July 21
Noumea is a world away from Port Resolution on Tanna Island Vanuatu. We sailed less than 48 hours to get from Tanna to Noumea New Caledonia. We went from real dugout canoes, tree leaf huts, and village living to Multimillion dollars yachts and motor cruisers, high-rise apartments, and sophisticated modern city living. From home grown wholesome delicious fresh fruits and vegetables to .. McDonalds.
We did the final approach to Noumea through the pass in the reef and through its lagoon at night. We were in no hurry to arrive because we did not want to arrive at the marina before day break. It was a beautiful full moonlit night and we could easily see the outline of the coast as it slowly slide by as we sailed at about 3-4 Kts in calm lagoon waters. This is one of my favorite ways to sail.
We moored right next to Spirit V, Erik and Pia welcomed us and helped us tie up to the dock. I had sailed to Port Moselle about 7 years ago as crew when delivering a new Seawind 1250 yacht. I remember the sign on the entrance, but nothing else. The marina has been rebuilt and is now a very modern floating marina with all the modern marina facilities you would expect.
The others went for a look around Noumea. I was tired after navigating most of the night through the navigation lights from the pass in the reef all the way to the marina. So I sleep for a while and had some time to myself on the boat.
We had a very nice dinner with the crews from Spirit V and Two fish at the marina restaurant.
After talking with Pia from Spirit V who is a meteorologist, it looked like we had a good weather window to Brisbane if we left on Tuesday. If not taken we may have to spend several days here until the next window.
I spent most of Monday doing customs and immigration check-in and check-out plus getting the forms for duty free fuel. This required a walk of a few kilometers because the offices are spread all over town. Once again a world away from Tanna where the Bio-Security, Customs, Immigration, and a Bank representative to change currency for us all came to the Port Resolution Yacht club to complete their required procedures.
I also went to a Marine Chandlery to get a new Starboard navigation light. On our night approach into Tanna the other skippers commented that my starboard (Green) navigation light was not working. These lights are very important for safety because they tell approaching vessels which direction you are going and who has right of way. I will need this working correctly if we complete the approach into Brisbane at night via its very long and winding channel entrance.
These navigation lights are special high quality (ala expensive) LED lights that by International safety of life at sea regulations for vessels over 12 meters must be visible at night from 2 Nautical Miles. Zoom is 15.24 meters so I need to have this type of light. In the USA they are about $50-60. Here in New Caledonia this light was US$128, ouch! It was also mounted slightly differently than the light it was replacing. This LED would require more work to install it. I was talking to the manager/owner of the store about other options. He said he has stopped buying these German made Aqua Signal LEDS because they are too expensive and no one will buy them. He said he only had a couple left and would sell one to me at 50% off to get rid of them. He left me to think about it. I checked all the other much cheaper lights made in China of course. None of them were rated at 2NM which I needed for Zoom. Buying the correct high quality German light was the only prudent option.
I was only about 200 yards down the road after leaving the store where I purchased the navigation Light that I realized that at half price I may as well go back and buy the other light for the Port side of the boat. If the Starboard LED failed after 7 years, it is fairly likely that the Port LED will also fail soon. I am sure Zoom would be much happier having matching navigation lights, so I returned to the store and brought another Red version of this light for the Port Side.
On Tuesday 19th July after breakfast and topping up with fuel we left Noumea for Brisbane. The first day and night were great sailing averaging 7-8 Kts. It is Thursday 24 now and we have been motoring for several hours with several more to go before winds are expected to arrive. Our ETA for Brisbane is sometime on Monday 25 July.
After the Bio Security, Customs and Immigration check-in it looks like the easiest and fastest way to get from Brisbane to Sanctuary Cove is via the inland river system. My first attempt at finding a path along the recommend routes through the maze of islands and shoals took me under a power line that has only 20m clearance. Zoom is 19.5m plus a VHF antenna. Too close for me, so I thought we would have to go out to sea. This is not a problem and I feel safer doing this. The most dangerous thing about going to sea is land. However I think I have found another inland route that has no power cables to worry about. However it will have lots and lots of land very close to the sides and underneath. Much more stressful than going out to sea. It would not look good that after 10,000 miles and 8 months of sailing half way around the world that I ground Zoom on the last day within 45 miles from home.
————————————————- Do not push the “reply” button to respond to this message if that includes the text of this original message in your response. Messages are sent over a very low-speed radio link. The most concise way to reply is to send a NEW message to: ianonzoom@zoomaway.net.au If you DO use your reply button, be sure to delete the original message text and these instructions from your reply. Replies should not contain attachments and should be less than 5 kBytes (2 text pages) in length. This email was delivered by an HF private coast station in the Maritime Mobile Radio Service, operated by the SailMail Association, a non-profit association of yacht owners. For more information on this service or on the SailMail Association, please see the web site at: www.sailmail.com