10-6-99 Bonjour! We're in Nouméa, New Caledonia (Lat 22° 16'S/Lon 166°26'E), having sailed the 330 mile passage from Vanuatu. It was a rough, lumpy, wet ride ..... the first time we've had the wind on our nose in a long time. And, of course, big seas to go with the big winds (8-10 foot seas and 20-25 knot winds). But we're here now, safe and sound, and happy to be in a marina. Nouméa, offers a free night at the Port Moselle marina for foreign yachts clearing in, so we're taking full advantage: long, hot showers for us and lots of fresh water for SIMMER too. Poor SIMMER was encrusted in salt after that rough passage. New Caledonia is a French territory and the island group consists of the large main island (250 mi. long by 31 mi. wide) and several smaller islands offshore. It is different from all the other Pacific islands we visited so far - not the usual luxuriant vegetation - it's fairly bare and arid, with pine trees and red, clay soil. Capt. Cook named New Caledonia after the pine-clad shores of Scotland. New Cal became a French colony in 1853 and was used as a penal colony for about 50 years, and France transported it's undesirables half way around the globe. Mining (nickel, chrome, iron ore and manganese) as well as agriculture and tourism are contributors to the economy today. The population is about 50-50 Pacific Islander/French and French is the official language, with some English spoken. Nouméa a high-profile French with chic shops and restaurants that rival those in Paris (probably not according to Parisians). It's also expensive, similar to French Polynesia.
10-11-99 We toured Nouméa for a few days - rode the bus around, stuffed our faces with croissants, visited museums, the cultural center and shopped. We also enjoyed the Equinox Festival (5-10 Oct) which is an annual Spring celebration here. It's is a fun mix of music, dance, comedy, carnivals and theatre. We even listened to chamber music in a 150 year old cathedral. We're tired out from all the "city stuff", and our feet hurt from wearing shoes, so we decided to cruise the Isle of Pines (Île de Pins in French), a small island about 40 miles south of Nouméa. It's lovely here, reminds us of the Bahamas - clear, shallow water and great protected anchorages with small limestone islands. Pat finally speared a Pacific lobster here, actually 6 of them. They've been eluding us across all of Oceania. In every island group, local fisherman go out at night with lights to spear lobster. We haven't been willing to join them, snorkeling in the dark, no thanks. Luckily, we found ours during the day. They are called "porcelain lobsters", similar to Atlantic spiny lobsters, but different coloring. They are a beautiful mosaic of colors - blue, coral, jade, yellow, black, and orange.
10-17-99 We spent a wonderful, relaxing week in Isle of Pines snorkeling and exploring all the little islands with their powder-white sand beaches. Lots of good shelling too. We had picture perfect weather while there - clear blue skies and cool temperatures - actually, so cool at night that we had to dig out the blankets (65°F). We're now back up on the southern tip of New Caledonia's big island, in Prony Bay. It reminds us of the Chesapeake Bay - red clay cliffs, pretty vegetation, many rivers and creeks, and lots of bird life. A few more days of exploring and shelling, then back to Nouméa to get ready for the trip across to Australia. It's our last big passage (850 miles) for awhile, and we're looking forward to getting "down under".
10-24-99 We're sailing across the Coral Sea, left Nouméa 3 days ago, position Lat 24°22'S/Lon 160°03'E with less than 500 miles to Brisbane, Australia. The winds have been light either behind us or on the beam and nice calm seas, good passage. A sea bird spent a night onboard - sitting on the staysail boom, catching up on some sleep. We think it was a shearwater. It's a "mixed-emotions" passage, ending our Pacific crossing, but looking forward to Australia. Our bottle of champagne is chilling and we're anxious to pop the cork in "OZ". (That's what the Aussies lovingly call their homeland!) We don't have a fishing line in the water because we caught a big yellowfin tuna in New Caledonia and still have quite a bit in the freezer. We'll put a line in a couple days before we get to Brisbane. We're also trying to eat up certain foods onboard that we can't take into Australia. They are very particular about bringing in meats. as well as other foods such as honey, fruits, vegetables, dairy products,...... We also are down to our last 4 SIMMER ALEs and they'll be part of our arrival, celebrating a our first ocean crossing! (One ocean down, and 2 to go!)
10-31-99 G'day Mates!!! Arrived in "OZ" 4 days ago, what a great feeling. We're in Scarborough Marina, 10 miles north of Brisbane (pronounced BRIZZ-BUN), Lat 27°11''/Lon 153° 06'E. This will be SIMMER's home for awhile, since we'll store her here when we fly home in early December. Our 6 day passage across from New Caledonia was one of the best across the Pacific, fair winds and following seas ..... except for the last 2 hours here in Moreton Bay approaching Scarborough/Brisbane area. We got caught in a huge thunderstorm at dusk with torrential rain, high winds and quite a lightning display, just 5 miles short of the marina. (Brisbane is world renown for its lighting). We dropped the sails in time for the high winds, and then slowly motored around waiting for a break in the rain. We got a short break and shot into the marina before the next downpour. By then it was 8:30 p.m. and we were tired and ready to be in! Good to be stationary. Now we're experiencing culture shock, trying to reacclimatize ourselves to "civilization" again after all the small-island, small-village South Pacific. We went to a shopping mall yesterday, and must've looked like idiots, wandering around with huge eyes, trying to take it all in. When we left work, Colleen's work buddies gave us Aussie dollars as a bon voyage gift. We can now tell them, thanks again and it was well spent the day after we arrived. A delicious seafood lunch and several jugs (pitchers) of beer with some new Aussie sailing friends that crossed from New Caledonia with us on KOOL SID. The fishing fleet and restaurant are right next to the marina and we sat outside on the deck overlooking SIMMER and KOOL SID. By the way, we'll have much better access to email here - so if you want to send a note - use this address, instead of our CompuServe address: rdegroodt@yahoo.com. An internet cafe is a short 2 mile walk away, so we'll probably check it once or twice a week during the next month that we are here. We promise. it'll be better than our communications all the way across the Pacific.
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