Fiji to New Caledonia then Coffs Harbour Australia

---

---

Cap’n’s Summary



Vuda Point, Fiji to Noumea New Caledonia total run of 765 nautical miles in 5 days and 4 hours, at an average 146 nm daily run, and an average speed of 6.2 knots. Left Vuda Point at 2 pm on Wednesday 29th and arrived in Noumea Harbour at 16:20 on Monday 3rd November.



Noumea to Coffs Harbour, Australia, 896 nautical miles sailed, at an average of 149.3 nm per day and an average speed of 6.2 knots. Left Noumea at 11:30 on Thursday 13 November and arrived Coffs Harbour 19th November at 11:00.



I have said in the previous blog, I had been looking for crew for a couple of weeks and then finally I had a Swiss couple. Urs and Marianne have been travelling through Asia for the past 2 years and they were experienced divers. The reason they could not join me till the end of October was that they were on a 10 diving expedition around parts of eastern Fiji. They did prove to be very good crew, both were very quick to learn. Marianne had the better English, and she often had to translate for Urs. This did lead to the occasional confusion about what I wanted or what Urs thought I wanted. However, I only know a few words in German and those are mainly from comic books. Yep, they are from the German part of Switzerland, so my connection with crews from or speaking German continues.



We meet at the weather notice Board at Vuda Point. I had stopped for a chat, thinking they were fellow yachties. Nope they were just visiting, so just on the off chance I asked if they would like to go sailing to Australia. To my surprise, they said that they were looking for crewing positions.



I was in the middle of a cold so did not feel like having people on board, plus I did not wish to give them my special batch of viruses, so I gave them my email and suggested that they email me and I will send them an outline of my plans. I then headed back to Hakura for another sleep. Later that day, there was an email from them so they were really interested.



When I felt better, they came for a proper welcome to Hakura that is a cup of tea. After a few more days thought we decided that we would sail to Australia together.



At the end of October, we were all back in Vuda Point Marina and now started all the usual pre-voyage jobs, cleaning Hakura ready for the crew, stowing their gear and preparing Hakura’s gear, such as dinghy, rain catchers and various bits and pieces, for later storage. The dinghy took a few hours get it clean, dried, folded and packed away. The cost here was a pair of my shorts that got ripped as I climbed over the back into the dinghy. I should not really say it was a cost, as I am still wearing them even though there is a split down the left side next to the pocket. I suppose I will need to get them repaired someday.



Urs and I went into Lakota for the big shop. This was meant to be by bus but I was to slow and we missed it. We ended up with a local taxi, which took us there and waited with our stuff while we visited the supermarket, local fresh food market and the meat shop. We brought lots of stuff, though noting from the meat shop. I think the one outside Nadi is much better.



So at last we were ready, well as eady as we were ever likely to be. It was the 29^th of October and I had an appointment with Fijian customs and immigration to clear out. They come to Vuda Point to do arrivals and departures. This did cost me money, however, I was able to stow the clean dry dinghy and anchor before leaving, plus we could have full fuel and water tanks. Overall, I think it is a good deal.



We had now cleared out of leave Fiji, so “lets get underway crew”. Jump to it, let all lines go and off we go. Well it was not exactly like that as you need to wait for the marina staff to undo the stern lines and you reverse out slowly, swing round and head out the entrance and being the sail (motor sail most of it) down the coast to the gap in the reef.



This was the crew’s first chance to steer and get use to Hakura moving. As those who have been inside a reef heading off shore know, it is not really like what happens on the outside, but it is a beginning. They did well and we began the watch system. The system I have always used is three hours on and six off, with the person coming off watch at 15:00 being responsible for making dinner and cleaning up afterwards. Nothing is meant to stay on the bench, as at sea it will not stay there for long.



I cooked the first meal as we headed along inside the reef. The main event of this stage of the trip was being overtaken by a tanker heading out through the gap at about the same time as us. Also, a yacht was coming in. I decided that we would wait till all other parties had either come in or were well away from us.



So at about 18:00 we headed out into the Pacific Ocean with a steady southeasterly pushing us along at about 6 to 7 knots. This was the pattern for most of the rest of this passage. We used the autopilot lots which did mean that the motor had to be run every few hours to ensure the power and as we still had to use the “Both” switch to charge the house battery, I needed to be awake at the beginning and end of the process.



We all quickly settled into the pattern of watches and sleeping. Urs and Marianne did very well and I was not aware of any outward signs of sickness. I am sure that they took awhile to truly settle in, I know I did. It was the usual 3 days before I was feeling 100%.



