Away at last around the island

Hi all,
We are leaving Noumea tomorrow to start a clockwise circumnavigation of New Cal. All sorts of advice as to which is the best way to go around and all conflicting!! The difficulty is that NC lies NW-SE and the prevailing wind is SE so one is bound to get it on the nose at some time - the saving grace is that doing a coastal cruise one can hole up somewhere until conditions become somewhat more benign! Going up the west coast there is roughly an 80 mile stretch where it is necessary to go outside the reef as it is not navigable inside. However, although this will involve an overnight passage, the northern lagoon is wonderful by all accounts and we are looking forward to it. Coming down the east coast we will go out to the Loyalties (esp. Ouvea) which is supposed to be a must see.
We are very grateful to David on "Giselle of Argylle" who has been of invaluable assistance in getting our Maxsea chartplotting programme to work again on our laptop. We hasten to add that it is a totally legitimate copy but there was a glitch with a software update that Maxsea wasn't happy with. However, it has reinforced our intention to put Maxsea onto a dedicated chartplotter rather than the laptop as a chartplotter is marine orientated and far more robust. We couldn't even switch the laptop on when we first arrived at the Amedee Pass because of the sea conditions at the time which would have seen the computer on the floor in several pieces!! And these are the very situations where one needs this information so when we get to Australia we'll be addressing this for sure. At least the passage to Australia should be far easier than the passage we had out of NZ. Fingers crossed!!!
Anyway, watch this space for our blow by blow account of the circumnavigation. New Caledonia is 200 miles long so we are looking at a minimum voyage including a detour out to the Loyalties, of 5-600 miles.
We have been doing last minute shopping for provisions in the local Casino Supermarket, our local butchery and of course the Municipal Market. At the latter we are becoming quite well-known and are now treated like locals. There is a large circular coffee bar in the middle of the market and all we have to do is arrive there and we are served the usual - deux cafes noirs et un croissant - 700 Pacific Francs (NZD10). A great way to start the day watching the comings and goings of the characters who inhabit the market and talking to the various stall holders. Such a wonderful array of fresh food including (as well as fruit and veg) all manner of meats and pates and a mind boggling selection of fresh fish. We will miss it for sure when we leave.
Cheers to all and love from us
Jim and Jean (Gina)
P.S. Please email us with news of home as we always enjoy hearing hearing what's happening apart from reading Granny Herald on the internet!!

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