Crossing the Coral Sea

On Friday, October 25, I left San Carlos once again, and headed to the South Pacific. With a long flight to New Zealand, a layover in the Auckland airport, and another 4+ hour flight to New Caledonia – plus crossing the international dateline – I didn’t arrive in Noumea, New Caledonia, until Sunday, October 27. I was tired!

I rendezvoused with Tom and Di, owners of SV Avalon, at the marina at Port Moselle, but I soon retired to my hotel for rest. We had a big adventure ahead of us.

I’ve sailed on Avalon many times between New Zealand, Fiji, and New Caledonia. But on this trip, we were headed in a different direction – west to Australia! In all of my travels, I’d never been to Australia; I was particularly excited that my first visit would include arriving by sailboat!

As usual, we spent a few days before departure preparing the boat and watching the weather. Since Tom and Di have been living and cruising on the boat, the preparatory work (at least from my standpoint) was a bit less than “normal.” Primary tasks included provisioning with fresh food, filling the water and fuel tanks, and securing forward and aft storage lockers…. Plus reorganizing my dedicated cubby and bags a few times, as I’m famous for.

We cast off the lines on Wednesday, October 30, heading out through the reefs and into the Coral Sea. It was nearly 1,000 miles to Australia!

The first 3-4 days brought strong winds and a big, confused sea state. We sailed fast, though not as fast as we would have been, had the sea state been a bit more mellow. We managed to avoid any significant squalls, and enjoyed some starry nights.

One of the best things about sailing from New Caledonia is the fresh baguettes, cheese, and meat we stock up on before departure. They last for a few days, making for great breakfast and lunch sandwiches.

We saw a couple of big ships cross our path which was exciting, even though we always stay several miles away from them. (At sea, even 5 miles can seem “close”.) We also paralleled the course of another cruising sailboat for a couple of days, chatting with them on the VHF radio a few times sharing info about weather conditions, dinner menus, and Australia sightseeing.

As we approached Australia, the winds calmed down a bit. We even motored for a while.

It was a breezy afternoon on Monday, November 4, when we headed up the narrow channel to the Bundaberg Port Marina. We lowered the sails and Tom carefully maneuvered the boat into the slip. We tied up and exhaled. We made it!

We tidied the boat and waited for biosecurity, customs, and immigration folks to come aboard and check us in. Then it was time for showers and laundry!

By the evening, we were sitting around the table at the marina restaurant, Baltimore’s, enjoying a big dinner and a few cold beers.

For the next week or so, we stayed at the Bundaberg Port Marina, taking part in the Down Under – Go West Rally. This is an event organized by John and Leanne that helps cruisers safely navigate between the islands (Fiji, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu) and Australia, and vice versa (which is the Down Under – Go East Rally). The Down Under Rally also provides a lot of tourist and cruising resources for each destination. The event includes lots of sponsors, activities, seminars, meals, prizes, etc. If anyone is cruising in the area, I encourage you to get in touch with the Down Under Rally group on Social Media.

The rally events came to a close and I bid farewell to Tom and Diane. As they prepared for a few weeks of cruising the Australian coast, I set off on my 4-week “land expedition” in Australia with Brisbane, Gold Coast, Tasmania, Sydney, and the Blue Mountains National Park on my radar.

Getting ready for departure in Noumea, New Caledonia.

And we’re off!

Bundled up for night watch.

Made it through the night!

Sunset…

More sunset.

The skipper and the admiral enjoying the final approach to Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia.

We arrived! I need a shave!