The photo at left is a local statue of a Kanuk.

We pretty much stayed inside the boat during most of our stay in Noumea because of rainy weather. Walked around the city of Noumea a couple of times; saw the new Star Trek movie in French and did not understand a word except “Live long and prosper” so we will have to see it again in Australia to understand the plot; visited the market almost every day; and found the McDonalds for a fast-food fix. Weather looks good for departure for the 1000 miles passage to Australia this week, so we cleared out of New Caledonia today. Tomorrow we will visit the fuel dock for our duty free diesel and be on our way.

From what little we have seen, New Caledonia is probably very pretty – but the weather has been so dismal and dreary that it is really difficult for us to make a judgment. The ITCZ has been very active in this area during our visit. We hope to get a bit south of all this dreariness for our passage to Mackay, Australia.

Today I pulled out the dried cranberries and raisins that Australia quarantine would take from us. Cooked those with a bit of sugar-water and cornstarch and added the open jar of apricot jam that I think Australia quarantine would also take and baked some great filled pastry. That takes care of breakfasts while at sea for the next week. I went through the freezer one last time and determined what we might eat during this passage and Bill distributed the excess sausages and chicken breasts to other boats here in the marina. Rather give it to strangers than throw it away in Australia. Should be on our by mid-day tomorrow.

This posting below was taken from the Hacking family website. They did such a good write-up on New Caledonia that I didn’t see any reason to try to improve it. Much of this also is verbatim from various travel guides we have onboard.

Language: French and 27 distinct Kanak languages
Religion: Catholic, some protestant, some Kanak religions
Population: Indigenous peoples, Kanaks, about 87,000. French/European colonialists, about 68,000.
Money: French Polynesian Francs. About 100 CFP to 1 US$.
Landscape: Grande Terre is 250 miles long, and 30 miles wide, forested, hilly. It is surrounded by the world`s second largest barrier reef with numerous motus. There are 3 significant offshore islands called The Loyalty Islands, plus another significant southern island called Isle of Pines (Ile des Pins).

Pre-History –

During the Pleistocene period, about 50,000 years ago, people were able to spread out from South-East Asia and migrate into the islands now known as Indonesia, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. Here their travels were blocked by subsequently greater distances of ocean to cross. Austronesians from the west, now called the Lapita people or pin-hole pottery people, eventually moved into the area and intermingled with the Papuans, forming the diverse group of peoples known today as Melanesians.

The Lapita were excellent sailors, and by 1500 BC had crossed over from Vanuatu to New Caledonia. They quickly spread to inhabit the islands of Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa as well, where they preceded the Polynesian arrival. For the next millennium the Lapita dominated the southwest Pacific waters with their navigation and trade. On land they were agricultural and very talented at making pottery.

Polynesians, threatened by overpopulation of their islands, migrated from Samoa, Tonga, and Wallis to New Caledonia starting in the 11th century AD. The Lapita apparently welcomed the Polynesians, and joined their culture and people together. New Caledonian tribes were widespread and frequently isolated along the coasts, giving rise to the many different indigenous languages. However, all these tribes made a complete living off of terraced crop-farming, fishing, the hunting of flying-foxes, and cannibalism. As in Fiji, the ritual of eating your enemy was a powerful one in New Caledonia, believed to enhance the power and strength of your clan.

New Caledonia, like islands farther north, was discovered by Europeans purely because of the search for Terra Australis Incognita, or Australia. In 1774 James Cook was the first to land on Grande Terre, and named it New Caledonia because he believed it resembled the highlands of Scotland (to the Romans, Caledonia). His few days of interaction with the locals left him with the impression that they were “robust and active, courteous and friendly, of honest nature and the women modest.” The only other impression Cook got of New Caledonia was of the fine timber that covered the Isle of Pines – his carpenter assured him that the timber was good enough quality to be used in shipping.

The French, when their interest got piqued by the economic potential of New Caledonia, found the locals to be very different from the way Cook described them – in short, aggressive thieving cannibals whose women were not at all modest. There are several theories as to the difference of opinion, from the naivety or criticalness of the two explorers to the possibility that they encountered two very different tribal groups. The French were the first to sight Ouvéa, the northernmost Loyalty Island, but in the same year (1793) an English captain sighted the southernmost, Maré, and noted the presence of sandalwood. The Loyalties were never correctly charted until a French explorer did so in 1827 (but, being French, he used Paris as the prime meridian, zero longitude).

