Catamaran Cruising in New Caledonia
September 1, 2008
July in New Zealand is not ideal for pleasant sailing so when offered the opportunity to skipper a large sailing catamaran for her French /Tahitian owner in New Caledonia, we jumped at the chance. A great way to checkout the tropical cruising grounds while being paid to do so.
Cool Change was left on her secure mooring in the Bay of Islands as we winged our way north to Noumea in New Caledonia. Here we boarded the luxurious catamaran Vahini Piti which was to become our home for the next two weeks. We were joined by the French speaking owner with his family and guests including a delightful local couple as guides.
The temperatures were pleasantly warm and not unlike our NZ summers.
We had planned to cruise north to Ouvea in the Loyalty Island Group but unfortunately a couple of depressions put paid to that so instead we sailed south to the Isle of Pines.
We later discovered those two depressions had intensified severely as they approached New Zealand and had caused considerable damage. Fortunately Cool Change was not affected.
We spent the rest of our time exploring the area with our guides and their local knowledge.
Humpback whales were frequently spotted as well as turtles in the turquoise waters. A nice tuna was landed giving us sashimi for several days. Coral reefs make navigating difficult as the nicest anchorages are often through shallow passes. This made us appreciate the ability of a catamaran to negotiate through such areas as opposed to a keeled boat.
Cool Change will relish the place with her shallow water ability to lift her rudders and propellers out of harms way. We are back in NZ again and helping a friend complete a refit on his boat and working on marketing our charter business for next season in the Bay of Islands. We have agreed to work another two weeks in New Caledonia so will be flying back to Noumea in September. Tough, but somebody has to do it !
Next NZ winter ??? Who knows?
Maybe a cruise in Cool Change to Canada to see the grandkids and our Canadian cruising buddies……..
- Island Beachcombing in New Caledonia
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