Baie du Prony - New Caledonia

Back to Noumea via Baie du Prony.

Getting back from Isle of Pines was a great strain….down wind in ten knots of breeze, the Chute went up thirty minutes outside of the anchorage and came down as we entered Baie du Prony six hours later; blue sky and sunshine all the way. As we had wind but little time left in the day to embark on any shore-side expeditions, we forged on down to the head of the bay and anchored in the Eastern arm of the Carenage; a delightful spot and one of the local ‘hurricane holes’, being well inland and well sheltered. That night the wind died away completely and we sat on a plate of glass, we don’t often hear our electronic clock ticking away but here it was quiet enough to do so!

The Captain relaxing......

The Eastern Arm has a great little dinghy expedition that takes you first to a ‘Hot Spring’ where a pool has been created in which you can sit and ‘take the waters’; we were impressed with the way it had been done, a small jetty had been provided for access and a place to leave the dinghy. Further up the river was a series of ‘not so impressive’ waterfalls, however these did create a whole load of cool fresh water pools which local boaters used to escape the heat of the day…….

Waterfall Pool.

There were also some walks from this spot, one of which was an eight kilometre hike to a beautiful lake. The track was carved out by a bulldozer and still be passable with a 4WD; however being exposed, it’s a hot and thirsty trip and takes the best part of a day.

The Carenge W arm after a sun shower.

After we’d had our fill of the eastern arm, we motored the fifteen minutes around to the western arm where we anchored in twenty feet on a mud bottom, there seems to be a little more room here and again it is considered a ‘hurricane hole’. We found a spot to get ashore but used an anchor to keep the dinghy afloat when the tide went down; there are some nice trails that run from this bay with many hours of walking, we went off on a ‘loop’ trail which kept us away for most of an afternoon and provided some great views across the anchorages and into the interior.

View over the Carenage W Bay.

 The Carenage in general, would keep a hiker well occupied for many days and we were surprised by the good standard of most of the trails. We were also surprised at the amount of water flowing in the many rivers / streams, lots of places to cool off and lots of places where one could ‘take on washing water’ and so make the drinking water on board go further. New Caledonia is truly blessed with a great cruising area and it is a shame that by the time most cruisers arrive here, the season is closing and its time to rush off to Australia or New Zealand. North of Noumea, whilst remaining inside the same reef system, there is another forty miles of good cruising ground with bays and rivers galore to explore; what’s more, this coast has a reputation for very light conditions, even when the trades are blowing hard. Compared with many other places in the Pacific the New Caledonia cruising area is quite benign, with peaceful and secure anchorages, lots of all round protection and interesting things to do ashore.

On route to Ile Casy.

We left the Carenage reluctantly; I had been particularly impressed with the water temperature which I noted was almost ten degrees higher than Bay du Kuto in the Isle of Pines! Our next stop was Ile Casy, a marine reserve and designated parkland centred on a small island in the middle of Baie du Prony; they have two moorings on the north coast and eight moorings in the main bay which is protected from the SE trade winds. It was a pleasure to take a mooring and it gave me chance to clean up the foredeck and anchor well from all the red mud that comes aboard in these anchorages.

Ashore, we were met on the dock by a really great dog…. friendly and very willing to accompany us on our walk; we were awed beyond belief when this overgrown ‘Lab Cross’, after standing on the dock studying the small fish swimming below, went head first in a dive to get his breakfast…….

When he surfaced, he was chewing on something and looking decidedly pleased with himself, so I guess he was successful……..

There are numerous tracks on this island and they are well laid out and well used….however the island is small and not so high…. this is a great place if your years have exceeded that of your pacemaker battery!  Still it was very nice and we enjoyed it until a frontal rain cloud arrived and sent us scurrying back to the boat.

The view from one of the many paths.

We sailed from here directly back to Noumea and it was a lovely day in very light conditions, we were overjoyed to be blowing off the big cats and the heavy steel cruising boats that were all going in our direction at the end of a ‘long weekend’ for the locals, the only disconcerting note was a Young 8.8 that slipped by us using a very flat cut tri-radial. We may have held him had we found the effort to dump our 100% and move up to the 155% , which I have been hanging on to for use in Asia….. Umm!

Back in Noumea we did the rounds and discovered a little more of what we DO NOT LIKE about New Caledonia…..

I went to the local boat yard… A beautiful place with lots of space, mainly empty, all the nice gear; travel-lift, stands, tie downs but very little going on… when I asked about a quick ‘out and in’ to do an  antifoul job, they said they were full and were full for at least four weeks…….I was flabbergasted, couldn’t believe it……they weren’t even the slightest bit interested in my business. Next I asked about Lay Up during the Hurricane Season….that question was answered in short order… “NO… we’re full, we only have five spaces and they are already taken”!

There was no question of the size of the boat, or even that I was not talking about this Hurricane Season but the next…. the answer was firmly “NO”. This has to be a government operation…. no private organization could stay in business with this attitude!!! But when I talked with a friend, he said “Oh Yes they can…here in New Caledonia”. WOW……

What are we getting into down here??…. I sent eleven e-mails to Australian Marinas the other day, also asking about a haul out…..I got three replies.

Asia, here we come…….!!!!!

John and Paula