Exploring Lifou - Part 2

Sailing to We was painful as we faced strong head winds for most part of the trip but we couldn't find another way to refill our fresh water tanks. It took us 12 hours to make the 39 miles to get there. It was the 14 of July weekend and we got a good reception from the crowd in the marina that invited us to a BBQ.

The marina at We

Two days later we were back in Baie de Santal after a very quick run with the wind in the perfect direction. Midway we decided to stop in Baie de Doking for a couple of hours for a snorkel among the coral and caves. It was superb snorkeling, all very pretty. Unfortunately my underwater camera stopped working, no more underwater pictures for now. The anchorage there is quite deep, you anchor between the corals in 14 meters so we decided not to stay overnight.
Back in Baie de Santal we woke up the following morning to find Resolute at anchor next to us, she is another catamaran from Sydney with Ken and Janice and their three kids we met in Port Moselle.
It was about time to think on our next move to Ouvea and from there the 200 miles to Port Vila, Vanuatu. It seems the weather will be settled next week and with that in mind Oscar flew to Noumea to get all the paperwork ready for our departure. Immigrations, customs and port authority check out can only be done in Noumea. This might be one of the reasons why there is so few boats visiting these fantastic Loyalty Islands of New Caledonia. They give you 3 days after check out before leaving the country but this is hardly enough time to visit the many beautiful places along the way. If you don't want to sail all the way back to Noumea before departing to Vanuatu, one option is to take a day trip in local Air Caledonia. Having done that we can say it is possible and not very expensive but the logistics are quite complicated. As Immigrations closes at 11.30 AM you need to catch the very first flight that departs Lifou at 7.00 AM. This forced us to start the day at 4.00 AM with a dinghy ride to shore at 4.45 AM. All too early for our taste. The day after we woke up again at 4.00 AM for a quick sail to Ouvea to take advantage of the 3 days stay after check out and see if Ouvea is indeed "the island close to paradise".
G.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com