Sailing New Caledonia - Touring Ouvea

3/9/2017. Ouvea, Loyalty Islands

While most other participating boats from the Down Under Go East Rally are already enjoying Vanuatu, Easy Tiger is still in New Caledonian waters, experiencing the beautiful Ouvea.

Ouvea, in the northern Loyalties, is actually not correctly an island, it's an atoll. I think that means it is mostly sand and some limestone. The result is a spectacular beach that stretches for miles.

The sand is bleached white, the ocean is a vivid turquoise blue and we are inside a large bay where the water is lazily calm.

Yesterday, we booked a driver an the ten of us set off to discover the inland highlights and sites of this paradise.

I am not sure what we expected, but what we found were more questions than answers. My questions were how do the 4000 or so inhabitants of Ouvea actually survive here?

Our tour was to start at ten. At 10.40 a minibus arrived. Unfortunately it was an 8 seat minibus and there were ten of us. The lady from the tour desk we had booked through did her best to explain that there was another vehicle coming, so 2 could go in that vehicle. We all looked at each other. I put it forward that I was happy to stay on the boat. I was already dreading being stacked in a minibus like ten size nine toes into a size six boot.We all sighed a huge sigh of relief when Toni from Cruising Kitty very graciously said that they would go as the 2 in the other vehicle.

My French has even improved quite a bit since being in New Caledonia. This helped me to communicate with our driver for the day. First step was to find out his name was Marco. 2nd Step was to find out that he knew virtually no English other than hello, Go, Stop and 5 to ten minutes.

For the next five hours we rode the bus with the non speaking tour guide. First stop was the southern end of the island (atoll) where we saw some plain reefs and the channel markers we had used to navigate through the channel to arrive at Ouvea.

2nd stop was the bridge. Yep, it's a bridge. The highlight here was the few local guys repairing potholes in the road with a cement mixer. The had used 3 coconuts as traffic cones to divert traffic around their site. Not sure our that would meet our work sight safety laws. The coconuts were not flouro!!!!! On the other side of their site they must have run out of coconuts as they were using a bundle of twigs.

2nd Stop was the bridge. (where coconuts were used as traffic cones.)

3rd stop was an unscheduled stop. Then speaking driver pulled up at a small shed. The walls of the shed were brightly coloured material. The non speaking driver indicated that he was going to get something to eat at the marchet. Well my ears pricked up because marchet is in my ten word French vocabulary. I turned to those in the back who were wondering what we were supposed to be looking at here and said the magic word. Shop. The four ladies on board could not get out of the van quick enough. There was a colourful flash before our eyes as they were out of the van and into the shop in the blink of an eye.

We found the bread market, but Toni won the biggest Baguette  competition.

As we fellas caught up to them we heard their shrieks of delight, which I soon realised were laughter. Rounding the corner of the "shop" inside I saw a small transistor radio playing music. Then there was a large open trestle table. On it were half a dozen home made half loaves of bread. That was it. Did that mean our girls returned to the bus disappointed? No. It meant they returned to the bus with a half loaf off bread each. Well...you wouldn't want to go into a shop without buying would you!

Next stop after a five minute drive along the main road of Ouvea was a soap factory. Arriving just in time to see most of the staff leaving. Everything here stops for a couple of hours and has an extended lunch break. At the soap factory our non speaking guide indicated that we should go to the shed and have a look around. We did that. We walked around the shed watching a few very disinterested locals cutting big blocks of opaque coloured soap into small socks of soap, then hand them on to the next two folk who wrapped them in plastic. At least thats what I saw them doing, as none of them spoke or even looked at us it was pretty much a self guided tour.

From there we drove through an abandoned construction site, that looked like they were building a parking lot and new building at their main wharf. We all debated whether this may be a new cruise ship terminal or possibly for the ferry that comes this way from Noumea. Sadly as our non speaking tour guide was non speaking, we will never know.

On the way to the next place of interest, we were about to pass a small roadside shop that advertised snacks. We implored the non speaking driver to stop so that we could grab something to eat. Basically using hand signals and three of my ten word French vocabulary he got the message and pulled over. (I had my eye on the handbrake lever in case our communication was relayed effectively).

We piled in to the roadside snackbar which was basically eight posts and a roof. It was spectacularly located on the edge of the road and on the edge of the beach, looking out over the cian coloured water.