New Caledonia was initially used commercially by British whalers from Australia. There was an oil extraction station in the Loyalties but the Europeans weren’t appreciated and this led to skirmishes between them and the locals. Sandalwood-traders were initially better-received and had more of an impact on the local people. In return for stripping the Isle of Pines, the Loyalty Islands, and parts of Grande Terre of sandalwood, the Australian-based Europeans traded metal tools, tobacco, and alcohol to the natives. They also brought diseases that the local medicine men weren’t able to deal with, and as the sandalwood market expanded but supplies dwindled, the Europeans became more desperately threatening and abusive. As hostilities escalated, the locals retaliated in their traditional way – in 1849 the crew of an American ship were massacred and eaten.

Later in the 19th century, many New Caledonians were taken as slaves to work on foreign plantations. This happened all throughout the South Pacific. The islanders that were kidnapped by blackbirders were tagged with the name of “Kanakas,” and apparently in New Caledonia the label stuck. For a while it was considered insulting, but after French possession of the area, local New Caledonians took back the racial name of “Kanaks” and now bear it with pride.

Two main missionary religions factions operated in the South Pacific – the French Catholics, and the English Protestants. Besides their national differences, their religions were against each other as well. This made for very competitive missionaries. The London Missionary Society, having learned throughout the other Pacific islands the best way to approach a different culture, sent two converted Samoan Protestants to the Isle of Pines in 1841. Unfortunately for them they were driven off by inflexible natives, but they established themselves on Lifou a year later. The French Société de la Propagation de la Foi (Society to Propagate the Faith) maintained a missionary on northern Grande Terre for four years, until it was demolished by angry, starving and diseased locals. When the French missionaries returned in 1851, they brought military protection with them.

Like what occurred in most other Pacific islands, the missionaries did their best to eradicate the New Caledonian culture. Nakedness and polygamy were labeled as offensive. Cannibalism was staunchly stamped out. Cricket was introduced, and traditional games were left behind. Even more ignored were the traditional Kanak rules and customs, which were passed down verbally through generations. A main part of these customs are the customs of gifts, and sharing. The missionaries believed they had bought land from the Kanaks; the Kanaks assumed the crops on the land were communal, and when they harvested them they were accused of thieving. But as the missionaries became more successful in their conversions tribal wars broke out over religions. The French military only suppressed these “holy wars” in the late 19th century.

From French Annexation –

As France and Britain continued to divide up the South Pacific, France was worried they would get the short end of the stick, and in 1853 Napoleon III annexed New Caledonia. Britain, busy with new possessions of New Zealand and Australia, largely ignored this annexation. France established a military base and began importing over 20,000 convicts. Many were political prisoners, including artists and writers. Well-behaved prisoners did public works, like the building of St Joseph Cathedral in Noumea, while others were sent to violently repressive prisons in the interior or to isolated Iles of Pines where they died of illness, mistreatment, starvation, or the guillotine. Only a few were pardoned after decades of incarceration.

Nickel was discovered in 1864, bringing with it more settlers and increased conflicts between farmers, miners, and indigenous peoples. The Kanaks, forced off their farming land onto unfertile rocky reservations, and not allowed to move freely or continue trading with outer islands, revolted in 1878, killing thousands. The repression that followed insured destruction of the Kanak way of life. While the French settlers prospered, the Kanak population declined from 42,000 to less than 22,000 by 1901. During World War I, Kanak chiefs were pressured into sending men to serve the French; this forced conscription lead to more revolts. The legislated discrimination continued until the end of World War II when they were finally declared French citizens.

Finally, during WWII, as new Caledonia chose to side with De Gaulle and the Allies, American set up a military base in Noumea from which attacks were launched against the Japanese in the South Pacific. The Kanaks were well treated by the Americans who offered fair wages for their labor. It gave them a glimpse of another way of living, and soon Kanak leaders and soldiers (followed much later by common people) were allowed to vote and form political parties.

The population of New Caledonia changed radically in the decades following WWII, as a nickel boom brought in workers form SE Asia and Polynesia. A strong movement for independence was lead by Kanak students who had studied in France and seen other Pacific islands such as Papua New Guinea and Fiji gain independence in the 1970’s.

