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Published: June 30th 2019
Manta Ray
We saw this guy swimming around our boat at Kuto, Ile des PinsSomething I remember from my childhood and the many family sailing holidays we had is that things often go wrong and when they do the best thing to do is laugh about it and then fix it. We seemed to do a lot of laughing at certain times in the past few days …
When everything was going well, we just kept on seeing amazing sea life up close and personal as well as idyllic sand fringed palm tree studded islets at every turn.
Sometimes the weather could have been better, but we were warm enough to go swimming with the tropical fish and enjoy being outdoors. Ile des Pins is a large island compared to the others. It must be about 20 km across, so we wanted to hire a car to see it for the day we had there. No can do! We didn’t have an international drivers’ licence between us. So, we ended up hiking to the top of the highest hill, Pic n’ga, which was close to our anchorage in Kuto. It was a good way to stretch our legs up some steep inclines and the views towards Kuto were very nice. The
View from Pic N'Ga
The highest point of Ile des Pins looking over Kuto's twin bays. most interesting sight on Ile des Pins was the ‘piscine natural’ which is an estuary that fills at high tide, then as the water level drops the fish get stuck in there and you can snorkel with them in clear water. By the time we arrived the clouds had rolled in and we were not as warm as we would have liked but at least the lack of a rental car didn’t stop us from seeing this pretty place.
Next was dinner. We had a reservation at the resort at the end of Baie de Kanumera, but first we had to get there in the usual way. We had done this many times before. We have a little rigid inflatable dinghy, just big enough for the five of us with an outboard motor, and paddles in case of emergency. I’d tested both means of propulsion as paddles are preferable for early morning departures when the rest of the boat wanted to be asleep. I had found the paddles, or oars, (pun intended) to go limp at times and just one side would stroke properly, but still effective enough. But with a full load we definitely needed the outboard to
get to shore. Well, it turns out that the motor needs petrol to work. We discovered this when we were within 100 metres of the pier. So, we used two paddles and in the most unconventional manner rowed a full load of 5 people to shore. The rest of the crew could see the problem I had mentioned about the oars being ‘floppy’, but we got there in the end. Dinner was delightful, and we later read in Lonely Planet that it was the best place to eat in New Caledonia. We can see why. Mahi Mahi (fish), steak, octopus, wine and service were all top notch. Nathan rated the chicken nuggets highly too. Next was the return leg of our expedition. So, Jeff decides to see what the problem with the paddle was by bending it. SNAP! Now we have a bigger problem. This was one of the moments when laughing is better than crying! So the three boys head off with one and a half paddles to get petrol from the big boat. Quite a slow process, but at least it hadn’t started to rain … yet. I get the little fella to bed and Jeff heads off
with the dingy to collect the girls, with petrol in the outboard this time. As I finish off the bed time story Nathan says, “I think Jeff is calling for you, Daddy”. Jeff was calling for me, the outboard had stopped again. This time we learn how to use the choke properly and I listen carefully as Jeff heads of into the dark once more. Fortunately, he returns with our lovely wives who are still giggling at our nautical ineptitude just before the rain sets in for the evening and we discover another set of problems; leaking hatches that drip on your pillow. Really, quite manageable, in the scheme of things but worthy of another laugh!
With the exception of this short period, when Murphy’s law predominated our every move, we have been quite lucky to see Manta Rays circling around our boat at anchor, pretty corals that we paddle boarded over and more fish and birds in the various ecosystems that we have traveled through. One such place was Ilot Casy, which has an interesting recent history. There used to be a resort there, but it closed down years ago. The resident dog liked it so much there
Star fish at Picsine Natural
They had these long wiggly legs that made them look a bit like octopus. that he refused to leave and ended up being left behind. But this is not a sad story. Moose, the dog, was happy there. He found tree trunks that fresh water welled up in and learned how to fish. He would greet yachties at the jetty and there was even a vet from Noumea who came once a year to give him a check-up. Moose lived out his years on Ilot Casy and passed away from old age in 2017. We learned this because we had sought shelter in Baie de Prony from some bad weather and discovered Moose’s island to be another interesting stop on our journey. An unexpected highlight really.
One thing you can’t control is the weather, and some days we had really good light winds and other days the breeze was very strong and in the wrong direction. Annoyingly the forecasts didn’t predict much of this very well. Overnight at Ilot Mato the wind really picked up and Luckily for us, light sleeping Lyn got up at 2 AM to check the instruments. It seemed that the anchor had slipped just a little, but we were perilously close to a shallow coral reef. So, we
Piscine Natural
Looks pretty from above the water moved in pitch black darkness and put the anchor down again. This time the anchor held but Jeff and Lyn didn’t get much sleep as they stayed up to check we weren’t moving for the fest of the night.
Ilot Mato was a picturesque stop; a small island with a large reef and one unwelcome inhabitant. We had seen the same shark patrolling around the back of our boat and this was the biggest one we had seen on our trip. No one wanted to go swimming in the beautiful clear water.
After our anchor incident we woke to find the winds were very strong, but at least in the right direction to head towards Noumea, and that is where we will return the boat tomorrow. We have one final night on the boat at a safe anchorage just a few miles from the capital.
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