Tomorrow, Tuesday 25 October we will be heading back to Australia. We cleared out this morning with the pleasant and organised government officials, bought our last baguettes, filled up with duty free fuel and sailed out to Ilot Nge. It is a little sandy island with a splash of vegetation in the centre providing a home for numerous birds. Not long after picking up a visitors mooring we had a turtle surfacing beside the boat. After doing a big cook up and last minute jobs we swam ashore and were able to swim beside a pretty big turtle for part of the way. It was a wonderful experience and a nice farewell from New Caledonia.
Now going back in time to fill you in since our previous blog post ....From Iles des Pines we sailed to Ilot Ndo, in the southern lagoon with a steady beam reach and sunny skies. On nearing the island we dropped the sails and switched on the engine to navigate our way through the reef to our anchorage for the night. From up on the ratlines I could distinctly see the deep water pass surrounded by reef. I also spied several reef sharks in the shallows near the island. Mmm...did we really want a swim? After anchoring in a gulch within the reef we rowed the dinghy ashore and discovered that the island was very popular with banded sea snakes. Their tracks were everywhere and we saw about twenty snakes as we walked around the island's shoreline. It only took about 15 minutes so you can imagine how small it was.
The next day we left early and headed across to another tiny island called Ilot Kouare. We had a light north westerly breeze and ran with just the headsail across 'unchartered waters'. This was an area on the chart that was greyed out and was labeled as such. But keeping a careful eye out we safely navigated around the reefs and Ilots. We arrived around lunchtime missing all the coral heads as we closed in on the island. We anchored in beautiful clear water and it wasn't long before we had three remoras or were they small grey sharks? hanging around the hull. Again we rowed ashore and walked around the island in no time at all. Sea snake tracks were once again everywhere on the beach leading up to the line of vegetation. But we only saw one making its way to the water. Perhaps we saw more at the previous island because it was dusk when we went ashore. As we rowed back to Ambler we spotted a reef shark in the shallows.
With strong winds predicted for the next couple of days we left the Ilots behind and sailed north to Port Koube on the Ile Ouen. Here we spent two nights surrounded by high eroded hillsides. Port Koube is a large natural harbour with no settlements. We spent one day kayaking around the shoreline. The beaches here were red mud as was the anchor and chain when we pulled it up.
On Friday 7th we left Ile Ouen and sailed a short distance to Bai de Prony on the mainland of New Caledonia. It's a huge natural harbour with many protected anchorages similar to Broken Bay in NSW. First we headed to the eastern arm and picked up a mooring in a little bay called Anse Majic. As we entered the little bay the water was tranquil, there was hardly a puff of wind and the birdsong was vibrant. We enjoyed 2 nights in this lovely spot. From the anchorage we walked to Cape Ndua lighthouse and marvelled at the spectacular vista of the nearby reefs and islands. The dark red earth of the track contrasted with the greens of the coastal scrub covering the hillside. We also kayaked around the east arm and found a watering point set up with a hose from a creek.
Our next anchorage in Bai de Prony was at Ile Casey. We really enjoyed our time here even though it poured rain for most of the time. There was great snorkelling and the walk around the island was stunning. There were a variety of forests within in the island from towering pines to giant fig trees to coastal forests all interrupted with sandy white beaches. The island at one time had a small hotel but this was being taken over by the bush. It was an intriguing little island.
The next couple of nights we spent anchored in the further most reaches of Bai de Prony in its western arm called Baie du Carenage and Baie des Kaoris. The scenery that surrounded us was of green bushclad hillsides. Apparently the locals use this bay as a hurricane anchorage. Each bay ended in a mangrove creek and at high tide we were able to kayak to where the first rapids began. We discovered another water point, this time the hose came from an underground spring. One day we walked to the first settlement called Prony and looked at the ruins that were left. It's hot work walking in this heat so we soaked our tired bodies in the 'lukewarm spring' at the head of Baie des Kaoris.
After spending another night at Ile Casey we had a brisk sail out of Bai de Prony and west through Canal Woodin to Bai Uie. As we sailed through Canal Woodin we cracked 10 knots boat speed with the wind and current with us. We spent 3 windy days and nights in Bai Uie and only managed to go ashore once for a short walk on the beach. Being on board gave us a chance to give Ambler a thorough spring clean.
By Tuesday 18th the wind had abated and we had a great beam reach back to Noumea. We have spent the last week anchored in Port Moselle, Noumea with strong winds. Most days we've spent half the day ashore walking and exploring and the rest of the time we've been preparing Ambler for our passage back to Australia.
All is ready for sea on board.
At 23/10/2016 07:57 (utc) our position was 22°19.54S 166°19.11'E
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