We had a good two day passage. Did more motoring then I like
with light airs the first day, but finally the wind kicked in a little and had
a lovely sail coming into the Loyalty Islands to the east of New Cal. The skies
were clear and sunny during the day and ¾ moon for the first part of the night,
then a bright star-lit night until morning. Jupiter was shinning bright right
overhead. Another boat left Port Resolution just after us (folks we hiked to
the mountain with), so had their company on the journey across to here. It
turned out there were many yachts all headed to the same place, so was a busy
night keeping track of them all. I like it better when there’s no one around.
Makes for a better night’s sleep. J
New Cal has one of the biggest barrier reefs in the world.
We came through the pass at 3:00 in the morning. Luckily, the skies were clear
the wind light. We were a bit ahead of the tide so came in with 3 ½ knots of
current pushing us in through the reef. But the charts are excellent and
navigation lights all working, so no big dramas. But then we had another 50
miles to motor to get to Noumea, arriving about 10:00 am. Noumea is a
reasonably big city (for the south Pacific islands) and the officials work 7
days a week as there are lots of boats here, so didn’t have to wait until
Monday morning. So after all that and a nana nap, we managed to have dinner at
the local water front bar and watch the All Blacks give Argentina a good
thumping for the quarter-finals. It was actually a good game, though the best
was listening to all the Kiwi’s in the crowd yelling and jumping up and down.
And of course all the Aussies in the crowd were cheering on Argentina. I think
they know what’s coming next weekend when Oz takes on NZ in the semi-finals. J
Monday morning we managed to give the boat a good wash since
we are tied to a dock again with a fresh water spigot. It was nice to get all
the black volcano ash of the boat, well at least most of it. Speaking of
volcano ash here’s some pic’s of Port Resolution and Mt Yasur.
Port Resolution, named after Cook’s Ship. A bit roll-ee and
open to the NE, but well worth it. Wish they’d get the charts sorted. There
were steam vents all along the rock walls and up on the hills behind the water.
We could have boiled our lobster (yes, fresh lobster for dinner) in a vent
instead of on the stove had we been so inclined. This place is geologically
very unstable, at least for human habitation, but many people have lived here
for many years. A very independent lot.We could have hired some locals with a big 4-wheel drive pickup to take us up, but we decided to walk and get some exercise. Another couple off another boat joined us for an enjoyable afternoon walk through the jungle. Here’s the walk up the mountain.
And here was our first look into the abyss. I was wondering if anyone brought the ring to cast into Mordor.
The mountain was booming away, incredible loud, like cannon blasts, echoing off the side walls, hot lava rocketing skyward, the ground rumbling under our feet. It made us flitch every time until we got use to it, beginning to believe we might actually survive the fiery depths of mother earth’s moods.
Then we had to stay for sunset. J We’ve seen many wonder-filled and glorious sunsets, but
never one like this.
Here's a particularly spectacular blast, generally about every 5 minutes. Normally, it would be rumbling away, spewing here and there. But then everything would go quiet for a bit and wa-la, big ba-boom and the mountain would sway again.
And then as we were thinking about catching a ride back in the dark (didn’t want to hike back for 3 hours in the dark jungle), mother earth was kind enough to give us the grand finale.
So, we did manage to get a ride back, a very bouncy ride back, standing in the back of a big pickup. And we made our way back to the boat with big smiles on our face, content to be floating in cool water without being covered in hot magma or the earth opening up under our feet to be forever encrusted in the depths of the earth.
And the next day we pulled the hook with the rumbling mountain in the background and headed west again.
That’s the news from Equanimity, where the winds are fair,
the seas following and the crew content.
J
