Tuesday, 3 July to Thursday,
12 July 2018
It is 80nm from Baie de Chasseloup to Passe D’Ouarai, the
first opening into the southern barrier reef. Boats travelling south either do
this in one long leg if there are favourable conditions or if you have constant
SE winds as we have, then you can do it in smaller stages.
Our first leg was 30nm in a straight line to Ile Grimault -
tacking to windward it was 49nm sailing. Ile Grimault was a great anchorage,
very protected and with a nice beach for a walk at the end of the day.
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Next leg was 32nm to Bourail. Another 50nm sailing to
windward. We were lucky on this leg for the wind to be a bit more easterly
before shifting to the south just after lunch to give us a quick final 15nm.
We had 3 nights in Bourail anchored in Baie de Nessadiou
which had great protection from the strong SE winds blowing.
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| Plage de Roche Percee is a surf beach in a westerly |
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| La Nera river - you could kayak to Bourail if you were keen |
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| Ile Verte |
On Saturday, the winds had eased and we ventured out for the
final leg outside the lagoon to Passe D’Ouarai, about 20nm away. We entered the pass at 1300 and then headed for Ouano for
the night. There is a narrow channel through the coral, and we anchored with 5
other yachts.
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| Ouano boat ramp |
We had 2 nights here and enjoyed the company of some locals, Patrick and Pierrette. Patrick had circumnavigated (the world, not just Grande Terre!) with his parents and 3 siblings in a 30 foot mono. Patrick then built the 75 foot “pirate ship” (his
description) Bonte 45 years ago in
the Carribean and it became home to his family. Among other entertaining stories was how he learnt to fly his seaplane (an ultralight biplane) which was stored on Bonte.
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| The beautiful Bonte |
They sold Bonte 6 months
ago and were now enjoying a new Beneteau 46 – unhappy that you couldn’t order
one without all the electronics which they had never needed.
We were still working our way south to Noumea for Bastille
Day, so headed for Ilot Tenia where we caught up with Barbarossa, one of the Go East rally fleet.
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| Ilot Tenia |
We decided to head to
Ile Puen for the overnight anchorage as Tenia can get quite rolly. Turned out
to be a good call as we discovered when we saw Barbarossa again at Presque’Ile Uitoe. Presque’Ile means almost an
island and this large protected bay was great.
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| Nickel being loaded from barges |
It was so protected we headed
off on Wednesday morning with genoa and full main to discover the 20 knot SE
was still blowing. We sailed to Timbea, a beautiful bay for lunch, quick
headsail change and walk ashore.
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| Horse getting its exercise at Timbea |
We then sailed with 2 reefs and the self-tacker to Baie Maa,
just 6nm from Noumea. Winds were over 20 knots gusting to 30. We left early on
Thursday and arrived at the Port Moselle marina at 1030. Our circumnavigation
of Grande Terre had taken 44 days and we covered 730nm.
Several people have since asked us is it worth going around
the top. The answer is yes if you have done the main cruising areas around
Noumea, southern lagoon, Ile de Pins and Loyalties. It is a lot different to
down south – we saw only 2 other yachts in the north but there are beautiful,
quiet anchorages and friendly locals.
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