June 13

Today is Friday and it is 8am as I write this. We are in Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia and we are having a lovely time, eating French bread and pastry. Yesterday we went to the supermarket and spent a bundle on food. We have been eating fish for 4 days now ever since "Steadfast" (Adrian and Gabby) caught a 70lb Wahoo on the way to Baie de Careenage last week. They gave a huge amount of fish - at least 6lbs - to both us and "Rhapsodie". They said they couldn't imagining eating that much fish themselves. We dragged a line from Ile des Pins also but all we got was a 2ft barracuda which we tossed back in (high potential for ciguatera toxin in 'cudas).

The first day we ate Wahoo for lunch simply pan fried in olive oil, garlic and saffron, my favorite way to prepare fresh fish (I marinate the fish for 20 minutes or so in the ingredients mentioned). The second night we had fish in chili sauce, szchecuan style and then the third night we had it in saffron and olive oil again. Last night we had fish fajitas and they were outrageous. So we had enough fish for 4 meals.

Of course, when I think of Wahoo I always think of Chris and Markus Madak from "Pez Vela" with whom we spent 2 or 3 months in the Marquesas and Tuomotus in 2001 (see photo gallery for May, June and July, 2001). Markus was a crack fisher and taught me a lot about fishing. Wahoo was always on the menu when we were hangin with Pez (and we always have "String Beans ala Pez Vela" - with garlic and lemon juice - which we learned from Markus).

This morning, after school, Kate has a hair appointment in Noumea! Imagine that. Most Americans have no idea what or where New Caledonia is, so I will say here that it is not what most people would expect from a South Pacific island nation, though calling it a nation is incorrect as it is an Overseas Territory of France, similar, say, to Guam and the Mariannas are to the USA. Noumea is an incredibly rich city and limousines and Benzs are seen everywhere along with the ubiquitous Japanese SUVs and Citroens. We even see a few Jeep Wranglers zipping about, though American cars are rare. The restaurants here are "incredible" and without doubt you could claim that the best restaurant meal for over 5,300 miles (distance to Los Angeles) can be had here. I doubt there is anything in Sydney or Auckland to compare.

We just had a phone call from my mom. As some of you know we have an Iridium satellite phone which we use mainly to speak to family on special occasions (birthdays, etc.) Normally the phone is stuffed in our ditch bag (the bag we grab if we have to abandon ship) but on Friday mornings (Thursday evening in the US) we turn the phone on for a few hours so friends and family can call us. So far, except for my mother, no one has, this year, but then, we have only been doing it for 3 weeks now! The last 2 seasons we tried to keep it on every morning for 1 hour but that was too much and since we rarely get a call we switched over to once a week. We enjoy getting calls but understand that it is very expensive for folks at home.

The weather here remains crappy. About 50-70% overcast with occasional, strong showers. The temperature is in the high 60s to mid 70s, not what we were hoping for. It's the rain though which really gets me down. Because of this we have decided to cut our visit to New Caledonia short and get ourselves further North (to Vanuatu) where the climate is more balmy (i.e. HOT). Right now we are comfortable sitting here in Noumea enjoying the fruits of a civilized country while living on the hook (at anchor). I met a group of Kanaks yesterday in town who were very friendly and though they hardly spoke 3 words of English (except one who knew as much as I know French) we got on well, them being fascinated by the American family on a boat (though hundreds come through here every year) and me interested to learn more about the "indigenes" (native peoples). Most Kanaks I assume have never been on a cruising yacht and these were very interested to see our boat, so I invited them to come for a visit this evening.

We have had similar experiences in other countries and always it is a shock when they see our home for they usually, I suspect, expect that we live in some tiny, drafty, wet box. Of course, our boat is nothing like that and in fact is quite comfortable and well appointed, though small, and has all the same conveniences of any modern home minus the air conditioning and the electric dish washer. Speaking of which, the boat "Rhapsodie" with whom we have spent some time, has a slide out dishwasher "drawer" from a NZ company called Paykel. Although quite small by any standards (even compared to a NYC apartment dishwasher) it is much larger then we have room for. They live on a 55ft catamaran which has 2 hulls of course instead of one plus a huge living area between the two hulls. They have almost twice as much space as we have.