The menu was the challenge for the day as the only recognisable words on it were Sandwich and American. None of the staff appeared to speak English, so it was a bit of a challenge until a young European girl appeared. She spoke some English and was able to explain some items of the menu. When it came to the question what was an American, she said it was a sandwich with chips. Well that was all she had to say because in an instant she orders for eight Americans.  We probably should have asked for more detail. What we were presented was a long baguette sandwich with chicken and mayonnaise inside. We were all just about to ask where the chips were when we realised that they were in the sandwich with the chicken and mayonnaise. Different but very fresh and filling.

From there we drove up a couple of bush tracks, even though the maps show them as roads. We came to our next stop which was called the turtle holes according to non speaking tour guide's list of places to stop that Leanne found in the van.

The turtle hole was basically an almost perfectly round hole in the limestone. from where we stood on the edge it was about five metres down to mirky blue green water that appeared to be very deep. The water had a variety of rubbish floating on top. Leanne spotted a turtle on the opposite side of where we stood. That was about it. Back in the van three minutes later, headed for the next stop.

The turtle hole. This picture will also double for the Blue Hole.

The next stop where we indicated to Non Speaking tour guide that we didn't really need to stop was the St Joseph church. Churches on Ouvea are bar far the most impressive buildings. There are many and they are all huge structures with steeples and huge wooden doors at the entry. Everyone that I saw gave e the impression that while they were the biggest best buildings here, they were disused, abandoned and forlorn sites.

The blue holes sounded like it might be a highlight of our tour, as we read it on the list. A short walk from the van proved us a little wrong though. It was basically a repeat of the turtle hole experience, except for non speaking tour guide throwing some bread in and a couple of small fish pecking at it.

The next stop was actually one that moved me. It was a memorial for twenty Ouvean men that decided to resist the French rule in the loyalty islands. That staged a revolt, captured the local Gendarme and tried to get their traditions and tribal customs reinstated, only to be killed by French forces. There is a picture of each of these fellas and traditional decorations at the site commemorating there plight that took place on the 5/51988. Not that long ago.

From there on the return trip to the resort where our boats are anchored, we came to final stop for the day, some magnificent limestone cliffs with a spectacular lagoon at the foot.

Intersting cliffs with stallegtites.

Back at the resort, we discovered that Non Speaking tour guide actually did know several words of English. While I was thanking him for the driving us in my best French, he was saying in his best English, "you pay me now".

The shell covered white beach of Ouvea is truly beautiful

After having another couple of lazy days waiting for the weather, Neville and Amanda  had the great idea of hiring a car for the day. Something to do. Sounded like a good idea. So six of us piled into the small station wagon and around the island we went again. We chopped out the turtle hole, the blue hole and the cliffs. We didn't stop at the memorial or the bread market We bypassed the soap factory.

No our self drive tour took us down every back track, every circular route, gravel road, one way paved track and walkway that Ouvea has. We did find the snack bar again and tried their lovely plate meals this time instead of the Americans. We did magi to roll past St Josephs and the many other churches (each four times!). We noted that most of the houses (and we saw most of them) have one or more cars out the front up on blocks.

Several Chiefs compounds are easy to find. They have the best  fencing.

It seems Ouvea is impoverished to say the least. How it could turn the fortunes around is the great unanswered question as it is an island, well not even an island, it's an atoll in the middle of nowhere really. It's saving grace for us, a beautiful shell covered beach and the Hotel Paradiso where you can get a cold bear and a fair meal.

Sailing New Caledonia - Peaks and Troughs

18/8/2017 Peaks and Troughs

As our New Caledonia adventures draw to a close, I was wondering how best to describe our range of experiences.

Those who have looked at our Easy Tiger Sailing around Australia blog site will see that our track over the past three months looks like a blob of Spaghetti dobbed on the southwest corner of New Caledonia.

While it doesn’t look like we have ventured very far, I must say that this is because the huge lagoon formed by the 2^nd largest barrier reef in the world is so full of life, colour and beauty that we just simply haven’t had time to venture too far out of this wonderland.

There are many islands in this lagoon. Most are small, flat and have a few metres of beach. So going for a long walk involves two or three laps around the island. The appeal of these small islands is that they all have extensive reefs surrounding them, that are truly beautiful to snorkel and dive in and around.

