Ile des Pins

A welcome westerly wind saw me leave from Noumea on Sunday 24 August and head east for a sojourn in the southern province. It was cold, raining hard and blowing to 25 knots as I set off, hardly what I had come all this way to experience, but a westerly is a westerly and when heading east little else will suffice. I reached Port Boise as evening approached, and tucked myself in for the night. Early next morning I set off again, keen to make the most of the westerly which was blowing still. Out through the passe du Havannah, I had a champagne run under spinnaker south-east to the Ile des Pins, arriving before noon.

On the advice of my friends from Oviri, I chose to make first for the Baie d’Oro on the NE corner of the island. The bay, open to the north, is formed by a barrier reef to the east and a series of ilots forming a semicircle from the south to west. Amongst all are a number of coral heads and reefs and, as a centerpiece, a coral head in the middle of the bay rises above high tide, vegetated, supporting a colony of crabs. With so much coral, entry into the bay is tricky. I anchored at the head to wait for high tide, using the time to sound out the entry by dinghy. By two o’clock there seemed enough water, so in I went, without problem, anchoring inside off a gorgeous beach fringed by coconut palms, in 10’ of water. Two french yachts had arrived the same day and we all met up on the beach to seek permission to stay.

The land off which we were anchored is owned by a Kanak family who ran a small open air restaurant to cater to guests from a nearby hotel. Just as it should be, lobster is the only dish available. Didie and Jean-Batiste did the fishing for the restaurant on the reefs surrounding the bay, and invited us to join them that night. So began a wonderful relationship with their family; nearly every night I joined them diving for lobsters and then sleeping around their fire on the beach. I have never eaten so much lobster.

I set off one day by bicycle to see a little more of the island. It proved so accessible this way that, despite planning initially to circumnavigate, I decided to remain anchored in the Baie d’Oro and get around when necessary by land. My legs were well pleased with this decision, and no doubt too my flabby gut. It is the upper body which receives the attention on board. It is an island of immense beauty and, with only a few thousand inhabitants, has a great sense of community about it. I envy the locals their lifestyle.