Departure Port: Noumea with a sleep and timing stop at Baie De Prony
Towards: Lenakel, Tanna
ETD: Noumea Saturday 20 August 1100,
Baie de Prony Sunday 21 August 0530.
ETA: Monday 22 August 1400
Estimated Passage Time: 1 day 18 hours direct from Noumea. 32 Hours from Baie de Prony
Estimated Passage Distance: 33nm Noumea to Bay de Prony. 225nm Baie de Prony to Lenakel.
Passage and Weather Planning: Noumea to Canal De La Havannah is a SE leg. Canal De La Havannah via North Ile Mare to Tana is a NE leg. Not going to get favourable winds for both legs.
Ile Mare in the loyalties sits on the rhumb line so you can pass south or north. South is a bit longer, but is in open sea, but less favourable angle in SE tades. North should be more scenic but has lots of little Islands.
Lenakel, has no shelter from the south through west to NW.
Thus, the ideal wind is a South to South easter from the Goro Light at Canal De La Havannah to Tanna. But, this is not a good wind to go from Noumea to Canal De La Havannah. Thus light intial southerly winds strengthening for the passage itself next day is ideal.
The SE trades dominate this passage and blow steadily, (and I mean steadily, the Australian high seas forecast for out here might go 10 days without changing from “Trade wind conditions are established across the area”), thus 15-25 knots 80% of the time so it is a fairly easy leg given you only need a 4 day forecast. Lenakel is not a well sheltered anchorage due to swell, a E to SE swell in the region should be fine a southerly swell unpleasant and a westerly untenable. We would need at least 24 hours of suitable wind/swell in the Lenakel Anchorage to clear in, ie: SE through East to North East.
Ship preparation: Run to Paradise is in good shape after our week in Bai Maa. We removed the boom awning from its stowed position along the boom. Vanuatu is a land of suspect water and it’s the dry season so I set up our rain harvesting sytem in Bay Maa and made sure it all worked. I bought a new staysail sheet but decided the existing one can do one more leg. Our leeward staysail sheet got a lot of chafe on our passage from Brisbane. It did yeoman service. Also replaced a failed navigation light. Yes the LED type that costs a mint and lasts forever. Not.
Formalities: New Caledonia allows you clear out/leave on the weekend and do your paperwork on Friday. So sensible! No overtime fees. Vanuatu needed an “At least 24 hours before” Advance Notice of Arrival via email. We did this 5 days before departure.
Actual Arrival: Port/Date/Time: Lenakel 22 August 1900.
Actual Passage Time: 37 Hours from Baie de Prony.
Actual Distance travelled: 232nm Baie de Prony to Lenakel, close to the direct course.
Average Boat Speed: 6.3kn
Daily Log Entry:
Friday 19 August.
Completed clearing out procedures. Super simple. All free. All polite. Although we don’t plan to leave New Caledonia until Sunday you complete your formalities on Friday. Port Moselle give you a map to follow and Karen took me up the Petite Rade (little harbour) in the dinghy to visit Immigration, Customs, and Harbour Master in that order. There was a bit of swell rolling so we couldn’t tie up to the harbour wall anywhere so Karen dropped me at the steps near Immigration and then motored over to near the harbour master. I think she was quite terrified a cruise ship might arrive and use her as fender. No ship.
Once cleared out and papers issued you have “48 hours to leave New Caledonia”. The lovely Police Nationale officer at immigration said this was from the time on my exit papers, which is Sunday 11AM. So I think that means we can leave as late Tuesday?? Not pushing it we will leave New Caledonia when our papers say so. And even though Noumea was the exit port, immigration was quite clear it was leaving New Caledonia.
Immigration was also quite clear that stopping in the Loyalties is not allowed, and can not be requsted in advance as some sites/blogs say. But, retrospectively I guess you could do your Paperwork Friday morning with an official Sunday Departure date then use the weekend to do 2 day hops to the Loyalties, including time for a nap at at Ile Mare, at anchor, before tackling the passage proper. Oh well, next time.
Didn’t hear back from Vanuatu Customs. The grapevine says things are very relaxed still in Vanuatu.
Saturday 20 August.
