New Caledonia

Position: 22D22'.120S 166D58'.714E

Tuesday, October 18 - I woke up at 5:30am bleary eyed to take over watch from Ian and saw the outline of New Caledonia through the grey cloud covered sky. There's nothing like the sight of land after 5 days of sailing to get you motivated again. We had a pretty uneventful journey from Suva after our delayed start that resulted in us leaving late on Thursday afternoon. We motored most of that night until we managed to pick up the wind for 2 days on a direct heading to the south of New Caledonia. We were making excellent progress between 7 to 8 knots in winds that averaged 16 knots on Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately by early Monday morning the winds started to drop off and the ocean became as smooth as glass. We had no choice but to turn the engine on and motor until the winds picked up. I had started to become fascinated how the winds could just start and stop on the ocean if by turning a switch. I had never taken the time to observe this before back on land. The life in the cockpit was very hot as there wasn't a breath of wind. This was in contrast to the cloudy and overcast days that we had experienced on most of the journey. Ian and I read books and kept a good look out as there were ships about. Around 4pm in the afternoon we both went and sat on the aft deck to admire the view (no white caps in sight). I was gazing into an indigo blue sea when I spotted a Nautilis shell bobbing past the hull of Faraway. I screamed out to Ian that we had to pick it up but at that stage I wasn't sure how. I got a bucket out of the lazerette and tied a rope to the handle. Ian motored back on our track line and I took a scoop but the shell evaded the bucket. The second attempt failed as well but on the third and final attempt I managed to collect it. There was no animal inside and the shell was in good condition except for the end which had been broken probably when the creature met it's demise. Ian recorded the lat/long as: Position 21D38'.805S 168D03'.780E. After picking up the shell we watched a beautiful red sunset and I went below to make prawn pasta. We are now in the Havannah Pass sailing around the southern tip of New Caledonia up to Noumea. The landscape is incredible with large rolling mountains and large expanses of tall pine trees with coconut palms and white sandy beaches. Ian says it is like British Columbia meets French Polynesia!