Noumea to Isle of Pines
Our NZ friends, Brian and Lyn, had mentioned that the trip to Isle Of Pines was a #@!% due to it generally blowing SE, making it very hard to sail/ motor into so when a weather window appeared with little to no wind we decided to grab it and go.
Departed Noumea on Tuesday 12th June bound for Ile des Pins (Isle of Pines) named for its vast standings of pine trees by the late Captain Cook albeit if we had discovered it first we could have named it that. It is a no brainer really.
Twelve hours stood between us and the Isle so the trip was broken down into a four/five hour trip to Ilot Mato, a lovely little islet surrounding by reef. We arrived mid afternoon to see another nine boats anchored within the reef including our good friends off Lelanie B and GlamourPuss. Into the kayak for a delivery to both vessels; wine for Jen on Lelanie B and bagets and Vienna loaves for Ingrid on the Puss. That night we had sundowners on Lelanie and joining us was Greg and Deb off Parthelion, Pat off Duette and Carl off Hooks. Amazing how many you can fit on a Perry 43.
Next morning we ventured out amongst the reefs following Greg and Deb who plotted the track the night before – after Sundowners!! it was absolutely amazing, flat seas, great visibility and the sun was out. We weaved our way through the reef and out the opening into deep, deep water heading to Ile de Pin.
With Kuta Bay getting closer and closer the reel let loose and 100+ metres of line hummed away. The end result was a nice Spanish mackerel that fed us (3 meals) and Greg and Deb off Parhelion and James and Naomi off Adelade who were waiting to greet us.
Next day it was onto land to visit the gendarmes to ascertain what bags the village chiefs would allow us to visit. Unfortunately the answer was none apart from Kuta and the neighbouring bay of Kanumera. We think it was a standard line as many other boats cruised in and out of every bay without any problem. We however towed the company line, at least on that occasion.
Some say the sand at Kuta is like Whitehaven Beach however we tend to disagree, it’s better. It also has crystal clear water, palm trees, a restaurant and a bar. So much better and the general store (converted house) is 200m away and the bakery that sells fresh baguettes 500m although the bakery like most other stores in New Caledonia operates under the ‘I’ll open when I want’ rule and that’s not to mention, closed from 1200 to 1400 for lunch.
We were befriended by a local male dog that showed us around that we named Lassie, not sure why Lassie but it stuck. We eat like kings or at least carnivores at Kuta; steak, snags, meat balls, bacon and eggs but always under strict instructions to leave some for Lassie.
We hired a car and saw the island stopping at Queen Hortense cave, coffee at the Meridan, walked around the town of Vao and finished with the ruins of the old penal settlement. Interesting history at the Pins.
Our adventurous streak took hold and we climbed Nga a 250 meter peak but takes 5 k to get there on a real goat track but the climb was worth it. Commanding views of the island abound.
We loved everything about Ille de Pins but after eight days it was time to head off back to Noumea with two nights stop over at Bay de Prony.
We aim to head back to Ile de Pins in August and visit some of the other bays despite the advice from the gendarmes.
Bay de Prony was a day trip and the wind gods favoured us so the sails went out and off we went. A bit sloppy but we got used to it and as the batteries were not behaving (losing charge) we had the starboard motor running at 2000rpm so the ambience of sailing seemed to lose its effect thanks to the Yanmar 3GM.