1030 Refueled with duty free fuel. Not a huge saving as they don’t have the whopping big fuel excise we are all paying in Oz but don’t realise. Stowed all fenders and lines well, whilst Karen putted about the Petit Rade being anxious about every man and his dog heading out in their boat for the weekend.
Wind SE 10kn. Calm seas and 50% cloud
Motored down to Ile aux Canards (no ducks sighted, pity I like ducks. Yum.) then a long slow beat to a gentle 5-10kn SE all the way to Canal Woodin via Ile Porc Epic (does that mean great pig? Yum) . Nope it means Porcupine and yes it did look like one.
1530 Just couldn’t get close enough to the wind and missed the entry to Canal Woodin. So with wind picking up motor sailed to Baie de Prony for an overnight pitstop.
1700 All moorings taken in Anse Majik. Point Mere had terrible holding as kept getting big chunks of dead coral on the anchor. Anchored in the NE corner of Bonne Anse, near the waterfall and bush camp we found last time, just on sundown. Wind now 10kn inside the anchorage so the expected strengthening SE has arrived outside.
Sunday 21 August
0500 Wake up call for first light departure. Heavy overcast with some showers. Very calm here.
0545 Up anchor, Full main up and sheeted in tight and motored out into Canal Havannah.
0830 Goro light/Canal Havanah. Open sea again. Swell 1.5m wind ESE 10kn. The wind is more east than south which is a bit unfortunate and does cross off the option of passing south of Ile Mare. We expect to reach the passage between Ile Mare and Ile Li Fou in the Loyalties at 1700 to pass through a narrowish passage and FADs in daylight.
1200 Wind <5kn swell 1.5m SE. Trief sailing for 3 hours but wallowing so Motor sailing at 6kn at COG 40degrees. Blue skys. Should make Ile Dudune, our waypoint for the passage between Iles Mare and Lifou about 1900.
2030 Ile Dudune. A slow afternoon we are 4 Hours behind. Wind then no wind. Got to see the Loyalties before sunset. The passage at Ile Dudune is 3 miles wide and 400m deep without hazards but surprisingly there are no lights for navigation out here at all. So different after the lagoon.
2200 South of Ile Tiga. Our waypoint for leaving Loyalties for the passage to Tanna. Wind came back as soon as we cleared Ile Mare. Now full east so not quite as forecast and a bit light but expected to increase overnight. SOG 6.1kn COG 20. We will need to get this heading a bit more south tomorrow or will have to tack back into Tanna with a very late arrival. Karen on watch. Reefed sails for overnight. I’ve been taking French seasick pills all day they seem to work. Only one bout on going to bed.
Monday 22 August
0630 Me on watch. Karen was happy and rested so did all night. Wind ESE now at about 12kn. SOG 6.2kn, thats good. Karen said the wind had been pretty light but she had kept boat speed above 5kn and got us a bit more south. Goodo. Aim will be 7.5kn today to arrive before last light. Might be hard.
0930 Midway across. 60nm into a 120mile passage form Loyalties to Tanna. They have a 7500m deep Abyss here. Wow. Changed Tricolour to the Vanuatu Flag.
1330 COG 20deg. Wind SE 12-15kn. Full sail up. Averaging 7.2kn with some 8knot spells. Swell is increasing. Weather unsettled with lots of little line squalls. Not totally unexpected as the French Met Office synoptic charts placed a convergence zone out here. Its an extension of a trough further south. The only convergence zones I knew of are the Equatorial convergence zones. From what I can figure from the French web site it means two air masses colliding and thus unsettled weather. Tick. It’s slowing us down as we have to reef sails everytime one is about to hit! Not terrible but starts gusting 20-25kn.
1600 Land sighted. Weather the same. Dead on course for Lenakel but expect a just after dark arrival now. Will anchor out further in the bay than planned in about 12-18m or if I’m worried stand off outside the bay and anchor in a 30m patch of no obstructions until dawn. No moon tonight.
