We were up early and off the anchor by 7am. There wasn’t much wind so we motored. The wind built as the morning progressed and eventually we put up the sails.
We were making 4 knots on 8 knots of wind, not bad. At around noon we arrived at Baie de la Tortue (Turtle Bay) on the island of Ile Ouen. There was only one other boat in the anchorage.
Throughout New Caledonia the soil is very red due to the high nickel content. Here are pictures from the anchorage.
We had some lunch and then prepared to go ashore. Similar to Greece we carry our dinghy on the bow rather than tow it and risk losing it. So we use a halyard (a line to the top of the mast typically to hoist a jib) to raise it up over the life lines and then lower it into the water. Then Rick and I tie off the motor to a stanchion, take the motor off the mount fitted to the railing on the back of the boat and move it to the dinghy. Getting the motor started was a bit of an effort, but with enough pulls we got it going. We stopped by the other boat in the bay to say hello. It was a couple from New Zealand who had circumnavigated the world several times. They seemed like interesting, nice people.
On shore we tied the dinghy to a palm tree. You don’t want it to float out to sea if the tide rises. Ashore there is an abandoned resort that closed about 15 years ago. The guide suggested there was a nice walk to an old jade mine, but it didn’t give us very detailed directions. We set off and after about 10 minutes ran into a gentleman, Alex, who said he was the gardener for one of the properties on the island. He told us where to go for good views. We followed what we thought were his directions and wound up in someone else’s front yard. At this point we decided to turn back. We got lost several times on the way, but after a couple of tries found our way back to both the dinghy and the boat. Here are pictures from our walk.
We had an amazing sunset that evening. A red fireball from the sun setting behind the clouds!
Rick made spaghetti with meat sauce. One of my favorites! All in all a great day.