Today’s the day we need to get in position for our return to Noumea and the charter base. We have to be in by 8:30 Saturday morning, which isn’t for four days, but we don’t want something unexpected to happen that prevents us from getting back on time. We made it around the southern tip of the island today. We had a couple of places picked out that would have been a shorter sailing day but the winds, seas and weather was good so we figured we’d make hay while the sun shines, as they say.
We left Port Bouquet at about 6 this morning. There is a natural “channel” along the eastern side of the island. On one side of the channel is the island itself and on the other side are the reefs. The channel is about two to four miles wide but it’s littered with smaller reefs and shallows. We motor sailed down this channel and then came through a true channel called the Havannah Channel. For most of the way along the eastern shore the wind was directly in front of us. Here are some pictures from along the way.
We pulled into Port Boise about 4:30 and then it took us three tries to get anchored. It was a long day. Rick made chicken for dinner. It’s amazing what he can cook on a boat.
Here is a map of our route.