With the election of socialist French president Mitterand in 1981, the Kanaks believed that their bid for independence would materialize. But New Caledonia’s radically conservative multimillionaire leader Jacques Lafleur held the territory firmly, and continues to do so to this day. In the 1980’s there were sporadic outbreaks of violence between the Caldoches (New Caledonian settlers of long-standing) and the Kanaks, usually over land rights. As pro-independence movements became stronger throughout the 1980’s there was constant political upheaval in the territory as voting boundaries were changed. A massacre of 10 Kanaks by mixed-race settlers further fueled the upheaval. In December 1986 the UN General Assembly voted in favor of independence for New Caledonia. A referendum for independence was held in 1987 but with the French still determining which New Caledonians were allowed to vote, the Kanak parties boycotted the election and independence was soundly defeated.

As the land was once again re-distributed, leaving the Kanak peoples with the least arable land, a young, charismatic Kanak leader Tjibaou reluctantly moved the people towards civil war, stating “We are on a battlefield and we are just dead people awaiting our turn to die. The balance of power is such that if we didn’t have international support, the colonial power could wipe us out.” The socialist government in France moved in to negotiate an end to the bloodshed. Political accords were signed between Lafleur and Tjibaou giving autonomous rule to the Loyalty Islands and northern Grande Terre, with the promise of another referendum on independence (with acceptable voter eligibility) to take place in 10 years. When both Tjibou and his second in command were murdered in 1989, the Kanak political parties splintered and drastically disabled the movement for independence. A poet and visionary, Tijabaou had hoped been determined to achieve independence but with the least sacrifice of his people. He is now revered as one of the great Kanak chiefs. A modern cultural center near Noumea is named in his honor.

In the 1990’s the French government has made good on its promise to improve the infrastructure, education, and life of the people of New Caledonia with an influx of more than US$750 million in 1998 alone. Three thousand new mining jobs have opened up, and electricity and water have been taken to outlying villages. Today’s New Caledonian people are encouraged to devise a name, flag, and currency design in anticipation of another referendum for full independence to take place in the next 10 to 15 years.

NOTE from Judy: The officials who cleared us in last week talked with me a bit about this push for independence. They think it is a terrible idea as these islands do need the subsidies from France. Independence would be a fiscal disaster.

Just before leaving the marina dock Bill went up the mast to replace our forward deck light. We need this light if we have to do anything on the foredeck at night during passages and it had burned out during our last passage from Vanuatu. Here is a photo looking back down at S/V BeBe from half-way up the mast. A photo from the top of the mast would be more impressive, but Bill only needed to go half-way up to replace the light.

Fed the homeless & the sinking of friend`s boat

Yesterday morning Bill ventured out in search of an ATM to obtain local currency of francs; they don`t accept Euros here in New Caledonia. The first ATM machine would not accept our debit card and Bill could not figure out whether the message on the little screen was saying that the machine was out of order or that our card would not work on their system. Since the next ATM machine was farther away and we had been advised that it was not the safest place to walk around, this time I accompanied him on this trip. We also wanted to look at the local market.

There is a fabulous seafood market right next to the marina and I wanted some of the great looking fresh tuna, but we have too much food on the boat already so we passed on the fish. There is a separate produce market where those fabulous French pastries are also sold. This is a wonderful daily market; prices are a bit high but the quality cannot be beat.

We walked the few blocks to another ATM. A vagrant street person followed us half a block and stood a few feet from us as Bill did one ATM withdrawal and I could hear him submitting a second withdrawal. I stood with my back to Bill and faced the vagrant, making it obvious that I was watching him. He kept glancing at Bill and the ATM machine and started whistling and making hand motions to other vagrants down the block, motioning them to come to where we were standing. I told Bill that I thought we should hurry up and get away from there. Bill said he was finished and we walked away. The vagrant stayed at the ATM machine.

After we were half-block away Bill told me that only the first withdrawal had worked. The screen said something about "impossible" on the second withdrawal attempt. Remember that this is all in French, which we don`t speak or read. We walked around a few blocks and then returned to the ATM to try another withdrawal. The vagrant had moved on by this time. We put in our card and punched the button for another 8,000 francs and the little screen again said something was impossible. But for some reason I thought it was telling us that it would be impossible to print a receipt. Sure enough, we waited about 10 seconds and out came our money but no printed receipt. Uh-oh. That meant that the previous transaction probably had worked but that we hadn`t hung around long enough for the machine to dispense the money. No wonder the vagrant had hung around the machine after we walked away. Sure enough, once we got back to the boat and got internet access to check our bank account we learned that all 3 transactions had been processed.