One of the strange events in the crossing was the arrival of a noddy (a form of tropical turn) that stayed for the night on the frame holding the traveller. It just stood on the frame and faced the wind, taking no notice of the occasional human head that would appear near it to have a good look. During the morning it took off with not even a thank you for the resting place.



This was to be a short passage of between 4 and 6 days, and at the rate we were travelling, more like 4 days, so early on I began to work on what was needed for our arrival at New Caledonia. We where going to entre its reef system through the southeastern Havannah Passage. The New Caledonia Cruising Guide I had said that said that arrival should not occur during outgoing tides. But I had no idea of the tides in New Caledonia, so I chose to go in during daylight and hope the tides were OK. I did try to call Taupo Radio to get the tides in New Caledonia but was not able to raise them. Anyway, we were travelling at a rate that would bring us to the passage during the night and no matter how I tried to slow us down, it was a question of early or late night. So on the afternoon of the 4^th day we turned around and headed to windward to slow us down right down till the early hours of the morning.



At this stage, we were off the southern Loyalty Islands and made our first landfall of the trip. It was then that Marianne told me that the depth sounder had just showed that we had 5 metres beneath us. We actually had several thousand metres below the keel. I know I checked several times. These strange readings occurred on a regular basis when in deep water, with the depth going from “---“ (too depth the record) to depths of a few to tens meters. I think that it is either some life form (fish, school of fish or shrimps etc) just under the boat or an artefact of the sensor. This has lead to lots of guess by the various crews, with the leading ones being big sharks, giant squid, tuna or the deep scatter layer. The deep scatter layer (yes it is my guess) is a group of fish and shrimp-like animals that spend the day below 200 m and raise to the surface during dark to feed on all the productivity of the day. I do not think that sharks or squid would show up on the depth sounder due to a lack of a swim bladder but I will need to follow through on this (update to follow).



Well, at 06:00 on the morning of the 3^rd of November we turned around and headed for the passage. It was a fine day and the wind was low. As we approached the passage a local inter-island ferry came out so we where in the right place. The tide was running out and the sea was very steep, but not too bad. It slowed us down a few times but we were making our 4 to 6 knots through the water. Across the seafloor, however, we were only doing 2 to 3 knots, all that water against us.



We entered the passage about noon and were through within an hour. The tide race eased off quickly and we started the inside route to Noumea. This involved following a narrow passage past many reefs and inside several island. It was all clearly marked and even without the route on the GPS and the guides it would have been possible to follow the channel markers.



We entered Noumea harbour about 16:00 to find the place full of yachts, in marinas, on moorings and many more at anchor. I suspect that there were more boats there than in Auckland. We had been directed to anchor in Baie de L’Orpheinat, near the French naval base. The panorama is off this area. This was partly because it was too late for the officials, though mainly because there were no berths available on the visitors’ marina. We had made it and Urs and Marianne had completed their first passage.



Next morning I took the dinghy around to the main marina and began the official entry process. I walked into the town and visited the Immigration Office and we were cleared in. Later the Quarantine person came on board and took the end of our fresh food. Customs did not visit us, rather the Marina office faxed them the paper work. However, before that could all happen, I headed back out to Hakura to bring her into the Marina, a great facility with helpful people. By the end of the day we were fully arrived and free to go exploring the town of Noumea.



The original plan was to stay just a week then head for Australia, however, the officials were having a four day weekend so we would have to wait till next Wednesday to check out. The long weekend was because Armistice Day (the 11^th of November) was on Tuesday and most people were taking the Monday off as well.



As is usual after a passage, there were little jobs to be done, blown light blobs and missing nuts to be replaced. So I decided to see if I could get the charging system fixed. This took visits by a couple tradesmen but finally it was done. Great now both sets of batteries are charged while the motor is run and I don’t need to turn any switched for it to occur.



Marianne and Urs felt right at home in this little piece of France in the South Pacific, what with the fresh baguettes, fruit, cheese and coffee for breakfast. They also enjoyed being able to go for walks and not have to put up with me all day.



This was my first time in any part of France, albeit on the other side of the world. I enjoyed the place and walking around the town. It is very first world, though I was surprised at how few places were open at night. We often had to walk for awhile looking for a café to get dinner. Maybe we were in the wrong part of town.



I found the exit process very interesting. The skipper has to go first to Immigration, then Customs and finally to the Port Captain to get the clearance. Several other yachties were doing the same process and I was in the middle of the field. The strangest one was Customs. You needed to complete some paper work, however, they will not give you the paperwork until just before they were about to see you. Even with four or five skippers waiting they would only hand the papers to the next skipper. So be it.