The bigger islands generally consist of steep hills. These are mostly topped with either a navigational light or a lighthouse.

Exploring these “peaks and troughs” of this place has been a delight. By that I mean that we have hiked to the top of a few of the step hills and we have snorkel dived the reefs of the islands.

Our first venture up to a peak, was during the time we were anchored in bay Carenage at the end of the Bay de Prony. After a wild dinghy ride down the bay, we trekked to Prony village. I should have known that this was the easiest trek we would choose, as it wasn’t too steep, yet our boat legs that hadn’t done much walking for a few months were certainly burning after scaling a long hill.

The second hike up a hill was at the Isle Casy. We should have been lead on that adventure by the islands' sole inhabitant, a dog called Moose, but it seemed he was having a day off.

Marvellous views on offer on the tour of Isle Easy

A visit to Isle Mato when it was too windy to snorkel the reef there saw us tackle the very steep climb to the summit. I say it was a climb because we were on all fours at times getting up as well as coming down. Except for when Amanda saw a snake. Then there were no limb touching the ground for a second or two.

Then when we were in Anse MAjic, some one suggested we go up to the Cape Ndua lighthouse and take in the view. While not as steep as isle Mato, it was considerably further, along the very red dirt tracks. The view from up there was absolutely spectacular. The bluest of ocean, dotted with dark green islands and light green submerged reef systems with a backdrop of dark red hillsides makes every angle postcard material.

From the Cape Ndua Lighthouse every direction offers a postcard Vista

During our second visit to Isle de Pins, we tackled the walk to Pic Nga. That one had the steep sections like Isle MAto and was even further than The Cape Ndua Lighthouse “stroll”. We were all huffing and puffing and doubting we would make it to the top before we reached a quarter of the way up.

The crew were very happy to be at the top of Pic Nga...now for the trek down

Fortunately we all made it breathlessly to the top. That didn’t help much because the views from Pic Nga over Kuto bay were breathtaking. A cruise ship in the bay, the fast ferry at the dock and our catamarans sitting in the turquoise water followed by the many pine trees standing tall on the rolling hills makes a vista worth the tired legs, blisters and sore joints.

On the other end of the altitude scale has been the snorkeling. Highlights of this activity include the coral around the drop offs and chasms at Gadji, the numerous colourful clown fish (or nemos) at Isle Uaa, the turtles and other creatures in abundance in the sanctuary of Signal Island and the big fish lazing under our boats at Amedee.

The fish and creatures at Signal island made great snorkelling

Great Snorkelling spot out front of the resort at Isle Maitre too.

There may not have been a circumnavigation of the main island Grand Terre. There wasn’t much time spent in the capital in Noumea and the East Coast remains unvisited by us, but what we have done is explore the lagoon area top to bottom.

All of us that have been here agree that it still remains on our bucket list to return to New Caledonia hopefully in a couple of years. Perhaps then we may venture further, but we all say that would need an extended visa. Till then we know that got the most out of  our visits to the peaks and troughs of New Caledonia’s lagoon.

Sailing New Caledonia - Gorgeous Gadji

7th August 2017

Gadji, Isle De Pins New Caledonia

6^th August 2017 

Gorgeous Gadji

Over the 4 years we have been sailing aboard Easy Tiger, we are often about the best place we have been.

Of course there are many variables that dictate how we rate the many places we have been. Of course the weather plays a very important part in all that we do, so if  the weather didn’t suit, or the anchorage was crowded, or we were unable to stay long enough to get the feel of a place are factors that may influence our “rating” opposed to others who may have been there at the perfect time.

There are a few spots though, that inspite of the weather conditions and where it doesn’t matter how many other boats are there. Gadji, at the northeast end of Ilse of Pines in New Caledonia, would be one of these.

The two anchorages of Gadji are simply gorgeous. One is the outer, where you don’t have to go across the reef, the other is the inner anchorage where you enter at high tide into a huge pool of crystal water that ranges from only a metre to around 3 metres deep. This clarity of the water with it’s bright blue tinge gives you the impression that you are anchoring in a swimming pool.

