Bonjournee a tous!

We are writing you from France! Well, not exactly...but at least French territory! New Caledonia sits in the tropics about 1000 north of New Zealand and we are happy to be where it is warm...at last! The week we left Opua, on the northern end of NZ's North Island, in the Bay of Islands, was the last good "weather window" for departure that has been seen so far this season. Many friends on other boats are still waiting (no doubt impatiently!) for the next good moment to escape. It may come toward the end this week...but there have been numerous lows parading like "pips spit from an orange" (to quote our Kiwi weather guru, Bob McDavitt) across the Tasman Sea and up across the North Island for weeks now. We were lucky to grab the one good "window" since May 1...and we left the day after about 60 other boats in rallys heading for Tonga and Fiji also escaped. What Bob McD calls the "Opua flush"...it happens every year at this time when everyone gets tired of the cold and damp descending on NZ and tries to move north where there is warmth and the days are longer! (We gained an hour landing here!)

We left on May 4, my 59th birthday, which we celebrated with a delicious chocolate cake baked by Mate Betsy and a sweet visitation from a whale (humpback?) on the early morning watch. S/he rolled along side, belched a big fishy sigh, and then neatly slid under BAHATI's stern! We could've touched herm had we not been so surprised!

We stood watches 3 on and 3 off with Tim Barker and Meghan DeWalt to starboard and Capt B and Cam Grillo to port. Mate Betsy did a brilliant job of keeping us all well-fed, awake, and happy. We managed to catch a lovely fat albacore tuna and a gorgeous (20+ lbs) mahi-mahi en route...so we ate well, to say the least. (see the attached photo gallery for evidence!)

We were initially headed for Tanna, one of the southern-most islands in the Vanuatu group, but as we approached the 800 miles mark we decided to test the forward fuel tank (which had been giving us come problems AND which we thought we'd solved before leaving Auckland!) We switched tanks from the larger aft tank (80 gal) to the smaller newer forward one (35 gal) when the after one was about 1/2 empty and we were rolling along in very light airs. We happily putt-potted for about an hour or two nicely but then the trusty Yanmar coughed and complained and finally shut-down as if to say "I told you so!" After trying to bleed the fuel line (no apparent need!) and checking for evidence of "bug" in the filter globe (nothing evident!), we switched back to the aft tank and fired her up again...no problem! We were mystified and, after lengthy discussion, made the decision to turn 90 degrees to port and head for Noumea where we knew we could get the help we needed to sort-out whatever issues we were facing! There was no such guarantee in Vanuatu...in fact, we were quite sure that we would not only be unable to get good support but also not be able to replenish the fuel supply until we reached Port Vila which was beyond calculated reach given what we had left in the aft tank and in jerry cans on deck!

The turn to port put us on a good angle to sail, albeit up-wind, but we had fine breezes, off and on, mostly out of the S and SW, almost all the way to the Canal de Havannah, New Cal's eastern pass into their huge reef (the largest contiguous reef in the world!) We approached within about 30 miles of the reef carefully at dusk on our 7th night at sea and caught sight of Mare, one of the Loyalty Islands, around dusk. We stayed well offshore all night, watching merchant vessels pass by going both in and out of the pass, and at dawn with the tide just turning favorably around 6 AM, we set our course for the entrance and with a lift of as much as 5 knots, we found our way through biting our nails a bit as we had only just remembered to reset the variation on the GPS at the last minute! Everything lined-up fine and we were through the choppy waters kicked-up by 20+ knts of SW breeze pushing against the rising tide in about an hour's time. Inside the reef everything was quite calm and we had good sailing all day as we found our way from buoy to buoy along the 40+ miles of inner passage to Noumea. The engine treated us well and took us through the breakwater and up to the visitor pontoon at POrt Moselle where we quickly cleared customs, quarantine, and immigration and found our way to the local pattisserie for a baguette and a some good local Havannah beer! The sweet quaratine lady keptencouraging Betsy to peel the veggies, squeeze the fruit, and break the eggs ("Make a cake!") so that we would not lose all our hard-earned NZ poduce!

Mmmmmmmmmmm....nice to be in France again! Everyone has been very friendly and helpful and we were put in touch with a mechanic and a sailmaker (to help deal with a luff-line issue that emerged on passage as well!) before noon. Both helpers showed-up the next morning and now, one week later, we have (we trust!) successfully dealt with both issues as well ad number of smaller ones....restocked our provisions with good French product and are preparing to leave again...heading, yes!, back toward Tanna, hopefully on Wed morning, May 20, local time.

The fuel tank problem turned-out to be a bit of rag left in the tank from last year's "de-bugging" which we'd paid to have done "professionally". A small piece of cloth had found its way all the way along the fuel-line from the bow to the tightest elbow leading into the valve next to the primary filter in the engine room. Glad we found it and relieved it was not "bug" again...but upset that it had been left behind...only to plague us a year later! Thanks to local mechanic, Dominic, who jumped right in with his good advice and even supplied us with a spare valve!

