Lined up with several other cruisers all with similar plans, we headed to the Denarau Port authorities to complete the checkout formalities. Turns out we were all planning to leave that day for Noumea – it is nice to have your big decisions ratified by others and it meant we would have a bit of company on the way.
By the time we had motored towards the main pass it was midday and the expected 20kn tradewinds had been reinforced by the afternoon land breeze. So we exit the pass like a rocket, reefed right down and straight into 25 to 30kn gusting 35kn on the beam. Rough seas and lots of spray welcomed us! We even got several large dumps into the cockpit which is a first for us. I have to say the boat handled it very well and apart from the odd wave that hit the side, it ran really smoothly along in the 3m to 4m swells at 8+ knots. It was more us, the crew, that were hanging on.
Happily, the conditions moderated after a few hours, once we cleared the land and the acceleration zone on the SW of Viti Levu. Settling down to 20 to 25knots and coming aft of the beam, the seas calmed and so did we!
After that boisterous start the passage was actually really good. We had just enough wind to keep us going at 6 to 7knots without trying too hard and for 4 of the 5 days we ran our asymmetric spinnaker all day, (we don’t leave it up at night even though the conditions were very stable – too much can go wrong very quickly when you are short handed with such a sail. if just to prove the point, a fellow traveller wrapped their spinnaker around the forestay and could not get it down. They finished the last 36hrs of the passage motor sailing with a ballooning sail that did the rig no good. It took 7 people in the marina to sort that out!). The sail was perfect in the 10 to 15kn over the deck and lovely mellow seas. The boat ate up the miles whilst we got on with passage life – eating, reading, sleeping mostly.
One thing we did notice on the AIS were large fleets of Chinese fishing vessels south of Vanuatu. They have sold their fishing right to the Chinese and you could almost feel the ocean being emptied out.
The only other “hazards” were a counter current we had for several hours which was unexpected out there in the middle of nowhere. It is never nice to have your progress impeded like that. Feels like theft! There were also several seamounts (which probably have something to do with the currents) that rise to within 30m of the surface from depths of over 2000m – so we wouldn’t hit them but they can cause confused seas, so we skirted around them (although we did notice that last time in Vagabond Heart we practically went right over them and never knew – ignorance is bliss and all that).
Our last passage to New Caledonia in Vagabond Heart had ended with the last 18hrs bashing into a 20kn headwind. Not nice, and to add insult to injury it was Deb’s 50th birthday. This time around we had no wind at all for the last 12hrs and motored into Savannah Pass around 6pm, just before dark.
Authorities are very strict about not stopping anywhere on the way before you reach the port of entry and have completed all the formalities. This means that there was a 40nm trip through the main channels inside the reef to get to Noumea. Fortunately there was no wind, but we still had to motor for 7hrs, finally reaching Port Moselle and dropping the anchor outside the marina at 1am. It is all very well marked and documented, but nonetheless we don’t enjoy night arrivals.
We then crashed in a heap and had a decent lie in the next morning before getting organised. This involved contacting Port Moselle marina who provide check-in berths on a first come, first served basis and help initiate the formalities. However, as it was a Saturday they only have staff on the pontoon and no office staff so it took multiple attempts on the VHF to raise them (it finally took me going into the marina in the dinghy and then polishing up my French again).
Once tied up on the marina we then had to wait for Quarantine to come to the boat. You cannot go ashore until cleared by health and given “practique”. Like many countries now, the biosecurity rules are very tight and they have very specific and strict controls on what you can and cannot have on board. Deb had done a great job with the provisioning as always and we had pretty much consumed everything they didn’t want to see (basically any fresh fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, honey, meats…..) so the very pleasant lady who came to inspect had a good look round, thanked us for being organised and only left with a small pack of sunflower seeds.
So now we could get off the boat and enjoy the marina facilities, (top amongst them being a huge wash down for the boat which was very salty and very dirty after all the ash coming from the burning sugarcane stubble in Fiji). Because it was the weekend, the remaining formalities (immigration and customs) had to wait until Monday morning. This involved a bit of a walk to the various offices but was straightforward and the folk we met were all delightful and welcoming.
So now we are in New Cal and looking forward to enjoying the baguettes, patisserie, cheese and charcuterie which we have missed since French Polynesia. We won’t have a long stay here as we keep an eye on weather windows to head to Bundaberg, but we won’t hurry too much either. There are some lovely anchorages out in the lagoon and some spots we went to last time that we would like to revisit.