Arrival Back In Australia

Arrival  Back In Australia

We had a fast passage back from Chesterfield Reef to Bundaberg taking us 3 days and 2 nights. We clocked 185nm on 2 occasions and sailed all but the last 3nm to Bundaberg.  We couldn’t believe we had made the return trip and that we were once more back in Australian waters. Crossing the continental shelf to Australia and watching the depth gauge once again record an accurate measurement really made you feel that you were arriving home! The seas flattened the sun dipped, glowing red over the Australian coastline and we arrived at 9pm, anchoring by the marina at the quarantine buoy.

The following morning under directions from quarantine and customs we came into the marina at Bundaberg. We hoped we had gone through all the correct procedures regarding re entry to Aus’ but we were still anxious in case we had some dreaded foreign invader on board or had smuggled some unknown illicit French cheese! All proved to go smoothly and both officials were friendly and professional, giving us a clean bill of health! Although it cost us $330 for the pleasure at least we were told we wouldn’t need an inspection by the termite sniffing dog which can cost much much more!  Good job they didn’t spot the hitch hiking cockroach that Roger killed today!! We celebrated our safe return after a fantastic voyage with a bottle of good French Champagne bought in New Caledonia for the occasion!

So now we have 2 weeks to return to Scarborough, Brisbane via the Great Sandy Straights and the Wide Bay Bar and then fly back to Melbourne. We will have to clean up Dreamweaver and prepare her for a stint on her own in Brisbane.  Should be a piece of cake after the last 6 months, fingers crossed!

Chesterfield Reef

Well we had been back in Noumea for several days and in the back of our minds we knew we needed to be thinking of heading west again, this time Australia was our destination and it would mean the end of a 6 month voyage. I hadn’t realised but Roger had a plan to extend our cruising destinations once more! It would require heading north west for an additional 250nm to Chesterfield Reef. What did I think of this idea? After all it would not add that much extra time to our overall sailing or at least that was how the proposal was made!

We knew several other sailing yachts that had visited this complex group of reefs though usually after departing from the top of the Vanuatu group of islands. Our route would see us sail up to the north of New Caledonia rather than heading west towards Australia. How could I refuse? We cleared customs and immigration without any problems and sailed out through the Dunbere Reef Pass  with sunshine and 15knots from the south east. Perfect conditions which saw us make a speedy 7 to 8 knots over the next 3 days. We used the asymmetric sail as the winds came more from the stern but on the whole it was an easy passage.  We approached the reef in less than perfect conditions and were cautious on entry, we had full cloud cover and some drizzle. We contemplated standing off until the morning but having good waypoints we made our way in to the complex and anchored safely behind the reef and one of the small island cays.

It is an amazing location. The ocean depth rises from being several thousand metres deep and as blue as the darkest sapphire a  to just 30 meters deep  and turquoise blue  as you sail into the complex, the sky is full of birds!  

We inflated the tender and motored to the island. Every piece of vegetation had birds nesting on its branches. Large blue beaked Boobies sitting on white fluffy chicks watching us with curiosity but not fear as we walked past. Thousands of terns nesting on the coral sand beaches took to the air as we toured the island, then in the air flying with supreme grace and agility black Frigate birds some with red pouches hanging from their necks displayed their aeronautical skills. It was an amazing sight and was well worth our sailing detour. As we walked around the island Roger contemplated a swim but was immediately deterred on seeing 4 reasonably large sharks in the shallows at the very point he had considered swimming!  The lagoon was home to dolphins that swam past Dreamweaver and humpbacked whales that had come into the shallow waters to give birth to their young. It was an amazing experience to visit this unique destination.

We spent 3 nights at Chesterfield before exiting the reef on the west side this time heading south west to Bundaberg Australia.

The Isle of Pines

Having spent six nights in Noumea it was definitely time to be out of the marina and sailing south within the large lagoon towards the Isles of Pines. The sky was blue matching the turquoise seas we were sailing upon. We were back tracking slightly down to Canal Woodin where we planned to spend the night within one of the protected anchorages on the Isle de Quen. We had navigated through here on our route from Vanuatu. The colours are vibrant with the deep greens of the lush vegetation clinging to the sloops of the mountains contrasting with the oranges and reds of the underlying soil structure. This is all set against the blue of the seas with piercing columnar pines punctuating the sky line.  It is very dramatic.

