Our destination today is Isle of Pines, one of New Caledonia's Gems and as the name would imply, it is covered with their signature, tall, graceful pines. We are meeting Oso Blanco there, they have been anchoring out for the past two weeks with guests on board and are short of some supplies (liquid supplies) which we are bringing for them. The anchorage is Bay Kuto and it is definitely popular as there are about 15 boats all tucked in. It is truly a beautiful place. We do a dingy ride to shore so that we can do a walk around and are treated to the finest, white sand beaches we have yet to encounter. Like baby powder, rich, soft, shimmering. There are sunbathers everywhere as there are a number of resorts and guest houses. We are in search of the elusive internet signal, but the New Cal's have seclusion down to an art. There is internet there, but not for us to access. Rats! It is so hard to keep up with business and communications to home out here. O.K. so when on a beautiful beach….. take a walk and enjoy it. So we did. Eric and Ann have made dinner reservations (us included) for a nice restaurant on the beach. Happy Hour is done on the boat then we all dingy'd in for a very nice dinner and good company. They leave in the morning to slowly make their way back for their guest's departure.
The idyllic conditions of the bay were not to continue. During the night, the winds increased to 25 knots and the swell came into the anchorage making for a very rough night which was made even rougher by the early 5:00 am awakening by the sound of scrapping on the boat's hull. One of the other sail boats had dragged it's anchor and was sitting under our bow scratching up and down on our stainless bow plate and nearby fiberglass. We have finally been scared by our cruising life! Much French exclaiming and waving of hands (whatever that all means!!!) we both pull up and re-set further apart. We hang out for the day, hoping that things will calm down but by the next morning, we've had enough and head out to find calmer waters. The Isle of Pines is beautiful, but only in beautiful weather.
Back to Prony we go, it is a vast protected inlet really, with multiple bays. In this direction of wind, Prony is the only secure anchorage we can see in the South Lagoon. We stop for one night in Baie de la Somme. It isn't all that pretty, the area is rather dry, with red cracked hills covered with scrubby growth, but there is a dive site near here that we want to do, "the Needle". It is an underwater pinnacle formed by a hot mineral spring coming from the ocean floor. The architecture is wonderful and the sea life is varied and interesting with some very large fish as permanent residents. This area, New Caledonia, is colder water diving, average water temp is 73 degrees, where as Fiji was 80 degrees, so we dig out our 5 mil wet suits in order to enjoy the below surface sites. Another day finds us in the Carenage anchorage , there is a nice walk here and a hot pool (luke warm). In all, we hang out for three days hoping for the winds to go away. Not much like a tropical paradise right now!
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