New Caledonia: The Pacific Ocean's Biggest Secret Through the Eyes of Experienced Cruisers

New Caledonia: The Pacific Ocean's Biggest Secret Through the Eyes of Experienced Cruisers

This is the story of how travel couple Neville and Katherine Hockley explored new territory and discovered an unexpected cruise nirvana!

Shortly after my wife, Catherine and I arrived in the country, we called our bank to reactivate our bank card, and upon hearing our whereabouts, the banking specialist sighed thoughtfully and said, “Wow, New Caledonia, I always wanted to go to Africa. "

In truth, when Catherine and I took our boat trip to New Caledonia Dream Time, Cabo Rico 38, 1981, we also did not know much about this country. New Caledonia was mentioned very vaguely and rarely by cruisers, as French territory in Melanesia and a convenient pit stop on the west side of the South Pacific, as well as a great spot to shop for baguettes and Bordeaux at the end of the cruise season. So when we arrived in New Caledonia last year from New Zealand, visiting a nearby island Norfolk and VanuatuWe had planned to stay just a few months, which is long enough to see the highlights, replenish our fuel supplies and our bellies with French food, before heading to Australia for cyclone season.

But that was over a year ago, and we are still here!

New Caledonia: The Pacific Ocean's Biggest Secret Through the Eyes of Experienced Cruisers

New Caledonia, which we discovered for ourselves, is the third largest island in the South Pacific, after Papua New Guinea and New Zealand; has the world's largest lagoon, 13,000 square nautical miles of shimmering water, which in 2008 became UNESCO World Heritage Site; and is almost entirely surrounded by 800 nautical miles of pristine reef, the second longest after Great Barrier Reef.

On our very first day in New Caledonia, the accompanying mountain range through Canal de la Havanna, convinced us that we had entered a cruise nirvana - a turquoise world saturated with a variety of marine life, reefs, coves and uninhabited islands, waiting to be explored. We realized that this was our destination, and we made a decision - we must see everything here!

For the first two months, we cruised the southern lagoon, just 30 miles from Noumea, a bustling capital, but in a region that seemed completely secluded. With an average depth of just 80 feet and sheltered from ocean waves, it is home to a huge number of coral reefs and perfectly formed sandy islands of various sizes, offering a variety of anchorages to suit all types of cruising preferences.

The lagoon, a huge natural aquarium that is teeming with colorful reef fish, healthy corals, turtles friendly enough to swim along our waterline, dugongs, dolphins and sea snakes. We arrived during the migratory season and humpback whales gently slipped alongside, right under our boat.

New Caledonia: The Pacific Ocean's Biggest Secret Through the Eyes of Experienced Cruisers

We selected the islands with the best downhill beaches, and when the trade winds were blowing around 20 knots, we kitesurfed in shallow water over the loose sand. We anchored near the reef and dived through the gorges, accompanied by sharks and giant manta rays. We examined the wreckage left here from the Second World War, and when from the depths Of the Tasman Sea there was a lot of excitement, we went diving and kayaking in the sheltered lagoon.

On calm days, when sea and sky merged softly together like glass, when the horizon was not visible at all, we explored the southern deep bay with the only small outlet in the lagoon, tied to islands that were as remote and valuable as Tuamotu.

During a respite in the trade winds, we moved further south towards L'Ile De Pen, a quiet idyllic group of islands that abuts the southern tip of the main island, forming the New Caledonian exclamation point. The islands were named Captain James Cook in 1774 in honor of the towering local pine trees that guard the coastline, which, according to the inhabitants of the island, keep the spirits of departed ancestors.

Kanaki culture still dominates the area, so many of the territories and tribal customs are heavily guarded by the people who settled here over 3,000 years ago. Even today, carved totems keep a close eye on the bays, where traditional sailing canoes - pies - glide across the sacred turquoise waters of the lagoon, where mushroom-shaped limestone islands balance on narrow foundations washed by the incoming tides over the centuries.

In the northwest part L'Ile De Pen, about Haji, there is a small anchorage where we explored the caves, both under water and above the surface. Diving through the cramped crevices beneath the reef offers magical views of entire reef cathedrals, and holes in the limestone allow sunlight to penetrate and shimmer on the seabed, 30 feet below the surface. We plunged lower and lower from the limit of comfort, under the reef, into pitch-black voids, where hundreds of lobsters gathered together, and filled all the cracks of the limestone, probing the darkness with swaying antennae.

