[password] zara1010
[status]
:position 20 14.14s 164 18.17e
Baie de Pam on the NE coast still, we can see the top of Grand Terre - and once we round that the beat south begins.
The towering lush mountains laced with white ribbons of waterfalls have been replaced by low rounded hills,
more arid here with dried brown grass and short scrubby trees.
Meanwhile it's gorgeous and hot and a paddleboard / swim trip is planned.
[status]
:position 20 17.34s 164 29.33e
:date 07/10/2013
Balade, arrived in total calm and paddleboarded to the sandy islet to see the monument to Huon de Kermadec who died in 1793 and was the first European to be buried in New Caledonia.
Previously, in Sept 1774, Captain Cook landed on this same tiny sandbar to observe an eclipse of the sun.
History lesson over we had a gorgeous paddleboard over the reef, low tide, flat calm and like looking into an aquarium at the variety of coral, the sting rays were utterly ginormous and the feather stars prolific - so gorgeous I got in for a snorkel, the first without a wetsuit, we must have got to the tropics at last!
[status]
:position 20 22.53s 164 35.36e
:date 06/10/201
Pouebo, access to the village is up the river, side tracked by the choice of tributaries we explored the mangrove area by dinghy, the more we looked at those trees the more incredible we thought they were, perfectly adapted to survival where salt and fresh water meet, sending down aerial roots that branch when they touch the water, forming dense thickets that must absorb the impact of large waves.
Later we took the paddleboards on the seaward side and looking closely at the extensive mangroves - it is perfect how the mass of roots protects the shoals of tiny fish we saw - as well as the land and villages, from the onslaught of an angry sea.
We watched turtles glide over the sea grass and dunked ourselves in the bath hot shallows before heading back to the deeper pass and going through a frenzy of feeding fish - felt quite intrepid on an inflatable.
[status]
:position 20 40.98s 164 57.19e
:date 04/10/201
Hienghene - We were anchored under the incredibly shaped Brooding Hen rock formation. Will upload photos at the next internet. It towered blackly above us, perfect in it's chickeness. We paddled the whole way round it - and a dugong surfaced close to me. It would have been amazing but before I knew it, I'd screamed with shock (terror is always at the front of my mind when I can't see the bottom) scaring it then too, so it disappeared in a flash - and I am very annoyed.
[END]