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Firefly - Iles Des Pins



We checked into New Caledonia without too much trouble on Monday 20th October. Berthed at the excellent Port Moselle Marina we were within walking distance of much of Noumea and we were excited at the prospect of exploring the capital city of New Caledonia. With its 'French connection' it is a modern place with some older colonial buildings interspersed with modern architecture and it has well laid out roads bordered by wide areas of green. There are modern shops and amenities, and in certain areas the cafes, boulangeries and patisseries make it feel like a town in France.

However, as we experienced in French Polynesia its an expensive place and after Fiji and Vanuatu, it is considerably less friendly. There is a very noticeable distinction between the well off Europeans living in Noumea including the 'Caldoches' (descendants of French settlers) and the Kanaks (indigenous Melanesian Inhabitants). There are a lot of Kanaks who are fully integrated into the society and are working in the city but there are a significant number who are on the streets in groups and clearly discontent and there is a large police presence.

Despite the obvious tensions we made the most of our stay and enjoyed meeting up with the other World ARC yachts who like us are joining ARC New Zealand. After 3 nights in the marina, recharged, refuelled and re provisioned, we set off again with the intent of reaching the Iles Des Pins about 60 miles to the South East. This is the place most yachts will try and visit when cruising in New Caledonia but its relatively difficult to get to and its directly upwind in the South Easterly Trades. We timed our departure to coincide with 2 days of lighter winds and with a stop off at Illot Casa in the Baie de Prony, we eventually reached Kuto after a combination of sailing and motoring.

The 'Lonely Planet' guide describes Iles Des Pins as 'a tranquil paradise of turquoise bays, white sand beaches and tropical vegetation'. With the addition of superb weather we have found it to be one of the most beautiful places we have seen on our circumnavigation so far. After arriving in Kuto we had time for a stroll down the pristine fine white sand beach before sunset and usefully found out that the next day a cruise ship was visiting. Therefore, the next morning, as the cruise ship passengers started to be ferried ashore we upped anchor and moved to Illot Brosse, an uninhabited island a few miles off the mainland surrounded by the most exquisitely coloured lagoon.

Illot Brosse was not our planned destination but heading for Vao we saw a yacht and some kitesurfers launching off the beach and decided to go and investigate - it was a very pleasant surprise to find it was Brent, James and Sarah our friends on Aurora Star whom we had last seen in Fiji some 6 weeks back. Anchoring in the same lagoon we spent 2 nights off the island and had several trips ashore to walk both on the fabulous beaches and through the interior. Pat and Stuart, our World ARC buddies from Dartmouth arrived in Brizo on the second day and we all arranged to meet up ashore to have a walk around the island together.

Following a narrow path from the leeward to the windward side we emerged in front of a shallow lagoon. The water was crystal clear, the bottom was limestone rock and sand and in the pools we could see large groups of black tipped reef sharks. Clearly this was some kind of 'shark nursery' and similar to what we had seen in Suwarrow in the Cook Islands back in May. Other wildlife included sea snakes, distinctly banded black and white that were both in the water and also venturing on land. These snakes are about 75cm long and while not aggressive they are absolutely deadly - their venom being much stronger than the most venomous land snake and if they did bite - a local guide we met on the island (who was holding one to show us!) said a human would only survive for 5 seconds. There we also large flocks of terns.

When we arrived off Noumea a week previous we were amazed at the number of people kitesurfing off the nearby islands - a real mecca for the sport. Therefore it was a little unusual that we read that kitesurfing was not allowed at the Iles Des Pins and thought nothing more of it. Back on Illot Brosse, over the days we spent there, Brent, James and Paul had several aborted attempts at kitesurfing due to the wind not quite reaching the required level of about 15 knots. However, the setting was so stunning we were determined to get going and finally on Sunday afternoon (26th October) the wind came up and we rushed over to the beach in our dinghies, pumped up our kites and we were off flying over the azure waters - fantastic. It was therefore somewhat frustrating that some locals who were fishing came over in their launch to tell us that kitesurfing was not allowed at the Iles Des Pins! C'est la Vie - we deflated and headed back to Firefly to 'sob' over a beer.

Paul and Susie

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