The days gently spilled over into the weeks, and the weeks spilled over into the months, and with cyclone seasons rapidly approaching, we needed a safe haven. Thanks to the help of the friendly staff in Port moselle, one of the most protected marinas in the center Noumea, we have reserved a place for our yacht Dream time, and prepared for the storm by attaching the boat to heavy chains buried at the bottom of the harbor.

Over the next five months, the marina became our base camp. All the sights of the tropical French capital were explored on foot, or by bus and train. We visited food and craft markets, seafood shops, supermarkets and air-conditioned museums almost daily to escape the heat, and then followed the aromas of freshly baked croissants, espresso, and countless pastries located around Place des Cocotiers - a tropical square in the city center.

In the middle of summer, we rented a car for three weeks, and went to the big island Grande Terreto explore over 800 miles, that is, every corner of this diverse and contrasting island. Through the lush vegetation of the West Coast countryside and through dry, dusty red plains in the far south, we climbed more than 4,000 feet to a wind-swept rocky ridge and then descended into lush tropical valleys overgrown with giant ferns, pine and palm trees.

On the way, we often stopped at roadside huts to buy local bananas, lychees and grapefruits, which are so sweet here that they rivaled even grapefruits in the Marquesas.

At the extreme northeastern point of the island, towering cliffs fall almost vertically directly into the lagoon, and when the road ends abruptly at the river Huayem, a barge, equipped with a 30 hp outboard engine, ferried us and our vehicle across the river so that we could continue our journey north to the remote end of the island known as the "end of the world."

We preferred to spend the summer sailing exploring the bays, caves and estuaries of the island's rivers. Grande Terre... We visited the ruins of the former colonies, where more than 18,000 French convicts were extradited, from 1864 to 1897, who, after the end of their sentences, ended up on a remote island, with no hope of ever returning home.

We climbed red rocky canyons, anchored black volcanic sand shores, swam in thermal pools and plunged into deep waters Bae de Prony following the winding river mouths upstream. And when the cyclones approached the waters of New Caledonia, we went back to the marina.

In May, when the trade winds were cooler and the ocean temperature dropped along with the humidity, we went to the coral islands Loyotte... Traditional culture Kanaki and the village life on this island chain makes you feel like you have arrived in a country other than a francophone island Grande Terre.

Almost all anchorages here are tribal, and tribal lands are passed down from generation to generation. According to local custom, guests of the island ask for an audience with the main person in the village, and present him with gifts - traditionally a few meters of cloth, or money, about $ 10 in local currency. The amount of money is not fixed - it is rather a modest gesture that shows your respect and recognition, so that you understand that you are a guest on their land. To make our gifts more personalized, we also presented T-shirts Dream time and a warm, freshly baked coconut pie, and after that we were welcome everywhere.

We were invited to the traditional straw huts used for tribal gatherings and as family homes where, sitting on woven mats around the fire pit, speaking broken French with the main Melanesian in the village, we felt at home.

New Caledonia: The Pacific Ocean's Biggest Secret Through the Eyes of Experienced Cruisers

Then we went to Uwea and moored to clear-water limestone cliffs where visibility was 100 feet, and stayed there for weeks on a shallow atoll flanked by more than 15 miles of wide white sand beaches, arguably the most beautiful in the entire Pacific region.

It is home to a vast population of the Kanaki people, so proud and independent that local communities, who value privacy more than profit, have decided to ban cruise ships from entering.

Since we entered the waters of New Caledonia over a year ago, we have sailed over 1,500 nautical miles and visited over four dozen anchorages. These are some of the most varied, relaxing and cruiser-friendly destinations we've visited in over nine years of sailing!

Navigational maps accurately detail each island, reef and passage. Food availability and quality repairs are some of the best in the Pacific.

New Caledonia is not limited to just cruisers that have crossed the Pacific. V Noumea you can take a yacht for charter. A good fleet of monohulls, catamarans and even a few motor yachts are based here, making this paradise island accessible to everyone.

Whether you're looking for the adrenaline and thrill of the water, the varied marine life on board, a rich cultural exchange, French cuisine, or just an irresistible selection of blissful remote anchorages, New Caledonia has it all and is just waiting to be found them!

A source: Dream Time Crew

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31.12.2017