Oh well, it could have been much worse. We had just given the vagrant about $90 to drink his day happy. We should expect mishaps to occur when we don`t understand the language. Sort of suprised that we haven`t screwed up before now. We decided to return to the boat before we got into more trouble. On the walk back we saw that the new Star Trek movie is playing just down the street from our marina. Of course it is in French. We are seriously considering going to see it anyway, just to see the special effects even if we can`t understand the dialog or plot.

Now that we had internet access it was time to update the websites and catch up on some of the news. We were very saddened to learn that a boat we know sank last Friday en route from New Zealand to Fiji.

We had met Wendy and Steve on S/V ELUSIVE in Tonga last October; didn`t get to know them well but did socialize with them several times. ELUSIVE was one of half-dozen boats sailing from Opua to Fiji, all scattered well away from one another. They were about 500 miles out of Opua when they received news of impending bad weather and diverted course, heading south again. At the same time John and Renee on S/V SCARLETT O`HARA had also diverted course and were heading west. These 2 boats were not too far from one another and heading in opposite directions, one headed south and one headed west and closing the distance between them. ELUSIVE began taking on water quickly. ELUSIVE is a fast J-44 and had extensive refitting work done in New Zealand. Steve could not find the leak, but did verify that water was not entering at the prop shaft or packing gland.

Wendy and their adult son got into their dinghy and Steve continued to try to find the source of the leak. SCARLETT arrived and John (who is a marine surveyer and very knowledgable about boats) went aboard the rapidly sinking ELUSIVE and attempted to help Steve find the source of the incoming seawater. Apparently the water was entering somewhere in the forward half of the boat. Unfortunately, the water was rapidly filling the boat and it soon became apparent that Steve and John must vacate the boat because to stay longer would endanger their lives. Wendy, Steve and their son were taken aboard S/V SCARLETT O`HARA and watched their home sink. The cause of the leak will now never be known because the boat is at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. One thing that is for certain is that this sinking was not caused by bad weather or by collision; it was some malfunction on the boat. Our thoughts are with Wendy and Steve as they recover from this traumatic event.

Wendy and Steve are so fortunate that they were sailing this passage with so many other cruisers nearby. If they had been alone on this passage the outcome could have been far more tragic. And this rescue is even more interesting because John and Renee on SCARLETT O`HARA had also once been rescued at sea. Several years ago they departed from Mexico en route to French Polynesia. They were 750 miles out of Mexico when their rudder fell off. The rudder literally fell off the boat!!! They were very fortunate that the Mexican Navy came to their rescue and towed the boat back to Mexico, where they spent 2 years replacing the rudder and making other improvements.

The crew of SCARLETT O`HARA were rescued once and now they have paid forward by rescuing the crew of ELUSIVE.

Denied entry to port due to fear of H1N1 flu

On Saturday, May 16, we received an email from the our new weather router in Australia telling us that a LOW pressure system is likely to form in the Coral Sea between New Caledonia and Australia and last maybe until May 23; so his recommendation was for us to get over to New Caledonia before this system formed and moved in our direction. It was just as well because the wind at Port Resolution had changed to the north and the bay was becoming pretty rolly. Figured we might as well be at sea because we couldn’t sleep at anchor with the increasing swell rolling into the bay. So on Sunday morning at 0730 we weighed anchor and set off.

Our initial destination was the port town of We on Lifou Island in the Loyalty Islands, about 160 miles west of Port Resolution on Tanna Island in Vanuatu. Boats can clear in with Customs at Marina de We via fax to Port Moselle and then have 3 days to get to Port Moselle at New Caledonia to finish clearing in with Immigration and Quarantine. Noonsite.com says you have 7 days but that is not correct; you have only 3 days.

We departed Port Resolution and went south beneath Tanna Island and turned west; and were immediately greeted by a large pod of porpoises. They didn’t play with the bow wake like porpoises normally do. These guys swam straight at the side of the boat and turned around and swam straight southeast. Maybe they were trying to tell us to change course because it turned out that we should have followed the porpoises. This passage was doomed from the beginning.

By the time we reached the western edge of Tanna Island we were hit by the first rain squall – high winds and lots of rain. This was the first of several and our overnight passage was lively. It was rough and we could not point far enough south as we would have liked, but at least we sailed all night instead of having to motor. Shortly after daybreak we turned on the engine and motor-sailed southward towards the entrance to the port of We. We were greeted by one of those full rainbows over the sea.