The inner anchorage is surrounded by islands. These islands create a pond like area with a diameter of maybe three or four hundred metres. Most of these islands range in size from a suburban front yard to a few hectares on the largest. Many are just large volcanic rocks with that have been undercut over years by the seawater eating away underneath, creating a “mushroom” shape.

Curiously, most of these islands, big and small, have dense bush growing out the top. How such a variety of shrubs, bushes and even tall straight pine trees exist on these lumps of rock is amazing.

In the water, there are many “clumps” of coral. In the “swimming pool” inside anchorage there are spots of branch like coral that ranges in colour from bright blue to deep purple. Then in the passes between the islands there is fawn coloured brain coral, and lime green fuzzy coral. On the ocean side of the passes between the islands there is plate coral. This seems to grow laterally and as flat as a plate giving great opportunities to the fish to find protection underneath.

The fish life around these corals is spectacular. From small bright green or electric blue damsel fish, various clown fish (nemos) to yellow and black striped angel fish. Added to this are  bright green or maroon coloured parrot fish, plus turtles and sting rays all together are an absolute delight to watch while floating among them.

Perhaps one of the best bits about Gadji is that you can really only get here by boat. There is no accommodation here, no resort, no swim up bar. The entry and exit points are pretty shallow, so there are no big boats carrying hundreds of people, its just us cruising sailors and couple of local dive boats that get to enjoy it in all it’s glory.

Several of the larger islands have small beaches. So the norm for us is to have a bonfire on one of these beaches every other night, where all the sailors get together to swap stories. Inevitably the conversation seems to come around to how gorgeous Gadji is.

One of the "undercut" islands at Gadji

Windsurfing in the "swimming pool"

Parked in the swimming pool

Dinghy waiting for action.

Sailing New Caledonia; Name It

29/7/2017

Canal Wodin, New Caledonia

Name It

Sadly, after nearly two months in New Caledonia (a French colony), my French language skills have not improved.

I engaged our yacht agent Herve in the briefest conversation yesterday and asked him how I was doing. Now you must remember that I am his customer, so it was in his interest to be extremely diplomatic.  He replied that my French was not perfect. He just neglected to say how far from perfect it was. Probably didn’t have time to measure that gap!

It doesn’t help with the names of places in New Caledonia a mixture between French and the local indigenous people known as Canack’s.

When asked where we are headed, we must reply that we are off to Uere.  I have heard Australian accents on the vhf radio pronouncing this place as “You ‘ere, you erey” or worse “you rear”. This bay has now adopted a new title with us. It is now simply known as where “Leanne had her birthday bash”.

Also producing a bit of difficulty are places such as UA, UE, UIE, UO and We. You’d think that these would be easy, but apparently if you just say it the way it is written you can get it quite wrong. One would’nt want to sail all the way to We, if we were supposed to be going to Ua (pronounced Wah…I think).

The one place I thought I was having no trouble at all with was Isle De Pins. I was even getting what I thought was quite a French sounding twist when I said to people that we had been down to Aisle de Pens.

That was until we had Tristan and Claudia from Frozzie over for drinks. Claudia is French. She grew up in the south of France and being a teacher, she did have a giggle, well quite a laugh actually, at my expense, as in my best French accent I announced that we would like to go back to the aisle of male genitals.

Since then, we have all tried to get it right. Some of our group are now saying Aisle De Parns, Others Aisle de Pahhns and I have even heard the odd Aisle de Porns, which would probably go with my Aisle De Pens.

Isle Amedee is another simple looking name, but, has had some interesting pronunciations offered up by we English speaking numpties. Armaidee, Ameddy and Aimdee are some that have been offered up. Goodness knows what these are interpreted as by French person listening to our radio chatter. Even poor old Island Mato has been called MARTO.

At the moment we are heading up Canal Wodin to meet a couple of boats at Isle Casy, which is hard to get wrong. But from there we may go to Gadji or Gudji depending on your take. Gadji or Goudji is on the ISLE OF PINES (That's my Australian Translation). That’s how I am saying it from here on, because maybe it’s just me, but I feel a little weird about inviting others to sail down to the island of the male genitals.

 

Sunset at Bay UA

Right 'ere at Bay Uere

The easy one, Isle Easy

Jetty at Isle Te Ndo (Signal Island)

The fantastic Baie De Oro