Noumea

I’ve been here a week and already feel right at home. This place is a paradise for sailors! So many brilliant places to sail to, always blowing and water so clear it’s almost obscene. My French is coming back to me nicely. Yep, I could live here.
Less attractive though is the cost of living here. It’s crazy, it makes Sydney seem almost reasonable. Luckily though my boat is very small and I have no room for anything new, so I hope I’ll live quite cheaply even here. Certainly with the cost of diesel I’ll be honing my skills sailing at close quarters. As I leave I’ll be able to fill up duty free, so my Australian stocks will hopefully last until then. Things are more under control in Vanuatu, I understand.

Friday was a holiday here. For the long weekend I followed my friends Olivier et Geraldine on their boat Oviri to a great little anchorage about ten miles west of Noumea. What fun it was! It seems that nearly everyone here owns a boat and that they actually use them. None of this Sydney madness of owning a boat and leaving it to rot; they’re all genuinely loved and well used here. And lived aboard. A boat really comes alive when it’s used as a home. We spent the weekend eating, drinking and sleeping, achieving little else besides. I put my kayak together, and am looking forward to covering a few miles in it. It’s such a playground here. Sailing back yesterday I wiped out just as impressively as ever I have, flying the Scarlet Woman (my big red assy). Kal is such a toy. I’m not sure I’ll ever really want a bigger boat than this.

Monday now, and I’m back in town stocking up to head south to the Ile des Pins for a couple of weeks. I’ve had the Navik welded back together, and am keen to give it a workout to test its strength. A friend here has a spare he’ll sell me if mine fails again, but fingers crossed all will be well. I’ve also had the toe-rail up since I’ve been here, trying to source a leak that’s letting water in up forward when I’m sailing. Anyone who’s sailed far with me will attest to quite how annoying this leak is. I’ve been trying to seal it up for years now in vain, but hope I’m on top of it this time. Thank goodness for Sikaflex (Incidentally, re. the above, a tube here of the stuff comes to about 35 bucks).

So all’s well!