18 October, Wednesday

Hey! Dalton here. We eare currently in Noumea, New Caledonia. We have been here for about a week and a half. We sailed here from Vanuatu with our friends, the Hlavaceks, who also live in Charleston. It’s awesome here! New Caledonia is a French territory, made up of dozens of islands. It’s known for it’s lagoon, which is one of the worlds largest, and is full of marine life and beautiful coral. The main island, Grande Terre, is a major scuba diving destination. In Noumea, there are lots of bakeries and chocolatiers that we’ve dug into(yay!). The grocery stores are getting in to the league of the U.S., too! They’re less like village markets and more like actual stores. Noumea is the most developed town we’ve been to since New Zealand! There are paved roads and stoplights. The water is safe to drink and the food is safe to eat, even on the streets! We have explored on land by going to the Tjibaou Cultural Center and the Maritime Museum. We are hoping to visit the aquarium before we leave. Most businesses, including our favorite restaurant, are closed on weekends and on Mondays.

Yesterday we sailed about 4 hours to a beautiful anchorage off of Mato Island. We are currently waiting for a weather window to sail south back to New Zealand. Our friend, Peter Brown, (also from Charleston) is arriving on Saturday to help us make the passage. We think that it will take us about 5-6 days. The wind and weather will determine where in NZ we check in: Auckland or Opua in the Bay of Islands. We will make the decision during the passage. When we first arrived in Auckland, I was struck by how ecofriendly, health conscious, and tidy the Kiwis were. I am so looking forward to getting back and exploring more of that country! 

It has been raining for about two days. Yesterday, we put on our bathing suits and took advantage of the plentiful fresh water and scrubbed the entire boat! Nogal needed that fresh rain rinse to clean off all of the salt water. Before we leave New Caledonia, we have a to-do list, including patching the sails, scrubbing the hull, provisioning, and getting fuel. The way that the weather is shaping up, we may leave sooner than we’d planned- Stay tuned!

Oh, and we saw dolphins on our sail yesterday! We always love their company…

Until next time,

s/v Nogal