The sail across to the main island of New Caledonia was somewhat rough as the trade winds were getting stronger. But Phil had to make it to Noumea within a week to fly home for a wedding. So we pressed on. We anchored each night in well protected harbors, but we had to motor sail into the wind and choppy waters each day to make it down the east coast of the main island known as Grand Terre. We thought it would be fairly smooth because we are inside the barrier reef all the way, but the reef is a fair ways offshore and the tradewinds blow parallel to shore with a long fetch resulting in the chop.

After several days of this we were relieved to make it around Cap Coronation. We picked up a mooring in a beautiful small bay called Anse Majic, or Magic Cove. It was lush greenery all around and very quiet except for numerous birds calling from the shoreline. We free dove what was reported as an excellent coral reef, but all it had was a remarkable amount of thin white stag horn coral with the usual tropical fish.

The next day we motorsailed into Noumea and were lucky enough to get a slip at the Port Moselle Marina. This was a very nice marina with adjacent restaurant and associated boat repair shops. It was right in the center of Noumea, which was a wonderful French style town. There were a number of excellent French restaurants, and I made the most of eating as many chocolate deserts as I could.

I found an excellent tennis pro to hit with almost every day. And I was lucky to find a small pool hall where I could practice and slowly improve my nascent shooting skills. The French love water sports, especially kite surfing, and there were a number of extremely good riders out almost every day, many of them riding the new hydrofoil kite boards which rise up out of the water as the fly along, often ending each run by launching quite high into the air, making a U turn while still way above the water, and reversing their course as the landed at full speed back on the foil. Very impressive!

While in Noumea I cracked off half a left upper molar eating something hard. I found a young dentist who had just finished his training in Paris and come to Noumea the year before. He was working for another well established dentist who was off on vacation. But the office was gorgeous and the equipment seemed up to date, so I decided to let him repair the tooth. I was surprised when they quickly took a CT scan of all my teeth and said they were fine except for the one molar. Instead of making a dental impression for the tooth, they just sent the CT scan to a lab which was able to make the replacement crown from analysis of the CT scan. It seemed high tech, and went very smoothly though it took two visits to get my mouth back in order.

There were a number of interesting museums in Noumea. The native culture was somewhat different from the other Pacific islands. Their huts were taller and more sophisticated. The also made extensive use of wooden sculptures. And of course the French influence was seen in the more colonial buildings.

Phil returned from California after several weeks, and within a few days we set sail for Bundaberg, Australia. About twenty other boats were leaving at the same time as part of the Down Under Rally, but as usual within about 12 hours no other boats were seen until we reached Australia.