We awoke early and set off for the Isle of Pines some 43nm further south. The winds were the normal trades from the south east but fortunately they were only predicted to hit 15 knots as we were having to motor sail into them. The journey involved following the commercial shipping route as there are a number of small reefs and sand islands along the way. It was an easy passage which enabled us arrive mid afternoon anchoring in the Baie de Kuto. This was a stunning anchorage with a beautiful white sand beach that formed a perfect protected bay. The shoreline was dotted with pines and other trees. There was a restaurant in the centre of the beach which had a fantastic decking area on which one could sit with a sundowner and watch the sun dip below the horizon. The same fantastic sunsets could also be seen from the deck of Dreamweaver with a similar light beverage in hand!

Walking across a narrow isthmus from the Baie de Kuto you enter into the Baie de Kanumera. This is equally beautiful and has a small island which is easily swum around having some interesting coral with many brightly coloured fish. We spent a couple of days exploring these two bays before hitching a ride with a local school teacher into the nearby village of Vao! As with Noumea the atmosphere was very French and the past remnants of the islands early history as a French penal settlement could be seen. From Vao we walked to the next settlement of Baie St Joseph and watched the traditional sailing canoes called Pirogues return from their morning sail. They were very attractive to watch with their white sails standing out against the blue of the sea as we ate a little French bread and cheese whiling away the day! With a little walking and another hitched ride we returned to Dreamweaver.

We spent a couple of hours on the following day climbing up to the top of the highest point on the island, Pic N’ga. This gave some excellent views of the Southern Lagoon and the aquamarine waters surrounding the Isles of Pines. In an effort to continue the keep fit theme or should I say get fit, we hired bikes and circumnavigated the island. There were a number of hills which I managed to huff and pant up but we covered about 50km with relative ease and managed to visit all the bays. The Baie de Oro was stunning and despite being hot and bedraggled we visited the 5 star Meridian Hotel for coffee, $12 was never better spent because the location was spectacular! Back on the bikes and we cycled onwards to la piscine naturelle. This is a natural sheltered swimming pool protected behind the reef and forming a waterway out to the open sea from the Baie de Oro .The water is the most intense blue over a sandy bottom providing a safe area for swimming in this beautiful location. From here it was back on the bikes and the final push back to Kuto.  It was a great way to experience the beauty of the island.

Roger would have liked to have moved anchorages but we stayed put in the Baie de Kuto for 8 nights probably because I thought it such a safe and beautiful spot!

The return sail back towards the main island of New Caledonia was easy and we anchored for the night in the Baie de Prony amongst the pines and contrasting colours of this southern landscape. This is a massive area with many anchorages and the sounds of birds in the morning was a lovely way to great the day. This is the first of the island groups that we have visited that has such an abundance of birds whether sea or land species.

The Ilot Maitre

This is a largish island surrounded by an enormous coral reef but it’s only 3nm from Noumea. We anchored here on our return journey and spent the following day walking the beach and snorkelling on the coral. There is a flashy hotel situated on the island with rooms over the water which allows visiting yachties to use the restaurants etc. In retrospect we should have spent a few more days exploring these local anchorages and islands that are so close to Noumea but the food situation on Dreamweaver was getting low which meant a return to the marina in Noumea.

So this is where we are now. Back to the good internet and city life! The bay here has an unusual fragrance which we have named the ‘Eau De Poo’ so I’m not sure that we would enjoy being here in the warmer months. Roger is getting a little stir crazy and wants to be on the move but as our next destination is back to Australia we need to wait until the next good weather window happens in a few days. We will head for Bundaberg we think and then we will spend a few days heading south to Brisbane, or at least that’s the thoughts today!

I had my horticultural fix yesterday and visited the botanic gardens. They were interesting and really made you appreciate the diversity and uniqueness of the flora here in New Caledonia. There are 13 species of the pine that are indigenous to here and the gardens have some of the last surviving dry forest areas in this area of New Cal’ containing some of these. The connections to Australia’s vegetation were also obvious with species of Acacia common to both countries. It also afforded spectacular views of the surrounding bays.

We have met some great people here in New Caledonia all with cruising stories to tell so it will be sad to head back to our real lives in Australia in some ways. We cannot believe have far we have sailed but also how quickly the days have slipped by. Perhaps we have not seen all we could see along the journey but that leaves an opportunity to return and have new experiences. So we are listening to Gulf Harbour Radio and Dave on the Pacific weather situation and monitoring BOM and any other available weather sites before making the move for this next passage across the Coral Sea and Dreamweaver is being prepared to make this longer passage of about 6 days give or take. So or next post will be after are experiences of Australian customs!!

