Cruising along the East Coast of Grande Terre, New Caledonia

English, foto, Grande Terre, ilse, Nieuw caledonie, reisverslag

Flash back to April 2018 when we arrived back on the boat after visiting Australia, Vietnam and Myanmar. It felt good coming home to Sanuk.

French bread, croissants, good coffee and real butter, a perfect breakfast

It took us about 2 weeks to get Sanuk ready to go back in the water and off we were for our last cruising season in the Pacific. We checked out of Noumea, got tax free diesel and sailed towards the Isle of Pines.

Beautiful Gadji Bay where we snorkeled and saw some colourful coral
The clarity of the water was not top but still good enough to enjoy the red coral
A feather star, they can actually swim by flapping their feathery arms.
Blue Damsels everywhere.
And it looks even better in real life

From Gadji Bay we decided to continue sailing along the East Coast from Grande Terre until it was time to cross to Vanuatu. We took almost 3 weeks to sail up and come back and we hardly saw another boat. The weather was not perfect, rainy days but warm but the nature was beautiful and we managed to do some nice hikes.

A happy captain
Dramatic scenery seen from the back of Sanuk
On a sunny day the colours of the reef are so much nicer.
Enjoying our walk along Guara Bay
One of the spectaular sunsets in New Caledonia
A gorgeous walk in Yate
with plenty of flowers
in all shapes and colors
One of the many authentic churches in a small village. Religion is still very important for the Kanak people.
In a way unfortunate that the ground of Grande Terre is filled with “nickel”. Nature has to give way for the exploitation of this ore.
Nickel mining on the left, the boat is waiting to be filled. Nickel mining is a major sector in the economy of New Caledonia. The island contains about 7 Mio Tonnes of nickel which is about 10% of the world’s nickel reserves.
Canala canal our way into the town of Canala with Flipper.
“La poule de Hienghėne” or the brooding hen. It is a limestone rock formation and a symbol of generosity for the Kanak people.
The Lindéralique cliffs, made of black limestone and featured at one time on the 500 XPF bank notes.
Anchored near the dock at Guara Bay
The captain ready to move on to Vanuatu
We made a stop at Maré Island and went to see “the warrior’s leap”. Standing almost 30 meters above sea level, legend has it that the warrior, cornered by many enemies, leapt across the abyss which in fact measures almost 7 meters in width! As for the enemies, they broke their necks and ended up at the bottom of the ocean.
Sailing to Vanuatu proved to be a rocking fast sail. We got to Anatom in 22 hours
Sunset in Anatom. We are ready to discover Vanuatu.

2 gedachten over “Cruising along the East Coast of Grande Terre, New Caledonia”

  2. Adembenemend Ilse. Wat een prachtige en compromisloze natuur. Moet een unieke en louterende levenservaring zijn. Genieten maar van al die schoonheid; om jaloers van te zijn . Fijn dat jullie dit met ons delen. Nog een gelukkige en voorspoedige reis. Isabelle & Geert.

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