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Yearly Archives: 2017
Tripping at Tenia
Sundowners sunset on the beach at Tenia
If you wanted to pick a spot in New Caledonia that “has it all”, for us it would be Tenia Island. This heart-shaped island 30 miles North West of Noumea forms the Northern flank of St. Vincents pass through the outer reef. It is quite typical of the many sandy lagoon islands, but is larger and probably the most beautiful. Amongst other things, it offers a variety of great locations for the action sports that we love – kite-surfing (flat water in the lagoon, waves out at the pass), scuba diving (and snorkelling of course) and surfing.
Over Oro
With the on-shore Easterly wind, grey skies and our friends departing, Oro felt like a desolate place, nothing like the paradise it had been on our previous visit with offshore wind and sunny skies. We had planned on going around to Kuto, but with the wrong wind direction we completely changed plans and decided to head towards Noumea with our ultimate goal being the surf and kiting of Tenia Island. It was a very pleasant reaching angle sailing through the reefs to spend the night at Magic Bay within the Prony BAY area where we enjoyed a quiet evening with dinner for the first time in over a month.
Anse Majic light, approaching Prony Bay
Here is Akimbo
Akimbo was also at Magic and the next morning Pete and Ness came over for coffee and a catch up, telling us about their trip to Lifou in the Loyalty Islands. A strong Easterly wind was blowing, and with poled out jib only and a favourable tide we sailed through the Woodin Canal to Maitre Island for the night. It was a boisterous night on the Maitre moorings as the wind went round to north of East, making us wish we had rather anchored at Citroen Bay.
Crazy cruisers
Next morning it was a stocking up mission in Noumea after we anchored off the Marina. Markets, rubbish, dinghy fuel, Marine Corail chandlery and dropped Lyn off behind the cruise ship at the sea wall stone steps to go to Casino supermarket. Supermarket shop was much longer than normal due to it being full of cruise ship passengers. We cannot comprehend why cruise ship passengers would want to spend their one day in Noumea on buying food in a supermarket, when food is inclusive in the cruise fare?
Signal Island
After stopping at the Nespresso shop in Orphelina Bay for the essential coffee pods supply, we were glad to leave Noumea, sailing with jib only to Signal Island where we were greeted by a dugong. We snorkeled to the beach, watching pretty little fish eating the coral a big eel and a beautiful big turtle which allowed us to swim really close and touch his shell.
We walked around the pretty little island, which is a bird sanctuary and then enjoyed a stunning sunset with thousands of birds flocking to the island. A couple of cute little “tits?” seemed to make the dinghy their home for the night and we didn’t have the heart to kick them off and lift it out the water as we normally do. Our reward – bird poo all over the outboard cover!
A perfect spot
Lyn up the mast at False Pass
Friday the 11th November was a beautiful calm and sunny morning as we motored to False Pass at the outer lagoon reef. We had a bit of fun practicing our uncharted reef navigating and dodging coral bommies to the inside of the reef as close as possible to the surf break (surf too small). We anchored in a perfect little shallow gap between the reef and Lyn went up the mast to take photos. We snorkelled to a nearby gully with lots of pretty little fish, then dried in the warm sun on the foredeck, soaking up the beauty of this glorious spot.
Hugon Island
In the afternoon we sailed towards Tenia in the building WSW wind but decided to stop at Hugon Island for the night due to its good Westerly protection. We walked up the hill for the stunning sunset, startling the resident goats.
Jolifou anchored East of Hugon
St. Vincent surf
With us running a bit low on diesel, we elected to sail out of the bay at Hugon in a light South Easterly breeze, anchoring inside the reef at the St. Vincent reef pass left surf break. The waves were better than expected so I jumped in and had a really fun little surf.
Small fun St. Vincent left
Just for fun and for the first time ever, we sailed off anchor with just a 2nd reef mainsail, which worked really well. At Tenia Island we anchored close to shore in the shallows east of the sand spit. During a SUP paddle around the island we bumped into Guy (the flying vet) who was there by boat this time, camping with a bunch of friends. We later joined Guy and Sonja and their mad friends for sundowners. Language barriers reduced with alcohol intake as we marvelled at the flocking birds show as they gathered for their night on the island.
Horn of Tenia
Sunday was again a still and sunny morning, perfect for our scuba trip out over the inner reef to the horn of Tenia hook on the outer reef. It was gorgeous out there, with a few divers, snorkelers and also surfers surfing some nice looking little left handers (wished I’d taken the board along). We had an amazing dive at this beautiful spot with deep drop-off, gorges and swim-throughs, stunning coral and lots of large fish, not at all scared of humans. On the way back to the anchorage we saw two huge turtles mating. After lunch we went out there again, this time with surfboard and I surfed the break all alone, with Lyn taking photos.
