Baie Banare

We seem to find pleasant places to stay and then dawdle instead of getting on with things!! The anchorage we were in turned out to be a private property owned by a Kanak family who we discovered had also had English ancestry way back - name of Williams!!! We went ashore and introduced ourselves and then David launched his little sailing dinghy which had a suit of pink sails and looked very pretty. He then invited 3 of the children out to their boat and then proceeded to give them sailing lessons which of course they accepted with alacrity and probably not too surprisingly they grasped the rudiments of sailing almost immediately. It must be instinct because all their lives they are on and around the sea and boats. Then after the children had gone back ashore Jim had a sail and it brought back memories of the "Tiare Taporo II" in the Bay of Islands. All in all very pleasant.
We invited the childrens' grandfather (Joe - pronounced Joey) out to our boat and we had morning tea while the kids sailed in circles around us much to everyone's amusement. Joe had given us many Papaya and Pamplemousse (tropical grapefruit). So our fruit cravings have been satisfied meantime. Joe was telling us that the family owned 2 bays next to each other and Joe's father had left one each to his 2 sons. He kept talking about "le succession" but we couldn't help wondering what will happen with the next generation with all their complicated relationships including adopted children and in-laws etc. Joe's son-in-law Jean-Paul had meanwhile gone to Noumea to purchase goods which he was then shipping to the Loyalties and Vanuatu for sale. He was going on the boat as well to supervise the sales and then returning home in about 10 days. Another relative was a tugboat driver for the nickel barges. Fascinating to know what people do for a living.
Then, imagine our surprise to see "Cigale" with Neil and Shannon sailing in. They'd just arrived back from Vanuatu and came into the northern lagoon on the offchance they would bump into us. It was great to see them and we had a BBQ on "Cigale" - we provided the sausages and ham and hard boiled eggs!! About 2100 it started to sprinkle with rain and so we returned to Tiare before getting drenched. It blew quite hard during the night and rained a fair bit but at least it was a bit cooler. It is now noticeably warmer and we feel much more in the tropics at last.
"Lifou" arrived this morning and so we are all together again. "Cigalle" left soon after as they still hadn't cleared Customs and they needed to get to Koumac to refuel before continuing on to Noumea. Then Neil has to be in Australia for his daughter's wedding in just a few days! The complications of the cruising life. Shannon will stay with the boat in Noumea meanwhile.
For us we moved all of one whole mile today to get some shelter tonight from the expected SW winds and then tomorrow we will be off again - this time around the northern extremity of New Caledonia (Isle Baaba) and a little distance down the east side where there is a Gite (guesthouse) and by all accounts a very fine restaurant!! However, we'll believe it when we see it. And it will depend on the weather as well of course with anchorages etc.
All this is still within the northern lagoon so we won't have to go outside the barrier reef until we go east to the Loyalties. There is still some debate with "Giselle" as to whether we go to to les Isles Belep (some 30 miles further north and inside the lagoon) but from the stories we have heard about the locals and the fact that they aren't very scenic makes us reluctant. We may go our separate ways for while until we meet again further south. Apart from anything else it is now Oct. 3rd. and we need to be in Bundaberg by late November at the latest. Hate these schedules but there you are - even in the cruising life they exist.
Our position tonight lat. 20 degrees 08.355' S long. 164 degrees 01.806' E
More later......
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