May 25

This morning at 7am the skipper went to the produce market to stock up on more veggies and then to the marina office to pay our bill. By 8:15 we were pulling away from the visitors dock and steaming to the fuel dock where we stocked up on some very expensive diesel to replace the inexpensive diesel we burned on the way here. Just to give you an idea, the fuel was equivalent to about $3/gallon. We took about 165 gallons.

After fueling we head out of Port Moselle and Noumea and East along the coast. The sky was partly cloudy with 10-15k from the East. Forecasts had indicated 10k but we had 15. Within 30 minutes it was up to 18 and once we made the first 2 turns around Anse Vata and Isle Canard (Duck Island) we had it on the nose. We motored into it for about 3 hours and came to rest at Baie Ngo a deep and quiet bay with apparently one homestead on the North shore and a deserted terrace mine on the South shore (much of Grand Terre is being mined for various metals, chief among them being Nickel).