New Caledonia

We set sail to New Caledonia having decided that to progress any further north in Vanuatu would have created a hard slog back against the predominant south easterly trade winds. OK, the fact that we had only seen 3 days of sunshine in over 2 weeks in Vanuatu may have influenced us ever so slightly!! We are after all meant to be enjoying warm tropical sunshine!  So despite some weather gurus advising boats wanting to head south to wait until the end of the week we and another couple decided to undertake the relatively short passage of 3 days to New Caledonia. This proved to have been a great decision, as we had gentle winds from the east / south east for all but the last 20nm when they turned more southerly. Fortunately the winds were light and the seas remained relatively moderate. We were able to sleep and prepare meals without any problems. We passed through the Loyalty Islands in daylight and arrived at Havana Pass, the passage through into the lagoon that surrounds New Caledonia at 6am,  just at slack water. Perfect timing! This was a first for us as we usually have to slow down for fear of arriving to early.

We sailed through the inner passages to Noumea and realized that we were back in the 21^st century as we arrived at Port Moselle and the marina. Lots of expensive boats and Peugeots, Renaults and Citroens everywhere! We must be in France!  The checking in formalities were very simple and cost us nothing! In all the other Pacific Islands there had been costs for all sorts of things from a health cost paid at a local hospital in Fiji to Port Charges in Tonga. They usually amounted to the same total of about $250 Australian although no official was usually to be seen and they certainly didn’t come out to the boat. The internet here is fantastic, Rogers words!

Noumea is a large city dominated by a protected a bay with houses and expensive apartments lining the foreshore and overlooking marinas. Shopping is of a similar price to Australia but with expensive French clothing and accessory stores! Rogers worried about my shopping alone!  The supermarkets have everything a cruising sailor may desire and the choice of cheese, breads and French wine is large. Eating out offers an enormous selection of restaurants so that on my birthday our choice was very French and our very poor school language skills were called upon! It was lovely because of the differences.

From here we will go out to visit The Isle of Pines for a week or so and then retrace our steps back to Noumea, we may hire a car to explore some of the internal areas of the country but we will see how time passes. I’m sure that before we know what has happened we will be planning our passage back to Australia in about 6 weeks time!!!

The Island of Tanna

Following the excitement of Aneityum we set sail for Tanna the next island in the chain of islands that make up Vanuatu. This is billed as having the most accessible active volcano in the Pacific. We anchored at Port Resolution, another bay visited and named by Capt Cook on his exploration of the Pacific on his boat of the same name. The bay is surrounded by lush tropical vegetation, yellow cliffs potted with small caves and arches carved into the face. Several steam vents puff through the vegetation in time with the rising plume of smoke emanating from the volcano that lies hidden behind the green growth that tumbles down the hill side to meet the sea. The village can be seen perched above the low cliff, a collection of rustic woven huts and neat crops under a canopy of coconut palms.

The bay had 16 yachts anchored in it on our arrival and each had a story to tell of being covered in ash with the westerly winds and rain. Perhaps it was as well that we had been delayed by Pascal. There were many villages out on their outriggers waiting to say hi to the next yacht arrival, some were fishing others just watching the spectacle. We met Stanley a very helpful local who arranged our trip up to the volcano the following evening. He introduced us to his village; again people only lived very simply in huts with no power and very little material belongings. We traded for fruit exchanging rope, clothing, glasses and anything else they wanted, we had so much and they had so little.

The trip to the volcano was an amazing experience. 16 yachties were crammed into a Ute and taken along a rough muddy road through tropical rain forest to the volcano. As we approached the lush green gave way to a plain of grey pumice rising up to form the classic cone shape. The boom of the explosion could be felt as we climbed the path to the craters edge; a display of shooting fireworks of red and orange shards lit the evening sky. We stood meters away from the brim of a very active spectacle, the centre of the crater heaving with molten lava, pulsating as the next explosion of rocks, smoke and lava were propelled into the air. Wow! We remained watching until the night was dark accentuating the power and might of Mother Nature at her most primeval imagining with awe the intensity of the next explosion.

We sailed away from Tanna and the friendly village of Port Resolution to Port Villa on the island of Efate. The weather was expected to change to rain in the next few days and we wanted to be safe in the protected anchorage of the capital. The anchorage is a very protected harbour with an internal and external bay. Yachts anchor behind the island of Ikki with a resort of the same name looking towards the town. So that’s where we are at the time of this blog writing. What a contrast modern cars, cafes and restaurants, duty free shops to service the cruise ships that regularly visit and French supermarkets the internet and only 160nm from Tanna! Hard to reconcile the contrast between the two places, is it really the same country?

