We are back in the land of the French. For years New Caledonians have used the catch phrase 'France in the Pacific' to promote their country on the international tourist market. It's true that New Caledonians speak French, and croissants and baguettes are an important part of their diet. However, there is a unique Pacific identity mixed into the French influence. New Cal has the more laid back approach to life with a complete disregard for time constraints. The local indigenous people here are called Kanaks.
They are not as friendly here to us yachties as in other countries we have been, but maybe too much French influence. We have even seen some isolated instances such as tire slashing and rock throwing. We are also informed that there have been a number of dengue fever cases reported so we need to be careful. The good news is there is no Malaria here like we had to watch out for while we were in Vanuatu. After a fairly non eventful passage other then a touch of mal de mar, we hoist our French flag and our quarantine flag before entering New Caledonia waters. Because we joined this rally, we are allowed to clear in to the country in the beautiful Loyality Isand of Ouvea. Lonely Planet describes this anchorage as " If your idea of heaven is a deserted tropical beach and sparkling lagoon, Ouvea is your paradise." It is true as Ouvea does have one of the prettiest white sandy beaches that we have seen, especially coming from Vanuatu which is mostly volcanic black sand beaches. Even with 30 boats that are in the rally, there is plenty of room to anchor and still not be too close. We spend a few days of just hiking and touring the island and other than the Tsunami incident, we were able to relax and enjoy being in paradise. On Oct. 3rd, we pick up anchor and head for the Isle des Pins. The Isle des Pins is without a doubt the jewel of New Caledonia. It has a pretty bay with a long beach where the sand is finer and whiter than you could ever imagine. The water is crystalline. The landscape is very different in that it is covered with pine trees. There are caves, forests and old penal-colony ruins to be explored, a hill to climb if you're energetic, and beaches to lie on if you are not. Of course we try and do it all. Naturally, on this island paradise, seafood is available in abundance. How ever we pass on the local specialty of escargot. They are crawling all over the island, along with the black and white poisonous snakes. This cruising life is tough. One whole afternoon was spent with Destiny trying to buy hamburgers and French fries. We even got chased by some pit bulls when we ventured the wrong way and ended up on private property, but we eventually found our prize and enjoyed every last bite. The next day we spent four hours going back and forth to the local bakery trying to buy baguettes and still didn't get any until the next morning. They kept promising us that if we came back in an hour that they would have them. While anchored in the bay here, we have another Tsunami scare in which we all picked up anchor and headed into deep water. After our second scare it seems that the cruisers, us included, are all a little more nervous and keep checking for aftershock reports. On Oct 10th (our son Rod's 40th birthday, yikes!) we head north to the Baie De Prony which if on the south end of the main island of New Caledonia. Destiny stays behind, but we have to get to Noumea before too long and prepare for our passage to Australia. Hopefully we will see them in Noumea before we leave. We stop for the night in a beautiful bay that we have to ourselves. The earth here is a really bright red color and the contrast to the greenery is very striking. It is very quiet and calm and we are sung to by the birds in the surrounding trees. We hike up to a lighthouse with a spectacular lookout of the southern end of New Caledonia. The down side is that the red clay dirt is hard to remove from our shoes, in fact it doesn't come off. We are careful getting back into the dingy and on the boat, but still make a mess and we spend quite a bit of time cleaning up afterwards. Baraka calls and we give them instructions on how to find us. We all enjoy another quiet night in the anchorage before heading to the big city of Noumea. Noumea is a mixture of old and modern where delightful colonial builings lie hidden among more contemporary architecture.
It seems strange for us to all of a sudden be in a large city like Noumea. The noises of the city seem so much louder than we remember and all the hustle and bustle of city life is a little hard to get used to, but on the flip side its great to buy avocado's and strawberry's again.
And of course the French restaurants are fabulous.