As we were lining up for the entrance to the port the Marina de We hailed us on the VHF radio and informed us that we should not enter the port. The port was closed to all vessels arriving from outside New Caledonia or the Loyalty Islands because they feared contamination by the H1N1 flu virus. This seemed a little extreme to me since they still accept arrivals by airplane passengers and those people are far more likely to spread the virus than us slow-moving yachties. But there obviously is no room for discussion in this matter. If the port control tells you not to enter and to turn around and head back out to sea, then that is exactly what you must do. He instructed us to proceed directly to Port Moselle at Noumea, New Caledonia; and that we would be met by a Quarantine inspector and our health verified. Well, okay; if you say so.

We turned around and headed towards New Caledonia – directly into 20 knot winds that rapidly increased to 33 knots. The strong winds were directly on our nose so there was no way to sail or even motor-sail. We tried pointing off to try to motor-sail but to zig-zag in order to motor-sail would have more than doubled the distance we needed to travel. So we resigned ourselves to motoring the entire 111 NM distance pointed directly into the high winds and directly into large rough stacked seas. This truly was a miserable trip. Normally I do the first 8-hour night watch from 1800 to 0200 and Bill does the second 6-hour night watch from 0200 to 0800. For the first time since we started cruising we were not able to follow this watch schedule. It was simply too exhausting to sit at the helm or in the cockpit very long. I did the first watch from 1800 to 2215. Then Bill took over from 2215 to midnight. Then we rotated 2 hour shifts for the rest of the night. The boat was rolling and twisting so badly that by morning all muscles in our bodies felt worn out. Sometimes the bow would be raised way up and then slam down with a loud bang; reminded me of a whale broaching and slamming back down into the sea. This pounding was brutal. Other times the bow would be pitched through a wave and a couple feet of water would come pouring over the deck back all the way back to the mast. We powered the engine 600 rpm higher than we normally would do, and still could not go faster than 2 or 3 knots. A completely miserable 24 hours. And we are doing this because the weather router says this will AVOID the upcoming bad weather. If this is the better weather then I don’t ever want to experience what he calls bad weather.

Eventually we did reach the southern tip of New Caledonia and turned west. Once we were inside the reefs conditions improved dramatically. Not having to fight our way directly into the stacked seas made a huge difference in comfort level. By the time we had crossed the bottom end of New Caledonia (with the wind on our beam instead of on our nose!!) and turned northward up the western side the weather improved to become a beautiful day. By the time we arrived in Port Moselle at 1500 the sun was shining and the breezes were gentle. What a difference!!!

We had previously contacted Noumea Yacht Services by email to act as our agent in Noumea. When we were turned away from the port at We, we emailed Eva Dumas at Noumea Yacht Services (nys22s@hotmail.com) to notify her of our new arrival date. Eva did a marvelous job. We would recommend her highly and we are very, very glad that we utilized her services. Eva arranged a marina slip for us and met us at the dock with the Immigration officials, and she even took our dock lines as we backed into the berth! She handled all our paperwork and questions with the officials, speaking in French to them and speaking English in to us. I don’t know how we would have managed this clearance by ourselves since we don’t speak the language and the Immigration men only spoke a couple words of English. Eva, you ROCK!

Then the Quarantine official arrived --- wearing heavy-duty face mask and surgical gloves, which she did not remove until she was well away from our boat after finishing our clearance. There were health questions and she removed the few remaining fresh produce items and the eggs. She allowed us to keep all meat and poultry in the freezer because it came from New Zealand. The laws state that all meat will be removed, regardless of origin; but she said meat from New Zealand was okay. She also let us keep all cheese and butter and yogurt. That was a relief. We really did not want to throw out all the perfectly good food. There is a strange rule here regarding Customs. Once you are cleared in by Immigration and Quarantine, then Customs has only 2 hours to arrive to inspect your boat. If they do not come within 2 hours, then you take down the yellow Q flag and consider yourself cleared in. Customs never showed up, so we removed the Q flag at the appropriate time.

Didn’t plan to come to Noumea, but here we are. There is a holiday on Thursday. The officials are taking a 4-day holiday and boats will not be allowed to clear out until Monday. So we know we will be here at least that long.