Hook of Tenia
It was difficult to be in the right spot for the waves, but had a few excellent rides. Back to JF then across to the island, now deserted as weekenders had all taken water taxis home. A beautiful sunset from our own private spot.
Lyn on our private sunset beach
A scuba scare
Next morning we filled all 4 dive tanks and went for another dive out at the hook. With the dinghy tied to the mooring over one of the huge bommies, in my haste to get ready I dropped one of my lead bags, so we started our dive by going straight down to look for it. Not finding it at the edge of the coral, we started working our way down a slope of coral scree and sand. Suddenly Lyn’s dive computer started beeping madly, we were at 45 meters with 4 minutes of air remaining at this depth!! It was a big fright and we immediately abandoned the lead and went up to enjoy the dive at shallower depths. Back at Tenia we sun-baked on the hot beach to warm up. In the afternoon we decided to head North inside Puen island to the Borake anchorage as the wind was forecast to blow moderate from the North, turning our anchorage at Tenia into a lee shore. We sailed most of the way there, a very mellow spot just off the public slipway, and enjoyed watching dolphins in the distance over sundowners.
Outer reef exploration
On Tuesday 15th November the forecast was heralding developed super trade-winds to arrive with the expected surf swell, so we abandoned our original idea of heading to Ouano for the surfing and decided to get back South in the forecast South Westerly breeze whilst it was easy. Sailing out to St. Vincents pass, the small waves were not even breaking on the low tide. It was beautiful conditions so we decided to sail outside the reef, which was a lovely mellow sail.
Beauty at the bow
We re-entered the lagoon through Utoie pass and stopped at Mbe Kouen island for lunch, but the red bird-protection flag prevented us from going ashore. We spent a strange night at Legionnaires Island with rain squalls and wind from all directions.
Next day we motored to Maitre Island, with our newest kiting convert eager to get back on it!
A Farewell Adventure Tour
Into the unknown …
It’s fantastic discovering new beautiful things when on a cruising adventure and it’s also wonderful meeting new like-minded friends. Showing these friends the places you have discovered and enjoying them all over again through their eyes is one of the nicest things you can do, so when our friends Lanie and Warwick from the beautiful Elliot 46 “Fusio” decided to join us on a final adventure trip before their departure home we knew it would be a lot of fun.
Where are you mantas?
By Wednesday the 2nd November the trade winds had died, predicted to be light wind for some time, so we headed out to the Amedee Island pass area for another manta ray search. We anchored at a lovely sandy spot inside the reef and went for a paddle over the reef on the SUPs.
Lyn floating in a stunning setting
“Fusio” joined us with their new crew member Grant Hugget (Hug) and we all set off for a snorkel to see if we could find Manta Rays. No such luck, but we did see a few sharks, turtles and some beautiful eagle rays.
Shark!
Hug was stoked as it was his first time snorkelling off a boat in such a remote location: “how lucky you are to be able to do this kind of thing!” With a forecast of light winds, after a typically fun sun-downer drinks session on Fusio, we decided to remain anchored there for the night, rather than going to the better shelter of the Amedee moorings.
Corvettes surf
It was beautiful to wake up in the morning at this stunning place out at the reef. I noticed a couple of little boats across the pass at a right-hander called “Corvettes” and we took the dinghy across to check it out. I went for a surf whilst Lyn took photos from the dinghy. It was beautiful conditions with a 3 to 4 foot wave size. The break has a pitchy hollow take-off and my little 5’4” “baked potato” board was not appropriate, so I entertained Lyn and the Fusio crew with plenty of spectacular nose-dives and wipe-outs.
Bruce’s best trick, the Jesus walk
Race 1
With the wind building from the West, we sailed to Ua Island along the inside of the outer reef, checking surf spots on the way. With “Fusio” in close company it soon became a race. In the light downwind conditions Jolifou had a slight speed advantage with board up, bigger mainsail and long spinnaker pole. Fusio took advantage of JoliFou being distracted by a surf break to take the lead, and it was a very close decision at the finish.
Reeling them in as we approach Ua Island
Overtaking
Overtaken?
As we arrived the wind switched to the South East as forecast, which was great timing as the anchorage is well protected from this direction. We all enjoyed watching the flocking sea birds whilst drinking sundowners on JoliFou.
Flocking birds at sunset, Ua Island
Fusio with flocking birds
Race 2
Next day Fusio was clearly the faster at the tight angles of the 15 Knots East/South East wind as we sailed towards Gadji on the Isle of Pines. Being unfamiliar with this route through the Southern lagoon reefs, Fusio was forced to throttle back the sail plan in order to stay behind the relatively pedestrian JoliFou.
