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| The sun setting just over the water as we get closer to New Caledonia. |
Yesterday, we arrived in New Caledonia after four days of sailing. Two of them were directly into large swells and the last two having essentially almost glassy waters. It was uneventful other than the fact that we kept dwelling on the matter that we are getting down to the last of our passages. I still can't believe that we are almost to Brisbane!
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| Noumea, New Caledonia |
We have been in the city Noumea, New Caledonia for only a day and stopped to have dinner with 2 other cruising families that we have become quite close. We were with the families in Fakarava (in the Tuamotos—back in June) and we have kind of followed each other since. It was great to see them as we were a good two weeks behind them due to the generator going bust and us having to stop in Port Denarau, Fiji a little longer than we would have liked. We loved catching up with them, swapping "boat talk" (which happens more often than not when cruisers get together) and just enjoying good company with wonderful people.
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| Dinner with the gang. The ambiance left little to be desired by the French food was amazing! |
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| None of us had slept the night before because we were on the last leg of our passage into New Caledonia. Sleep caught up with Lily a little sooner than the rest of us. Poor kid. We drag her everywhere. |
Tomorrow we head to Ile des Pins which has also been named "Paradise" by many other cruisers that cross our path. It is known for it's untouched, white beaches and turquoise bays. Initially, we decided to just skip it and make New Caledonia be a quick layover before we headed to Brisbane. However, after dinner last night, we were told (rather scolded) by the other families that it as a "must see." So, I go dragging my heels a little bit as I am anxious to get to Brisbane, but I also know it will be worth the excursion once we arrive.
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You may have noticed if you have been following our real-time map on the blog that it looks as if we never left Fiji. We're not sure, but we think that when we plugged into the onshore power in Port Denarau, Fiji that we may have shorted a circuit and lost power to our satellite phone. Unfortunately, the tracker for our virtual map on the blog is hooked up to that sat phone. The good news is that we have a back up handheld satellite phone. The bad news is that our tracker can't be hooked up to it. So, you'll just have to trust us that we are still moving ahead into the deep blue toward Oz. The bummer is that I won't be able to do many updates while making our passage, because that too was a capability through our now defunct sat phone.
I will continue to do updates and will post wherever I can get coverage.
I will continue to do updates and will post wherever I can get coverage.
Off to paradise...
