View a New Caledonia Photo Gallery and then READ BELOW for our journal and more photos!
PASSAGE-MAKING JOURNAL: New Zealand to New Caledonia (John, Kristy & Jodie)
5/7/2011- The good ship Raynad is on its way north out of New Zealand. Terrible weather the past two days- 30-40 kt winds on the nose with 3-4 meter seas-ugh! Today is much calmer, but the wind is still persistently on the nose and we’re all getting tired of needing to use the engine so much. Hoping to hit northeast winds after rounding Cape Reinga.
5/10/2011 -At last the winds have arrived and we are now screaming along with full sails, good seas, and only 632nm to go!! Should hopefully arrive in Noumea Saturday if we can keep up these speeds. Everyone is getting their sealegs. It’s great to have Jodie on board to help with the watches. Makes a big difference in the amount of sleep that we get. A bit of carnage on the boat this morning…we now have a small squid on deck and a few small fish!
5/11/2011- We are at last sailing again after what turned out to be a nasty storm. It’s good to be back on track and even enjoying some sunshine. The temperatures are getting warmer the further north we go. Probably won’t be to New Caledonia until Sat/Sunday.
5/13/2011- I’m doing the 11pm-3am lookout shift on the boat and am having a hard time staying awake. We are becalmed by almost no wind and pretty flat seas. In an attempt to save some diesel, we decided to just bob around for a bit until the wind picks up. Here we sit rolling back and forth in the middle of the vast ocean. Every 5 mins or so I go out on the deck and look for any ship traffic. It’s a half moon and when the clouds break, it’s very pretty to see the moon rays reflecting on the black water. This has been a sailing trip of extremes. First we had very strong headwinds which we had to motor up through, then we had some good sailing winds, but these kept building until they reached storm proportions and so we hove-to for 12+ hours to let the storm pass through and the waters settle a bit, the ocean swell and waves were pretty amazing. Now we have no wind. What was supposed to be about a 7 day trip is turning into 11-12 days. Poor Jodie, I don’t think that she’d planned to spend so much of her vacation time with us making such slow progress toward New Caledonia. We are ALL really looking forward to arriving in NC.
5/15/2011 – We are at last getting the winds in the right direction and are clipping off the miles at great speed! Captain John is ecstatic. We’re hoping now to make it into Noumea by tomorrow afternoon. It’s definitely warmer now and all of us are in short sleeve shirts, shorts/capris, and barefoot:) Woolies are put away and sunscreen brought out.
5/17/2011 – Jodie, John and I arrived safely into Noumea, New Caledonia yesterday afternoon. We were so relieved to at last be motionless and to get a full night of sleep without interruptions requiring us to get out on deck for our watch! Just in time too, because the weather was turning yesterday into rainy squalls and higher winds. Although our enjoyment of the area is somewhat curtailed because of the weather, Jodie and I did go to the open market to buy some fresh fish and produce, and John is out exploring the chandlers and other hardware shops. I’m sure he’ll come back soaking wet, but happy to have been out on his own for a bit. Jodie and I are heading up to the internet cafe as soon as we get a break in the rain. We’re planning to stay in Noumea for 3-4 days, maybe even rent a car and explore a bit by road, and then we will set out to sail some of the the lovely bays and outer islands.
5/23/2011 – We left the main island of New Caledonia this morning and are now sailing to the Loyalty Islands: Ouvea and Lufeu. 
If the weather cooperates, we’re hoping to enjoy some lovely sun drenched, white sand beaches on these atolls and clear snorkeling in the lagoons. So far we’ve had lots of rain and some pretty high winds. We’re hoping the weather calms down so we can enjoy the islands. We have to go back to Noumea before sailing to Vanuatu.
Noumea to Vanuatu Passage
06/07/2011
We set off from Noumea after filling up with duty free diesel and provisioning with EXTRA baguettes for Captain John:) Don’t know where he puts them all, but he’s been averaging two baguettes per day when they’re available!! Jodie helps out a bit with her Vegemite on top, but they are free of any competition from me…baguettes do not tempt me at all. However, Jodie talked me into buying another quart of coconut ice cream, so I’ll fuel my passage with bites of that:)
There is a lovely sunset over John’s shoulder, Jodie is laying on the settee reading “Beloved” by Toni Morrison, I’m doing my usual computer fussing, navigating, etc…. the skies are clearing, so could be a lovely night on the water.
06/08/2011 Ile Tiga
We had the most delightful surprise visit to Ile Tiga, a very small speck of an island in the Loyalty group. It literally rises up out of the depths and is ringed by a very precarious reef, however, we’d read about one passage area and one small spot to anchor in 10meters with a sand bottom, plus various surrounding coral heads! Since the charts gave almost no information, it was approached totally by sight with me on the bow, Jodie on the top of the hard dodger with binoculars and Captain John steering.
The waters surrounding the island were incredibly clear and we enjoyed snorkeling amongst the massive coral heads and reef accentuated against the blindingly white sands, where we saw schools of huge fish and even a couple of reef sharks:) 
The surprise was our excursion into the village of about 100 people. Using our combined,yet still pathetic French, we tried to find the Chief so we could ask permission to be anchored and explore. He was out so the casual “guide” we’d inquired directions from ended up taking us to meet the priest! When John asked about their water supply he immediately assumed we were thirsty and hungry, so he invited us to sit at his table, drink some mint flavored water, eat mandarins and then he insisted on giving us four large papayas from his trees and a couple of fat taro roots. We reciprocated with some Cadbury chocolate bars and chewy mints. Our guide and his dog escorted us back to the dingy, we half wondered if he was hoping for a ride to Noumea since that’s where they thought we were headed since we seemed to mis-communicate so much!
Now we have lifted anchor and hoisted the sails in the setting sun to continue our passage-making toward Port Vila, Vanuatu, which we expect to take about 36 hours. With our fresh provisions, we’ll eat well and stay healthy.