Change of plans!
24 September 2015 | Baie D'Oro
Heather/Overcast & cloudy
A few hours after posting my last blog, Mike checked the weather once more and found that there was an opportunity to head straight down south to the Isle of Pines rather than have to head across to the mainland and south from there. The only issue for me was that it involved another overnight passage! Fortunately the weather gods were kind again and we motor sailed through most of the night and any wind we had wasn't above 13 knots.
We arrived in Baie de Gadji around 9am on Sunday and found the 2 boats that had been anchored there, just leaving, so we had the whole beautiful bay to ourselves - something we haven't had since way back in Fiji! We found a great snorkelling spot just near the outer reef with an impressive drop-off and swam with reef sharks and a humongous Wrasse. A little were sitting having lunch in the cockpit when a giant turtle popped his head up right next the Calypso and snorted a ‘hello’! Again, the water was so clear we could follow exactly where he swam off to. (See new photo album)
We spent 2 idyllic days in Gadji then motored 2 hours around the point to the shallow but very picturesque Baie D’Oro. It was quite nerve-wracking trying to negotiate around the small outcrops of coral (bombies) especially as the depth sounder was only registering 0.5m under the keel! Amazingly we managed not to hit anything. Baie D’Oro has a lovely resort, The Meridien, which was reportedly full but appeared incredibly quiet. We booked in and had a delicious lunch one day after walking 9 kms to La Grotte de la Reine Hortense - an impressive limestone cave in the hills. The walk was actually 14 kms return but we cheated and hitch-hiked back the last 5 kms because we were so hot and so unfit from having done no proper exercise for months! Incredibly, we didn't have too many aches and pains the following day.
The Meridien resort is effectively on a small island, separated from the mainland by a channel that partly dries out at low tide. but is filled at one end by water breaking over the reef, forming a natural pool full of fish! We went snorkelling there at low tide and the fish were hilarious. It was as though they were on drugs because they appeared so dopey and were quite happy for you to swim up really close to them. One swam right up to my mask and looked at me as if to say ‘And whooo are yoooo?” It was just like being in ‘Finding Nemo’!
There is still a lot of the Isle of Pines we haven't explored yet but we are hoping (wind direction dependent) to be able to return here with our crew Simon & Raewyn when they join us again on 7th October. In the meantime, we are heading to the southern end of the mainland tomorrow to explore the Baie de Prony which looks really interesting and has some good walks which we desperately need to do for the sake of our health! Baie de Prony is only 40 mms so can be done in a day if we leave early, yay!
Talking of mileage, we recently passed the 3,000 nautical mile mark since leaving Opua. Considering we only average 6 mms an hour, that’s quite a bit of sailing! When we first set off on this trip, New Caledonia seemed such a long time away and now that we are here, the time seems to be passing even faster than ever. It’s hard to believe we have less than a month left of our amazing ‘Adventure Before Dementia’.