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Starblazer - 02/10/2014 - Arrival in New Caledonia



As usual, I'm afraid my last log describing the passage is rather after the event! We headed inshore overnight on Monday and decided to enter the reef system further north than the waypoint in the hope of flatter seas as they were heading us. The wind piped up and we managed to make a fairly good speed. Sometimes miscalculating is a good thing. If we had arrived at our waypoint at dawn, as we had initially planned, we would have had to struggle against a 2.7 knot current through the pass! Arriving just inside the pass nearly 4 hours later ensured no counter current, a great result following a poor decision.

We motor sailed and sailed a fairly zig-zag course, avoiding reefs and shallows, then motored the last few miles into Noumea harbour. The hazards are well marked on the chart however the marks are not always as clear as you might hope, being perched on very spindly poles, though some were very solid stone constructions. Arriving in the harbour just before 1700, the marina was full so we anchored outside. It was too late to report to the authorities so we set about tidying the boat in preparation for Stephanie and Richard's arrival on Wednesday.

The food mountain continued to reduce: egg, bacon and boudin noir for breakfast, fillet steak sandwiches for lunch and lamb steaks with taro and manioc followed by yogurt for dinner. That accounted for the last of the excellent fillet steak bought in Panama, the bacon, the boudin noir from Martinique, the lamb steaks, the yogurt and most of the eggs. I made a banana bread and broke the final egg into a small pot so I could use it Wednesday morning, getting rid of the egg shells at sea.

We slept well at anchor, 9 hours for John and 10 for me! We were still up early because we hadn't put our clocks back to New Cal time. John dinghied to the marina to set about completing the formalities, guided by the helpful Carol in the Capitainerie. First of all he had to trek across town to clear immigration then Carol gave him the forms for Customs and Quarantine, she also allocated us a berth opposite Tulasi, one of the World ARC contingent heading for New Zealand. Once tied up in the marina we went up to the marina office to complete the paperwork. SIVAP, the quarantine people would arrive at 1.30, if Customs hadn't arrived by the time they left us we were clear to leave the boat.

We made the most of the hour and a half, eating some more of the prohibited ham and salami. I also used up the last egg in some gluten free scones for Stephanie. The two ladies from SIVAP were very pleasant but also quite thorough, checking through the fridge and freezer contents, looking in my food lockers and inspecting my herbs and spices in their jars! They took away about 350 gr. of sliced leg ham, 2 manioc roots, 1 yam, 1 very small sweet potato, 3 limes, a bag of garlic, all the bananas, 500 gr. of beef mince which had thawed on passage but was not eaten and half a lime from the fridge which I had forgotten about! They weren't worried about the dried mushrooms, dried peppers or sun dried tomatoes nor any of the spice seeds. All our sprouting seeds were old and unwilling to sprout so they were dumped overboard 48 hours out of Vanuatu.

Richard and Stephanie finally arrived soon after 8.00 p.m. after more than 24 hours travelling on 3 flights and reported that the whole of Noumea seemed to be closed up. We headed up to the bar and restaurant opposite the marina office. Vive la France! The food was excellent and lots of it but it was also European prices, oh well you can't have everything in this life.

One small warning to anyone planning just a few days here, the supermarkets are not allowed to sell alcohol on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays or public holidays. The day before a public holiday they may only sell alcohol until midday. We are not sure why but we couldn't buy beer yesterday afternoon. The market, conveniently close to the marina, appears to close at midday or soon after.

The next log will probably follow in a few days' time.

Joyce

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