The mainsail luff-line was again the result of shoddy "professional" work. We'd had the sail repaired and the badly chewed-up luff-line replaced by Doyles in Auckland and only this week when we found a very knowledgable and helpful local sailmaker named Philippe Rothery of Noumea Voiles, were we able to confirm that the new luff-line was one size too big! This has caused us much headache and wear and tear on the ProFurl system..and, fortunately, Phillipe knows the rig well (French-made!) and immediately was able to say "Trops grandes!" He and his wife, Vickie, took pity on us, squeezed us in-line, and had the job done in 3 days! Needless to say, Doyles will be hearing from us shortly! This was not the only thing they messed-up...in fact they did nothing right in any of the repairs they managed for us...doesn't speak well for one of the world's largest franhizes! Hard lessons learned (again!) about trusting the pros to get it right!

We'll be most happy to be at sea again and away from the noise and pollution of this very small harbor but we are grateful for the good help we received here and for the WARM TEMPS we discovered again finally! Every day on our week-long passage north from Opua the water temperature rose a degree or two until it read 86 on our gauge...a rise of some 15 degrees since leaving NZ...and, of course, the air followed suit...ahhhhhh! We shed a layer every few hours and were down to bathing suits and saltwater baths (see photos!) by day 5 or 6. Our daily progress was good as BAHATI thrilled to be sailing again and found speeds of 7+ knts consistently on her smooth clean bottom! We encountered a couple of nights of heavy squallage with the wind reaching into the 30's and the waves getting quite steep by moments. We rolled along nicely with wind and waves mostly on the port quarter and only took a few surprises into the cockpit which sure helped keep us awake on watch! Mostly, we enjoyed a great sail and felt blessed not to find any of the 60 knt stuff we heard some other boats on similar routes have faced! You never know what's in the next dark squall and we were careful to shorten sail as soon as we saw them approaching ("reef early and deep") on the radar and by naked eye. There were some truly awesome skies with the nearly full-moon excorting us all the way up. A good passage, (with no mal de mer, and some great fishing and sightseeing!)...all aboard agree!

New Caledonia is an interesting mix of industrial (3 large nickel mines!) andtourist haven. The guide books say the economy is ruled by the mining business and, though there is reputedly good diving on the extensive reef, we have not taken the time to explore it. Mostly we have been busy getting the work done we need to accomplish so we can move on toward the more exotic islands in Vanuatu. Only 150 miles away, everything we've read indicates that the two island groups are worlds apart...from "Gay Paree to the Stone Age" overnight! We're excited to be heading back in time and will report what it feels and looks like once we've made the next short passage.

There was a large US military presence here in New Cal during the 2nd World War...more than 40,000 US troups... and there is a memorial just across the street from McDonald's (!) (where we have also found free internet connection!) thanking the US for their part in helping keep New Cal "free".

There is a long history of attempted independence on the part of the local Kanak, indigenous, population....so far to no avail. The French authorities have done a very effective job of quelling all uprisings, often brutally, over the years...most recently in the 1980's. The word on the street is that there will be no independent New Cal until all the nickel has been ripped form the earth and the French government has no more reason to stay here! Sadly, there has been a history of "using and abusing" the Pacific Islands by the French with the story of nuclear testing and the RAINBOW WARRIOR sabotage one of the more recent sagas. It's a telling message of colonial exploitation at its peak....though there is no real evidence on a daily basis in the streets...other than a lot of trash floating around...such a difference from squeaky clean NZ! No recycling here! We did visit the local Maritime Museum and saw a wondeful French film, "Huit-Clos souds Les Etoiles", about two brothers (twins!) who sail a raft across the Atlantic, trying for Miami but ending-up in Guadaloupe (!) using no instruments or communications! Quite a story and a beautifully made documentary!

Thanks for being out there and rooting for us!

Sending much love from the tropical warmth...we are thinking of you all as summer comes to New England! Enjoy! Enjoy!

On a couple of coincidental side-notes, we were happy to welcome ALPHERATZ, another Maine boat from Blue Hill, into the slip next to us today! We have been in touch with them by e-mail since discovering that they are also CCA members on a global voyage. Great to finally meet skipper Greg Carol and his able crew!

Also, we realized after being here almost a week that the French boat opposite us shared the anchorage in Fatu Hiva with us when we first arrived in ther Marquesas 2 years ago! We first met Joel and Anne-Marie on YUKIYUK in the Galapagos and sailed in tandem with them and NORDIK from Quebec across the Pacific! Wonderful and always surprising reunions!

Cheers from Capt Biscuits, Mate Betsy, Cam, Tim, and Meghan!

& "Have a good watch!"