By the time I arrived at the Port Captain’s office, we were beginning to know each other. I was expecting a person in the office to do the paper work for the Captain. No, he did it himself, at his computer in his office.



Next job, water and fuel up. Marianne and Urs had done the shopping so we would not go without. Watering was done on the Marina and then it was off to the fuel wharf. I had papers for up to 100 litres of duty free fuel. I think it was close to that.



We now headed out to an inner island for the night, our last off a tropical island and the last chance for a swim in the arm tropical seas. Ilot Maitre was quite small and covered in hotels, many over the sea. Plus there were lots of free moorings. While eating our dinner in the cockpit, three helicopters flew overhead and hovered just of the island, and then they headed off into the sunset. We speculated that some rich person wanted to re-enact movie scenes or maybe it was a training flight.



Next morning, 13^th November, we headed out through a cape in the reef and set sail for Coffs Harbour, 850 nautical miles away. It was a clam morning and we motor sailed into a slight head wind.



The main excitement was the sighting of a large sperm whale off the starboard bow, it lay there blowing several times before doing a steep dive. This was outside the reef in several thousand meters of water so I suspect it was feeding at some depth.



The wind stayed slight to moderate from the south through east to north. Thus making for good fast sailing. On the third night out the wind backed to the northwest requiring a change of tack, which continued as such for the next day and a half. There were a few periods of rain but nothing major and the wind did not get above force 4 except on the last morning when a southerly arrived. I had earlier dropped the main and put the covers on as it looked like being another day of little winds so I thought that we were going to motor sail into Coffs Harbour. Well not quite, as we now had a southerly and it felt much stronger (this is mainly because of it being a head wind). I just headed for Coffs Harbour and we slowly made progress against the wind and sea.



Just out from the harbour, Urs saw our one and only shark of the trip. Once inside the Harbour we got the fenders and lines ready on the port side and I called up Customs. No answer, so I called the Marina. They answered and phoned Customs for us. We now had to get to a berth that was on the starboard side so the lines and finders had to be swotted over. This was done while I was at the helm inside the inner breakwater with a fresh onshore breeze.



Now we come to the funniest event of the trip, due to the language difference between Urs and myself. I asked Urs to be on the bow and have a line attached to Hakura that he could throw to anybody on the marina. Yes he said and off he went. There was a woman on the marina ready to take our lines. She asked Urs for the line. He threw it but it was not attached to Hakura. So now she had the line and we did not, meanwhile we had been blown towards a large vessel in the next berth. We managed to get out without damaging it and after a few more manoeuvers had Hakura back alongside. This time she gave Urs the line and he made it fast, while I got a stern line on. It all ended well and we were able to laugh about it afterwards.



Two nice guys from Australian Customs came onboard and did customs, immigration and quarantine. The latter involved looking all over the boat for signs of termite. Now Australia has many species of termites and most of them are very tough critters, so what must the foreign ones are like if Australia goes to such lengths to keep them out.



We had made it and completed the final leg of the trip to Australia. In total we did 1661 nautical miles in 11 days at sea and at an average of 151 nm per day and a speed of 6.3 knots. Plus nothing and nobody was broken, a great trip all round.



I enjoyed sailing with Urs and Marianne. They are good crew, willing to do jobs; they stood all their shifts, cooked all their meals and cleaned up afterwards. Both have a great sense of humor and we got along. What more can a skipper want from a crew. The downside was that they decided to stay in Coffs as this was their first trip out of the tropics in 2 years and they were feeling the cold.



I wish then all the best and hope they enjoy the summer in north NSW.



All photo credits go to Urs and Marianne

---

Comments

[Douglas Lorraine]

it looks like fun I'm sure you noticed my name
Hello captain myself I'm from Santa Cruz California are you passing by this way probably not I see you to pick up crew though I'm a bit of a sailor nothing like you though I lived in the Bahamas for three years in the Dominican Republic in a few places in Mexico I got to work on a 65-foot trimaran in the Dominican Republic serving drinks and kicking flying fish off the deck when I was finished working at the club Med there I'm looking for an adventure I'm about 49 years old I got long silver hair and a bear and a beard I'm a big guy I'm good ballast but anywho this is my first time going to cost you so I'll just send you this quick email I thought it was really cool that you guys have my name and I look forward to hearing from you

[Hakura]

Hi from down under
Sorry to say I want be heading your way anytime soon but if you head down under give me a call. Doug too