boat, Trim, did drag a bit, but they soon dug in and by 5 am all was calm again---"...they comes on ya fast, and they leaves ya fast." While at Ouameo we hiked (yes, we had blisters by this time as we had been hiking for miles), to the limestone caves at the Grotto de la Troiseme. These were deep caves with clear pools of water and awesome stalagtites/stalagmites. No one else was there, and it was a beautiful hike through the forest of pines.
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A Napoleon Fish--it was about three feet long.
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The beach at Kuto Bay--the two pines close together denotes the path to the small store (called a magazine) and bakery (called a boulangerie). We walked so much here in Kuto that we got blisters on our feet--we had a ball!
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