Starting things off in New Caledonia with a massive night. The temperatures may be a fraction colder than Fiji but the nights are double as hot… Out to the reef to surf soon… once the hangover is gone that is 
and well, I know, my friends look bored on the photos below, but believe me it was a cool night… really!
A friend told me that once I’d in the trade winds, our cockpit will always stay dry and we’ll be sipping cockails each day while making on record day after the other. Well… he was kind of right With up to 144 meiles per day we were steaming from Fiji to New Caledonia and arrived after 750 miles in just under 6 days. However, we have to work on this cocktail business a bit more because halfwind course may leave the cockpit dry but also creates a hell of different rolling motions…
Our third crew member, Emily from America, did excellent and we managed the moderate seas of about 2 to 3 meters with constant chop and wind of 15 to 25 knots in the usual relaxed manner. Dean also broke new ground in the loudness of his snorring which he surely will deny but we have proof!
One highlight was the close encounter with a 8 m whale, who swam alongside for a while in the middle of the ocean. A couple of times he got so close that we were afraid of hitting him, which we of course didn’t. Just before leaving he turned to the side and eyeballed us from about 5m distance. We all were stoked by the experience.
On the other hand, the night when we ripped the genoa in a gust and the tangled the sheet in the prop is not really my favorit memory. But once we freed the prop from the sheet in the morning and hoisted the spare jib, we were happy again.
Lessons learned: Don’t rip sails and buy less eggs.
Joined by Dean and Milla, BE is leaving the inner islands to venture a wee bit further out into the Yasaw Islands. Tourists get less and less apart from the odd resort and after while we finally managed to find that totally empty anchorage we had in mind. We spent some time at a small village, drink even more kava, catch some surf and find yet another way to cook 2-minute noodles.
Dean catchs some fish which get lost in translation during a feast with locals. Then one night in a resort we realize that we ansolutely suck in Limbo dancing but found undiscovered talent in ballon dancing (proof below
Weeks disapear like nothing enjoying this great cruising ground and so we’re slowly getting ready for the passage to New Caledonia. Time to move on…