1930 Anchor down. Approach was uncomplicated. Stood 1.5nm off reef until due east of Lenekal town by chart. The wharf is lit by 2 bright spotlights. Or maybe it’s a trader alongside. Not many lights in town which makes it easier. Another yacht at anchor put on all their lights for some reference. Radar showed them lying about 200m SW of the wharf. North shore line is steep too and showed well on Radar. South shore line has a more dangerous fringing reef that we could see breaking to Starboard as we entereed. Motored straight up to other yachts stern and said hi and was told bommies in closer despite good depths shown on chart. Did immediate 90 degree turn to port and dropped anchor in the middle of the bay. Supposed to be good holding but rolly. Dug in firmly first time. Thanked Ross for his coverage. Thanks Ross.
I have a suspicion Lenakel customs has gone to bed judging by the lack of shore lights.
Tuesday 23 August
0900 Customs called us on VHF and greeted us and called us into shore an hour later. Met Customs, Quarantine and Immigration at a picnic table under a tree and cleared in. Very friendly still professional. 5000 Vatu standard biosecurity fee. 4800 Vatu Standard immigatrion fee. All rubbish stays on board. They didn’t have any of my emailed forms and we just did them again pen on paper, arranged our inter-island cruising permit, which they gave back to me in an envelope and asked me to deliver to customs in Vila when we get there.
Passage Notes:
This was a pleasant passage. Breaking the journey at Baie de Prony was nice.
Being able to stop for the night at the Loyalties would have been nice too but not allowed.
Wind was well behaved just not much initally. We are trying to sail more and motorsail less and our longer passages will dictate slow sailing, drifting if need be and just being late by days and days is something we need to get used to. I now know what the convergence zone symbol on the met chart means.
A vote for Lenakel. This is the official entry Port for Tanna/Southern Province and the Customs website makes it pretty clear they expect you to arrive here. Although they also say approval may be granted to enter at Port Resolution on the SE coast of Tanna. Everyone we met here came to Port Resolution with prior email approval, except solo sailors for some reason are not given approval. I have a suspicion none of those emails make it to Tanna. Apparently all the facebook crowd follow this theory, going to Port Resolution. They then had to arrange Customs, Immigration and Quaratine to come to them. The process then takes days and days, costs extra money, cash Vatu that people didn’t have necessitiating a 2 hour back of the truck ride to Lenakel. Port Resolution makes very good sense only if coming from Fiji, but really isn’t needed if coming from New Caledonia unless a southerly is blowing (or anything with W in it) making Lenakel untenable.
When we were there we had a day where there was a 2.5m SE swell south of Tanna. At Lenakel that was a gentle 1.5m southerly swell. Surf was up on the reef, but the anchorage was safe with about 0.5m residual swell rolling in. The wind was full east. Next day when the SE swell had dropped back to 1.5m on the weather chart it was quite calm, no rollier than we found Port Resolution on arrival there. Lenakel is a perfectly viable anchorage in established SE trades. The town is interesting if not scenic and the waters in the bay crystal clear with divable coral. There’s even a point break paddling distance from your stern if so inclined. If the wind is easterly you will have volcanic ash on the boat but it sluices off and doesn’t stain.
The inner part of the harbour south of the wharf looks more attractive (not very much more) on the chart than it is in reality, offering 5-6m of water and with the hope of getting out of the swell a bit. We tried re-anchoring in a sand patch the next day closer in. The swell was still there just a little less, the bommies were obvious with good light, but not charted and then we fouled the anchor. It’s all rock with sand veneer patches at best. Stay out. The 11m part of the bay is sand and excellent holding. You can see your anchor sit on the bottom. There is a shallower patch marked with a Rock in the middle of the bay outside the ideal anchorage area. This look to be about 5 metres deep. You can enter North or south of that area. Outside that rock there is a 25-30m deep shelf outside the bay proper. This is where the Inter Island ferry anchors it would be quite viable for a night arrival if you can’t make out what’s going on in the harbour itself and don’t want to heave to or stand off to sea.
The trip around to Port Resolution once cleared in and shopping done is only 32nm half on a SE heading to windward hugging the coast and half on a NE reach.
Port Resolution is scenic, and large with room for about 15-20 boats. Many were anchored well out but the inner harbour in the SW corner is decidedly less rolly with excellent holding in 4-6m. A stern anchor helps with rolling. There is a fringing reef on the Southerly shore but its obvious in good light. Even the cats out in deep water had their masts swaying.
Next passage will be to the Northern Hemisphere!
Run to Paradise 