After our long day yesterday we slept in until 6:30, woohoo! We had a bunch of chores to do—we transferred the fuel from the jerry jugs into the tanks, we swabbed the cockpit, lowered the swim platform, put the motor on the dinghy, and charged the batteries. Then we headed into shore. Here are a couple of pictures from our dinghy ride.
Our cruising guide said there was a small hotel that also rented cars so we motored down to their location, about a 10 minute dinghy ride away. They had a rope to tie the dinghy to and lots of coral around the landing spot. Rick stayed with the dinghy to make sure it didn’t get damaged and I went into the “resort” to check on the car. I walked through the whole area, yelling bonjour, but couldn’t find a soul, so I returned to the dinghy. We motored back to town and tied up at the dinghy dock (more coral). We walked into town which really isn’t much of a town. Here are some pictures.
We saw some men building a traditional hut. Here are pictures of a traditional house and the one being built..
We had brought our diesel jerry jugs to shore in the dinghy so we got them and took them over to Chez Alice, the local gas station/market. The only game in town. They filled them up while we bought a few provisions. A jerry jug full of diesel weights about 40 pounds and, although it was only about ¼ mile to the dinghy, it would have been a difficult ¼ mile. Luckily there was a local gentleman getting gas who spoke English with whom Rick had struck up a conversation. We asked him if he would drive our jugs down to the dinghy. He was happy to oblige!. We loaded the jerry jugs in the dinghy and headed back to the boat.
We put everything away and had lunch. We spent the afternoon figuring out our next couple of days. We had a rough idea of our route back to Noumea that required more detail.
There is one bay north of here called Baie de Doking and it’s supposed to have a pretty cool grotto. Unfortunately it’s also pretty exposed and the anchorage is only barely tenable in an east wind. Additionally, boats anchoring there absolutely must take a gift to the chief! The concern for the anchorage and with the relative difficulty our guide suggests exists getting ashore we decided to omit this one adventure. It was a shame we couldn’t get a car — we would have both loved to visit the chief and the grotto.
The island to the north, Ouvea, has two chiefs, but another overnight sail will put a real dent in the time we have to return to Noumea — we decided against it.. We’ll get our chance to see a chief tomorrow in Doueoulou.
We had a light dinner and an uneventful evening.