Isles des Pines
Last night we anchored in a crazy spot, we had to wind our way through a minefield of big bommies, inside the most pristine lagoon, with a family of whales as company. Eventually we dropped the pick in front of the most beautiful beach, check out our anchor co-ordinates on google earth: 22deg39.455S, 167deg26.239E We took the kids to the beach, had a good run-a-round on the whitest and finest sand, then came back to shimmi for well deserved gin and tonics.
After a good nights sleep we raised anchor this morning, backtracked our way out of our achorage, waved goodbye to the whales and decided without further ado to set sail for Brisbane. Until we downloaded the grib file: It shows a potent low pressure forming in a few days just south of Brisbane. Not good for us, so we are now headed for another anchorage on Isles des Pines' south coast, the picturesque Kuto Bay. Its at these co-ords: 22deg39.455S, 167deg26.239E Its taken us most of the day to cruise around the southern Isles des Pines as there are so many outlying reefs. We caught a HUGE barracuda (let it go) and then a nice big Rainbow Runner which I scaled and will cook whole on the barbie later this evening. After the Rainbowrunner we caught another big fish wish eventually sawed through the 300 pound monofilament handline. That was the end of the most successful lure ever on shimmi: A white and pink skirt with a concave plastic head. Multiple yellow fin, Mahi and Spanish.
I am not sure now when exactly we will set sail for Brisbane. We will just have to keep downloading grib files until we get a good enough weather window. In the meantime we are going to gunkhole our way around New Caledonia, flying the black flag. Being under a black flag is when you sail around a countries' waters illegally, without having checked in. Tomorrow we will head for a possible surf spot which is 50 miles away, at 22deg47.765S, 166deg44.143E, and a possible anchorage nearby at 22deg46.584S, 166deg47.496E Maybe Trevor can stick a google earth pic on the blog will all these spots marked. Its well worth checking out.
Its 3pm and I have to do the final approach to Kuto Bay. Plenty reefs to keep me on my toes.
Cheers
Gol