Catching us despite reefs
Bruce looking worried, trying to speed up
Intimidating Kiwis catch-up stares
The cool boys?
On arrival we lead Fusio in through the tricky shallow reef entry to Gadji outer anchorage, and both anchored there. On snorkelling to check anchor it was holding on firmly but only by the tip in a tiny hole in the coral slate (we would move to the secure inner anchorage the next day). Drinks and cards on Fusio was a hilarious affair as usual.
Garden of Eden
Lyn preparing the dive gear, Gadji inner anchorage
We were stoked to have scuba diving friends with us in this place with some amazing dive spots, so next day the JoliFou dive tour began. We set off in both dinghies for a site called the “Garden of Eden” which we have dived many times before. Huggie was our willing and most able support boat boy, a pleasure having the security of this when diving a current affected reef pass. We saw quite a few reef sharks including a group of 5 grey reef sharks, a big moray eel, and stunning schools of fish in a very pretty shallower end section that we had missed on previous dives.
Over the drop-off at the start of Garden of Eden
A cute white tip
Some of the beautiful terrain of the Garden of Eden dive site
Bruce hiding from the shark?
Caves of Gadji?
Ever since our trip here last year, we have wanted to check out a dive site called the “Caves of Gadji”. This year we were determined to find it, but our information on the location basically consisted of a dot on a rough mud-map of the area, a confusing old French dive guide description, and a conflicting more recent report from a cruising friend of ours. On Sunday morning after filling the tanks we started a dive near the dive guide location and looked for the caves entrance. It was nowhere to be found and it didn’t appear to be cave-like terrain, not very interesting except for seeing a couple of beautiful eagle rays. It got much prettier and more cave-like further along as we swam northward. We found and explored some cool tunnels but they didn’t open up to caves.
Beautiful pristine coral
After re-filling the tanks during lunch back at the anchorage we set off again in the early afternoon to try further north at the location our friend had told us of. Huggie had to placate an angry local fisherman on a speedboat, buzzing around above us and yelling: “no fish no touch”! We moved southward along the dropoff and discovered awesome swim-throughs and caves. We are still not sure it’s the official “Caves” dive but it is one of the best dive sites we have discovered to date.
Huggie the best boat boy returning the divers
Cool Runnings reunion
On the way back to the boat in the dinghy we saw our friends Dave and Gudrun Hibberd (and Ben and Gabby) arriving on their Lagoon 400 catamaran “Cool Runnings”. Dave and I were fierce competitors in the Laser dinghy in South Africa over 20 years ago, and we later became good friends and were teammates in the South African Olympic Sailing Team at the ’96 Olympics (Dave in Laser, me in the Soling class). We all emigrated over the next few years, Dave and Gudrun to the US and us to Aus. We got in touch recently when we heard they were planning on doing a circumnavigation and as fate would have it they arrived in New Caledonia whilst we were there. We shot out to meet them on the dinghy and I got aboard and piloted them our preferred way into the inner anchorage. After filling tanks and sorting out dive gear we headed over for drinks, along with the Fusio crew.
Old friends re-union in paradise
Lovely to catch up with good friends after such a long absence, it always amazes me how quickly one re-acquaints, and it feels like you were never apart.
Oro Gorge
Next morning, Monday 7th November we left Gadji for Oro, leading Fusio through the reef passes. Cool Runnings decided to remain at Gadji for a while and we would catch up again down the line. It was an interesting sail with the Westerly wind changing to a moderate Easterly half way. Our main goal was to show Warwick and Lanie the beautiful dive site we had discovered here previously, so we headed out on the two dinghies, surviving a bit of an iffy moment getting through the breaking waves on the barrier reef. It was an excellent dive with two fantastic swim throughs, a few good sized sharks, turtles and large fish including a Maori Wrasse. The highlight was a nose to nose encounter with a biggish shark as we exited one of the swim-throughs. The bar opened early on the aft deck of Fusio and the shark’s size grew proportionally to the number of beers as we relived this great dive.
Farewell Fusio
Huggie is concerned about his cabin space
Fusio had already cleared out of the country a few days previously in Noumea and it was time for them to leave for NZ. On Tuesday morning we joined them for coffee and a sad farewell. Our adventures in New Caledonia had been so much the sweeter this year with such great friends as Warwick and Lanie. Sharing our passion for kiting, surfing and scuba diving, positive, funny and easy-going we can’t imagine a nicer crew to share the cruising lifestyle with. The only thing we don’t like about them is that their boat seems to have the legs on us in most wind conditions. We already have plans to meet up again next season with them in Fiji, along with our other Kiwi friends Rob and Carolyn (Shenanigans) and John and Pip (Sharpe Focus).
Warwick, Huggie and Lanie
JoliFou 