In between the rainy days we made a quick sail over to Hideaway Island only 5nm outside of Port Villa. This is a resort but it is also very near to some fantastic cascading pools that are fed by the river tumbling down through the mountain rain forests. These were really beautiful and cool sitting under the waterfalls on a warm day.

So now we find ourselves back in the anchorage, waiting in the rain for a good weather window which we will see us heading nearer to Australia as New Caledonia and Noumea are our next destination.

Dr Roger and the Injured French Yachtie

We spent the first day on Aneityum exploring the village and nearby Mystery Island. The people here live a very simple life, huts made of traditional coconut leaves and wood with no electricity and communal facilities. There is a school which takes children up to 11 when they become borders at large schools in Port Villa. A simple life consisting of fishing, weaving, gardening for vegetables and raising pigs and chickens is the norm. Pigs are very highly prized and marriage dowries are based on pigs which are raised in cages. The pig tusk is a form of valuable currency between villages especially if they form a full circle like a bangle.

On the second day the weather changed and we then had 3 days of heavy rain. We left the yacht to watch the inter island soccer final which was played on a sloping field with trees to run around and holes filled with sand. The whole village was out under umbrellas watching and cheering on their respective teams, the local side won which was a cause of great excitement. Shortly afterwards Roger’s skills we called upon. Having walked along the beach we were about to return to Dreamweaver when an anxious Frenchman rushed up asking if we were doctors. His brother had fallen and was now in great pain and having trouble breathing.

Villagers helped to carry Pascal to the local ‘medical center’ where it became obvious that he had broken some ribs and quite probably had a pneumothorax. Oh dear we were in a remote location with little medical equipment and a seriously ill man! Stephan and his brother had it seemed already cleared customs in Port Villa and were on route to New Caledonia with a New Zealand crew member when they called into Aneityum for a rest and a walk. Our first aid kit didn’t include a chest drain and kit! But his breathing seemed OK and not cyanosed [we know how accurate the human eye is!] so we just had to manage his pain. So for the next 24 hours Anne and I had a patient and out departure was delayed. Morphine and oxycodone helped the pain but he couldn’t go on an offshore passage to Noumea. The next 24 hours his brother was in communication with the French consulate, the travel insurance company, and the French Army in New Caledonia. Finally the insurance co gave the OK and Le Armee de L’Air sent a Puma helicopter to rescue him.

Of course by this stage it was dark and 100% cloud and raining hard! The football pitch by the beach with its slope and trees was readied for their arrival. The only illumination available was the torches of the 4 yachts, including the Hungarians who were still at anchor with their Q flag up, and the single light from the village’s portable generator! The giant helicopter coming out of the darkness in the rain was quite a sight watched by the entire village. The rescue team were very professional and I am sure it helped he was French from Paris! 2 ½ hours later they left for Noumea. They were intending on putting a chest drain in as the weather meant they would need to go higher, but changed their mind at the last moment as the weather outlook was improving.

The story was told in the National newspaper a few days later, but I am not sure it was the same rescue as there were very few accurate facts! We haven’t been able to find out how Pascal is but hoped to soon.

Leaving Fiji arrival in Vanuatu

We went through the custom clearance at Lautoka having anchored outside the commercial wharf that services the sugar cane mill. Moored along side were some very dodgy looking Chinese fishing boats, one was defiantly taking on water as its stern was way down below the plimsol line, with all pumps discharging out from the sides. Fiji along with many other South Pacific nations it seems have sold their fishing rights to the insatiable appetites of the Chinese! The clearance procedure was straight forward and on completion we had an hour to leave! Impossible given that we had to secure the tender to the top of Dreamweaver on our return from the wharf.

We motored out towards the reef passes as there was little wind due to the wind shadow created by height of the main island Vita Levu. We passed several islands that we had visited in the Mamanucas and also the one made famous in the Tom Hanks movie Castaway. As we approached the reef opening many dolphins and a pod of Pilot Whales accompanied our passage out. Fantastic in the clear flat blue waters.

The crossing was to Aneityum, the southern most island of Vanuatu. We had a good passage taking 3 days and arriving early afternoon on the Friday. Richard the local policeman come customs official came and cleared us in and this allowed us to go to a celebration night hosted by the villagers for all the 9 yachts anchored in the bay. Dancing in traditional dress by many members of the village, stone baked fish cooked in the ground, singing and kava drinking! Vanuatu kava is reputedly the strongest in the South Pacific and it certainly numbed the mouth tasting vaguely herbal although the colour of cloudy dish water! It was a great welcome to the islands.