Grand Terre (Mainland), New Caledonia

After leaving the Loyalty Islands we sailed over to Canala, on the East Coast of Grand Terre, a base for the nickel mining in the area. Canala is in a very picturesque valley with mountains all around. We went by dinghy up the river spotting mines on the way to the town, a great stop to get some much needed groceries and see some local artwork and wood carvings all scattered around town.

we have our Baguettes and Brie; with a view down the river to our anchorage

The whole coastline has some amazing mountain scenery of rich oranges, reds and greens.

perfect anchorage with friends Oceana1 at Neumeni

Great place to get off the boat and go for a walk up into them there hills.

Lunch stop with a view to our next anchorage at Port Boqete

At Port Boqete we stopped at the marine park at Ile Némou for some snorkeling at the reef and along the shoreline around the anchorage. A lot of soft and hard corals but not many fish. Saw the biggest conque shell, which was still alive and great to see given everyone likes to collect shells.

with Bretts hand to give perspective.

On the shoreline we spotted a brightly colored church so went into the small Kanak village of Lémia, where 80 people live. Houses and the church only. The local store is 20km away.
Necis; a friendly guy with lots of personality, who liked to sing and tell us stories, showed us around the village. There was a well manicured walkway that separated the houses.

Our final stop on the SE coast was Yaté where we took the dinghy up the river to the hydroelectric plant to find the grocery store for ice cream, beer and wine. Not sure where it goes!

Seas and winds were calm so we decided to head straight to Gadji, in Ile des Pins, (see separate blog entry).

After enjoying the Kuto area in Ile des Pins we had a quick downwind sail to Baie de Prony on the South Coast of the mainland, catching a nice sized tuna along the way.

Baie de Prony has lots of anchorages where you could spend time seeing the sights from the many hilltops by hiking the never ending trails here or go kayaking and snorkeling.

a view of Baie de Prony from a hike we did to the lighthouse from Anse Majic anchorage

Up at the lighthouse Brett & Aline are admiring the views out to the lagoon.

Moose is an abandoned dog on Ilot Casey in Prony, who cruisers all seem to hear about. He reminded us an old friend and was very friendly and likes to go hiking with you around the island. A marked trail takes you around the island in about 1.5hrs and has some nice scenery. Moose along the way shows you how he survives on the island digging crabs and eating sea cucumbers! Of course all the cruisers feed him and give him water.

nice anchorage with mooring balls to protect the coral

a view over to the nickel mining operation in the Baie

Snorkeling at Illot Casey had some little gems amongst the mostly white hard antler type coral.

Amadee Island, South of Noumea has a 56m tall lighthouse built in 1862 in France and was disassembled and transported to Noumea for its opening here in 1865. Nice views of the marine park after climbing the 247 steps.

Illot Maître is a small island with a resort 3nm south of Noumea and a Mecca for kiteboarding. In the weekends there are upward of 100 kites out. There were lots of turtles floating around our boat, which was cool.

Kiteboarders getting ready with Noumea in the background

It was finally onto Noumea where we were lucky and got a berth at the Port Moselle Marina. There are hundreds of boats here in Noumea! We’ve been so lucky with the weather while here. Time to investigate the city, reprovision, make some passage meals, do oil changes, wash clothes ready for cooler weather and check out.

Load and loads of boats

A visit to the Museum near the marina showed the history of the people here. Really interesting with great exhibits and English signs, yeah! Some of these garments below must have been very scratchy on the skin!
We cycled out to Baie de Citron on a bike path to see everyone out enjoying the good weather. Lots of restaurants, clubs, hotels and a nice beach, you could see why it was popular.
The bar at the Moselle marina was a great place to sit back, relax and enjoy the music in the evenings. 

Sadly time to say goodbye to Aline and Luc who are heading to Sydney. Always tough saying goodbye to people you have had a good time with, but then this is part of this lifestyle. Will miss Aline’s fishing skills!
Happy Halloween everyone.

At Barca brewery at Baie de Citron and Halloween decorations are everywhere.

Oct 31 here so time for us to move on too.