[This is part 2 of 2 of Liz's most recent letter home]
New Caledonia is well-known as a kiting destination, and
we have not been disappointed. Since Honey left for NZ, we have spent a
few days at Ilot Maitre, where the government provides free moorings
(to avoid yachts anchoring on the coral) and all we have to do is dinghy
ashore, walk the short path to the windward side of the island, and
launch from the beach. The trade winds blow on-shore, so we don't even
need a safety boat. Our friend Philip on SV BLUE BIE had tracked down a
new board for Max at one of the local kiting shops, so he was
especially happy to no longer be on an undersized board, and we were
able to kite together for the first time. I was very nervous when we
arrived on the long kiting beach, with the wind catching my board making
it seem heavy and awkward, and expert kiters whizzing by just a few
feet away off the waves lapping beside me. I wondered how I would ever
manage to operate my kite without crashing into something or someone,
but somehow, by remembering to breathe and just doing 'the next thing'
as it needed to be done, I soon found myself on the water. Unlike
Ailuk, where we kited downwind right from the beach, at Maitre, where we
were being blown onshore, I walked out into the water until I felt
like I was far enough away to start. Ilot Maitre is an ideal place to
kite because the water is always shallow enough to stand, and at some
tides it is hardly waist-high (even for me!) Several kiting schools
operate at Maitre, so it didn't take long (a couple of days) for me to
realize that there were students on the water who knew even less than I
did! The 'rules of the road' apply in the same way as they do for
sailboats - starboard tack has right of way, upwind kites lift their
kites and downwind kites lower them when meeting, etc. The first day I
was out, it trusted my 'learner stance' (and bright yellow flotation
vest) to create my cone of protection around me, and rarely had to do
much about the rules of the road, but within a few sessions, I found
that I had a developing instinct for making way for the other kiters
(other than raising my kite to the '12 o'clock' position, cringing, and
hoping they avoided me, or crashing into the water and making them turn
to avoid me!)
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| Photo by Johnathan |
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| Photo by Johnathan |
We have now spent a total of four days
on the water, and the difference in our skills was noticeable each day.
We were adopted by the more experienced kiters in the anchorage, and
they were generous with their time and suggestions. One of them even
spent some time one morning standing near me and giving specific tips
and pointers to help me go upwind and to learn to turn, as well as some
time with Max teaching him to jump, which he started to do with about
two minutes of instruction! Shattered as I was at the end of each day
(especially with spending what seemed like most of my time in
'aquafitness mode' walking through the water away from the beach,
dragging my kite and my board like a dejected school child) it felt good
to be stretching ourselves and learning; by the end of the last day, I
had a growing sense of capability and capacity... this might even be
fun!
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| Photo by Johnathan |
The end of September brings 'birthday season' aboard Fluenta - mine
is the 22nd, Victoria's is the 26th, and Johnathan's is just around the
corner in mid-October. We had an early celebration of all the kids'
birthdays while Honey was still in New Cal (complete with cake, of
course, decorated by Victoria and Ella, as well as a treasure hunt set
up by Jude on their foredeck) but for our actual birthdays we stocked up
on cheese and baguettes (but not red wine because they have certain
afternoons when the grocery store cannot sell it, and this is when we
did our provisioning!) and headed out to anchor. The wind dropped for
the first few days, so we felt like we were anchored in an aquarium at
Ilot Mato, where we celebrated my birthday. On the 22nd, I woke to an
absolutely still lagoon, and a brunch of French toast laid out on our
saloon table. Max and the kids had been shopping in Noumea, so I opened
a beautiful watch, chocholate and a cozy 'poncho' to wear after
kiting. Philip and Maggie from Blue Bie dropped by after brunch for a
visit before heading south towards Isle des Pins, and we spent the
afternoon walking on the beach and walking to the top of the tiny island
to take photos of the beautiful view. The hike was a milestone for
Benjamin - for the first time, he made it to the top on his own two feet
:) Max carried him down, as it was steep scrambling in places, but it
is neat to see how he is growing up. Ilot Mato in the calm was unique
because Max and I actually went paddle-boarding around the reef; the
water was so flat that I made it ashore for yoga without even getting
wet (a relief because I was carrying a yoga mat and iPad in a
hopefully-waterproof drybag). We haven't seen many sharks recently, but
Ilot Mato made up for that - three of them welcomed us as we anchored,
and when we paddled to the beach, we saw 6-7 little black tips swimming
in the shallows - they were funny when we startled them, because they
would all scatter in a cloud of sand the moment that one of them
realized that we were too close.
