New Caledonia is within our sights! It is 6:30am and we have less than two hours before we reach the Canal du Havannah or Havannah Passage, a thorny route for those heading to Noumea from the NE, yet nevertheless it is the main ship channel and the most efficient way through New Caledonia's main barrier reef.

Our passage so far has been extraordinary as in atypical. We've seen it all, from the first day out of Fiji sailing in winds that rated 7 on the Beaufort Scale, to the wing-on-wing business I described a few days ago, to motoring for the last 36 hours and the dead calm we have now. As I write, the wind is less than 4 kts, the sea is so calm there is barely a swell and the clouds are reflected in the water. Haven't seen that before and it couldn't come at a better time as we begin our transit through Havannah Passage. If we were traditionalists we would be bobbing up and down within sight of shore but going nowhere until the wind changed. Lucky for us we are "limited exposurists" in that we focus on making the voyage in the most efficient manner, limiting our exposure to weather and other conditions, reaching our destination without delay if possible.

As we learned in our research for this landfall, the Havannah Passage can produce "violent eddies" during the tidal change. According to Jimmy Cornell (a voyager's guru), it should be negotiated on a flood tide. According to the official cruising guide to New Caledonia, it should only be attempted at slack water (between the tides). Wasn't that when there were supposed to be "violent eddies?" It has also been called a ship's graveyard. When the wind is blowing counter to ebb, overfalls (breaking waves) are present and currents can reach up to 4 kts (our boat only does 5.5kts under power.) What excitement awaits us at the end of our 6 day passage! Eric tells me not to worry because the Sailing Directions are probably written, or at least edited by, lawyers. They have to cover all the scenarios for the shipping companies.

After 700 miles at sea through all kinds of conditions, we've managed landfall for 8:30am at the tail end of the flood. Thanks to Eric's excel spreadsheet that gives him various arrival times for our possible travel speeds; he can really dial it in. (If he could only control the weather...) The sea is as flat as I've ever seen it and the wind is almost nothing. I am hopeful our transit through the actual reef passage and the subsequent winding through reefs and islets on the last 40 miles into Noumea are equally as uneventful.