Off to Sea the Wizard: Goodbye, Fiji...Bonjour, New Caledonia!

Calm waters....leaving Fiji

Counting the Days….are we there yet?!
We are three days into our 6-day passage from Fiji on our way to New Caledonia. We left on a weather window between passing rain systems, motoring out the Nadi waters in light drizzle. We exit Fiji out the reef at Malolo Pass. We watch surfers and paddle boarders on either side shooting the turquoise breaks, known as Cloud 9! This is Fiji’s surf spot with surf resorts on the islands passing by. It’s an eerie feeling sailing through this small opening in the reef out into open waters again!

Another beautiful sunset in the South Pacific

The seas are flat and we motor until evening when the winds begin to pick up -southeast trades. With full Genoa we sail along at 5.5 knots. The seas pick up and into the night we get lumpy seas, a slight drizzle of rain and heavy flat grey clouds blanket the sky. There is no moon.
It’s dark on my watch. I have learned one thing about sailing and me…I’m not a sailor. Sure, I know just enough to be helpful, but trimming sails is not my forte.

Getting the main sail ready...and look what almost was almost a stow-away!

Luckily for us, John is a really good sailor and “feels” when the boat is out of balance and when the sails need adjusting. But, I’ve discovered that I’m a “Nervous Nellie”. I didn’t think I was until now, here at the end of the trip, I worry... I worry about everything. ..”Will the winds, increase? Should we reef the sail? Is there a storm coming? Watch out for the reef.” I worry John will fall off! I worry that I’ve made it this far and my “good luck” is running out! ( This comes from the rough seas experienced on passage from Niue to Tonga) All I know is this worrisome chatter doesn't do any good.

What a difference a day makes.. choppy seas and wind...

I don’t like the nights on passage, unless theres a moon. I can’t see what's out there. I imagine all sorts of catastrophes. I don’t like the boat’s rolling motion. There's no comfortable place on a rolling boat.. Cooking is out of the question. And after 3 or 4 days like this, I’m ready to be done…but we have more days to go! I’ve just decided I’m not as tough as I thought I was! I’m counting the days and hours to the end of this passage. And to the end of our sailing adventure. We have 300 miles to New Caledonia and 800 miles to Brisbane, Australia!

Oct 25- Sunny, Hot, and Clear

What a difference a day makes! I’m basking in the warm cloudless day with hardly a stitch of clothes on, enjoying sailing or I should say, motoring along because there is no wind. Endless blue ocean desert stretches out in every direction. This is MY Kind of “Sailing” Flat oily blue water.
I wrote my last entry after three bumpy wet days on the tail end of a storm. There was lightning in patches across the night sky as the squall broke up.
Today, at least I can appreciate where we've been and the “how” we got here. We have 250 more miles to go to New Caledonia. The end is in sight.

9:00pm- My watch: I see lights of the tanker, "SB San Francisco" bound for Fiji on my AIS locator. I hailed the Captain on VHF to confirm that he sees us. Sure enough, he hadn’t and was unaware of our sailboat some 6 miles away on his starboard side! We didn’t show on his AIS locator! He then checked his radar, which is a separate instrument and Yes, we did show up on his radar. I’m glad I called to confirm even though there was plenty of passing room. From now on, I’ll call all boats just to be sure! . All commercial boats are required to use AIS. Don’t know why this tanker 's wasn’t working.
Let’s do some mileage facts:
We’ll have been to seven countries in the South Pacific when we finish:
1. Mexico
2. French Polynesia
3. Niue
4. Cooks Islands
5. Tonga
6. New Caledonia
7. Australia

Sailed Mileage Legs: ( approx and not verified)
San Francisco –Baja= 1300
Baja- Mazatlan=300
Mazatlan- Puerto Vallarta=400
Puerto Vallarta- Las Hadas=250
Mexico- Marquesas =2800
Marquesas- Tuamotus=600
Tuamotus-Tahiti=250
Tahiti-Bora Bora-Tahaa-Raiatea (French Polynesia)=300+
Bora Bora-Suwarrow (Cooks)=500
Suwarrow - Niue=400
Niue –Tonga=400
Tonga-Fiji=600
Fiji-New Caledonia=600
New Caledonia- Australia=500
__GRAND TOTAL: 10,000 nautical miles sailed on the Wizard!

It’s 22,000 miles around the world… Amazing.

The night seas are calm and like a lake, oily flat not a ripple on the water. There is an algae bloom, which coats the surface with dead organisms floating in swirls of green and brown like raw sewage. At night the floating phosphorescence sparkles in the boat’s wake as we pass through.

Algae bloom carpets the flat waters

0ct 27
Again, what a difference a day makes! Strong trades winds with a southeast swell hits the boat on the beam making an uncomfortable ride. We are counting the hours to time an early morning landfall into Havannah Pass, the entrance into the reef which surrounds New Caledonia. Timing is everything as the current can be quite strong. It's best to go through a pass during the tidal change of slack water.

Map of New Caledonia

6:00pm –
Only 75 miles to go! We see the Loyalty Islands off in the distance on our starboard. Evening sets in and the winds and swells are dying down. We will slow the boat down to to 5 knots timing landfall for daybreak morning light! Nothing for
dinner, too rough and both of us are not hungry…just anxious to get this over with...

First views of New Caledonia!

Pine Trees and red dirt mountains!

Oct 28
Are we there yet?!
5:00am –
Day break- We did it! We can just see land- New Caledonia 20 miles away! We timed the speed of the boat to about 5 knots and calculated the arrival for 8:00am in the morning on the low tide to cross the pass. It’ll be another 6 hours through the reefs to Noumea, the capital and our destination for customs check in.

The colors are spectacular!

We sailed through the Havannah Pass, no problems and all day long around the southern point of the island up to the a very sophisticated French city of Noumea. I'm in heaven! I get my shopping and restaurant fix!

First sight of Noumea...hotels and beaches.

Port Moselle Marina in Noumea, New Caledonia

We are enjoying the French island of New Caledonia. This is the most expensive island so far! It has the most infrastructure and transportation supporting a large tourist population. Dive tours, island resorts and more! The tourists come from all over the are world; Australians, New Zealanders, Chinese and Europeans.

Any resemblance?

The bus system goes everywhere for cheap! We ride out to Bay De L’Anse Vata, the beach area to watch the windsurfers and kite surfers and the “topless” sun bathers (John was WAITING for this!) Happy, John!

Royal Hotel

Watching the kite surfers on the point

John is enjoying the beach scene!

Walking along Anse Vata

Baie de Citrons

Happy, John! Like his cool Star Wars hat?

We stop for lunch at popular Snack Ulysses for my favorite tuna sashimi and John's favorite, hamburger and fries!

Happy! Happy! Sashimi!

Carved wooden bowl from Fiji at local art shop

Familiar street.

Halloween on the docks!

We meet up with several cruisers we'd met months ago in Mexico who have sailed the Pacific Islands to New Cal. Many will go on to New Zealand others will sail to Australia.