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| Welcoming committee |
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| A bit less crowded than Noumea |
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| Our friend Philip on Blue Bie heading out. |
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| Paddleboard trip to see the turtles and sharks. |
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| The view from the top of the hill. Fluenta visible in the background. |
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| Calm (Blue Bie photo) |
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| Time for a swim |
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| Benjamin practicing his Trump impression |
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| Johnathan photo. |
Because we have elected to
spend our whole season in New Caledonia in the same lagoon (ie we are
not headed off-shore to visit the Loyalty Islands) we have launched
Trickle from her snug spot on our davits, and she is readily available
for the kids to launch from the foredeck on any day that we have light
winds. The first day she was available, the five kids went for a sail
at Ilot Maitre when we were there with Honey. It was delightful for the
grownups to watch the kids sailing around the anchorage and tying up to
a mooring for their picnic lunch. We found out about the funniest
moment when they came back - Benjamin 'had to go' so they undid the leg
snaps on his dragon suit and Johnathan held him in the air over the side
to do his business. The kids are nothing if not resourceful :) The
rest of our sailing in Trickle has been a little more mundane, and every
few days, we have been able to enjoy the little sail journeying around
the bay. Victoria figured out a way to reef the sail by wrapping it
around the mast before it is secured to the end of the boom, so this has
increased our wind limits to about 12-13 kts. We were having a lovely
afternoon of sailing earlier this week at Ilot Kouare when Victoria and I
had a bit of an adventure. Everyone had had a turn in the dinghy, and
as we were heading back to Fluenta for the final time, one of the two
rudder pintles (pins) broke off, and the rudder was suddenly held on by
only one. On the helm, Victoria kept her cool, reached back and held
onto the pieces, and given that we were only a short distance upwind of
Fluenta, we signalled Max to come get us in the dinghy. Even with a
small boat, cruising becomes 'maintenance in exotic locations' :)
Thankfully, we are likely to be able to find the spare piece in Noumea
when we return.
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| Reefed mainsail |
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| Full boat |
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| Trickle in Noumea |
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| Basic seamanship training. |
Johnathan has come into his own on this
birthday excursion behind the lens of Max's big SLR camera [photos to follow as a separate blog post Johnathan is drafting]. He
especially loves taking pictures of other family members when they are
not looking so he can get the most natural expressions on their faces.
On several occasions, he has taken beautiful shots, and on the afternoon
of Victoria's birthday, he and Max spent a few hours ashore (on
Johnathan's request) photographing the ospreys and rare noddis (audis?)
that nest there, as well as the sea snakes that are ubiquitous on these
islands.
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| Noddi Bird |
We spent Victoria's birthday at Ilot Kouare. We had
thought about stopping at a little place called Ilot Ndo, but when we
arrived and saw the 'recommended' anchorage (within a channel within the
reef, anchored fore and aft; we had hoped we could just hang off the
side of the island itself, but it turned out to be far too deep) we
headed a few miles west to a place with numerous anchorages that would
be suitable every wind direction. Victoria's preferred brunch was
crepes, and thankfully she was willing to make them, as they are
time-consuming on one pan. She and I spent a lovely afternoon together
decorating her cake. She wanted to try out all the different
flower-making techniques she had learned (kind of a sampler cake) and I
was only too happy to stick to making icing and accepting her offer to
form a few flowers. Even though we are together 24/7, it was an
all-too-rare treat for both of us to have an open-ended period of time
together. Our friends on Exodus had left us with one of their favourite
games when they moved back into a house, and it has become a favourite
for us as well, so Victoria's choice for the evening was a marathon
session of Rummikub, during which we kept a running score separate from
our usual sheet (which we keep by the season). It was a low-key but
laughter-filled evening celebrating Victoria. Despite not having had a
nap, Benjamin managed to see the evening through to its cake at
completion ... but he slept in in the morning!
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| Work in the galley |
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| Cake detail |
We are now moored
at Ilot Amadee, and will head to Noumea to restock on Sunday. It looks
like the wind-switch will turn back on next week, and with the return of
the trade winds, we will head to Ilot Maitre again for kiting.
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| Ilot Amede |
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| View from the lighthouse top. |
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| Poisonous sea snake. |
With love from our hearts to yours,
Elizabeth
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At 2017-09-29 10:39 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 22°28.58'S 166°27.83'E
