Ouinne lat. 21 degrees 59.1' S long. 166 degrees 41.4' E

Hi
We are now in Ouinne - pronounced (we think!) ooinay!! The Cruising Guide says it's a privately owned nickel mine and there was evidence of mining activity on the hills as we approached but we haven't gone ashore as the anchorage is quite rolly and we are looking forward to getting on to Yate (yatay) tomorrow. Not so far to go now and we intend to leave even earlier than this morning as the entrance is wide and free of obstructions. Hopefully we can get ashore there and reprovision incl. water and maybe fuel although the fuel will last until Noumea. It's been very interesting getting down the coast but has been blighted to some extent by the water problems. The coast is fairly inhospitable with only a few acceptable anchorages so 20-30 miles is the order of the day. The wind comes up right on the nose around 0900 and this again necessitated a beat for the final hour this morning. We had up to 30 knots but fortunately only for a brief time. We motorsailed the whole distance today with a reefed main and staysail and it was a good choice. Our speed was at times nearly 7 knots and we are hoping that tomorrow we will have better winds which may allow us to sail properly. The lagoon depths very from 250' to 30' with reefs scattered in at times very inconvenient places necessitating tack changes but it's all very challenging which is all good. Gina spends a fair bit of time down below on the chart plotter telling Jim he is about to sail into a reef or very shallow patch so we tack over and so far have managed to not hit anything!!
We haven't been ashore here because of the conditions and also because there seems nothing to go ashore for apart from a small nickel conveyor and an invisible village (behind trees). We saw some working going on in the mine in the hills above the port with big diggers loading trucks so somehow they must be getting the ore out - either by barge from a coastal stockpile or by road although there's no road shown on any maps. In a straight line we are only 24 miles from Noumea but of course we have to continue south around the corner before we can lay a course for Noumea.
Next blog from Yate!! We have nearly completed the circumnavigation!
Cheers and love from us
www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.co
P.S. We have learnt that NZ has changed to DST so that no doubt will affect Russell Radios sched times. We only keep GMT (UTC) and local time on board.

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