1999-2004: The South Pacific 

From Vanuatu we sailed on to our next destination, New Caledonia, just in time for the Pacific Festival of Arts (see the photos on this page).  We were in New Caledonia for about three weeks, then headed on to New Zealand to wait out the hurricane season.

Oct 23, 2000 - Noumea, New Caledonia

Dear family and friends:

We are anchored in lovely Moselle Bay off Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia. Rachael is off to the beach with friends, Dana and Caren are in town shopping. and Mike is working on the starting motor of Rhapsodie's generator. The harbor is jammed with sailboats from all over the world. who are here (as are we) for the eighth quadrennial Festival Des Arts du Pacifique. Delegations from 27 countries are assembling for the opening ceremonies tomorrow evening, followed by ten days of dancing, singing, arts and crafts, and lots of partying. The countries include all the big names (Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, etc.), but also quite a few exotics: Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Pitcairn, Rape Nui (Easter Island), Tokelau. and Nauru, to name a few.

New Caledonia, from what little we have seen of it (we've been here less than a week) seems on the surface to combine the best of France and the South Pacific. The beaches are powdery white, the weather warm but not hot, the language French, and the people extremely friendly. Noumea is a big city of over 200,000, with fine restaurants, cafes, luxury shopping stores, and a terrific market: cleaner, cheaper, and friendlier than Papeete, the capital of the Society Islands (Tahiti), with enough local Kanak color to make it exotic.

The French deserve a lot of credit for the cleanliness, efficiency, and beauty of the capital city. They deserve a lot less credit for the way they have treated the Kanaks, especially over the past fifty years. They have managed to take all the good land and total political control, as well as sabotage the Kanaks' efforts at independence. (Remember the Rainbow Warrior incident of 1985, when the French secret service bombed the Greenpeace flagship? The same secret service elements are believed to have been responsible for similar attacks in New Caledonia, including the assassinations in 1985 of several Kanak politicians). France is determined to keep New Caledonia for its mineral riches (it ranks third in world nickel production), and it is highly unlikely that the French government will ever allow true self-determination for the Kanak people.

Before Vanuatu we were in Fiji - for about ten months, in fact. And we only saw a small part of it. We were in Fiji for the coup d'etat, and for the hurricane season, and we loved having it to ourselves. We liked Fiji so much, in fact, that we are thinking of buying land and building a little winter vacation retreat there; unfortunately, we haven't found the perfect spot yet.

Dana and Rachael are thriving. Mke is still with us -- we celebrate his 35th birthday today (roast lamb and potatoes, carrots, beans, pumpkin,onions, cream of tomato soup, and homemade chocolate cake). And Ma has joined us — she is a school teacher from Australia who joined us in Vanuatu. Since her arrival the kids work twice as hard and enjoy school twice as much. We will be in New Caledonia another two weeks or so, then off to New Zealand for the hurricane season. The journey continues.

Love,

Sam

Yacht Rhapsodie 

Noumea,

New Caledonia

Nov 5, 2000 - Nounea, New Caledonia

Dear Pancho:

Oops, we forgot to vote. Don't tell, please. It just shows you how out of touch we are -- we have literally received no news of the campaign, and had completely forgotten about it. You mentioned with your email that you sent some political scenario as an attachment: sorry, but I've set my AOL program to reject attachments, since often they are pictures, which have a lot of bytes and hence are expensive to receive. Anything you want me to read, put in the main body of your email. Once we get to New Zealand (we leave from New Caledonia for the Big Crossing in about five days) we will have better web access.

You surmised correctly, the only mail you got was from Brown.

We will definitely visit Wellington, and would love to look up any contacts you pass our way. We will spend about six months in NZ, waiting out the hurricane season, before returning to the South Pacific in April/May 2001 for another cruising season.

The Pacific Festival of Arts was a kick, and an interesting socialogical/political phenomenon. You would have felt right at home with the total lack of organization and the refusal of the Noumean government to produce any written documentation in any language but French (even though virtually none of the 27 participating countries' participants spoke French). You would have truly loved the opening ceremonies (which were held four days after the actual start of the festival): the president of New Caledonia gave an agonizingly long-winded account of how great things are in New Cal and how the French and the Kanaks are getting along so marvelously -- he was repeatedly booed and cursed at, but he forged ahead, 15 long minutes of political drivel. He was followed by the equally lily-white Mayor of Noumea, who gave essentially the same speech, and was equally booed. Even the white New Caledonians in the grandstands got fed up with the bullshit.

Politics aside, the festival was a genuine kick, with amazing faces and bodies and tattoos from just about every little doohickie country in this part of the world (Niue, Tuvalu, Rapa Nui, you name it), all in town, strutting their stuff. I shot more film in the two weeks of the festival than in the past year of cruising. There were an extra two hundred sailboats in town for the event, so there was a lot of yachtie activity, too. The kids  were in heaven, thanks to the presence of lots of other kid boats, and we made all sorts of good friends from all over -- one of the best things about this lifestyle is the friends you make. Because you have so much in common to begin with, and so much disposable time, you tend to get a lot closer. Noumea, by the way, is a class city -- big, clean, great food (big surprise), and prices, though high, not nearly as high as Papeete. It's Papeete without the attitude. The people, even though the two main population contingents hate each other, are terrifically nice and friendly. It was extremely easy to hitch, and everyone I met with went out of his/her way to be helpful.

You mentioned windsurfing in NZ. You should see the setup here: the trade winds provide a steady 15-20 knots of breezes, but often stronger, and the beaches all around Noumea are just packed with windsurfers. Since there is a fringing reef, the water is relatively flat, so everybody looks good. They also do a lot of this "kite surfing," where a big kite (looks like a wing parachute) pulls you along on a short board. Have you seen this sport? Truly amazing -- you go a LOT faster than a windsurfer, and some of the jumps were at least 30 or 40 feet into the air, with triple flips not that unusual. Amazing. Dangerous, too, by the looks of it.

I am writing this from a lovely anchorage at the Isle des Pins, about 70 miles southeast of the southern tip of Grande Terre. This is one of New Caledonia's claims to World Class beach fame (the Stanley guide describes its beaches as "cocaine-white"). We are here with a couple of other boats, waiting for a weather window to open for our passage to Norfolk Island and New Zealand. This is considered a very tough passage, by the way -- just about everybody who attempts it gets nailed by at least one serious storm -- so we are naturally all a bit apprehensive. We even added another crew for the passage: a big, strong, sweet guy from the Cook Islands, who sailed up from New Zealand on a double-hulled Polynesian war canoe, navigating by the stars and steering with big paddles. He should be a good guy to have along for the ride.

Wish us luck, and all the best,

Sam

Yacht Rhapsodie 

Isle des Pins

New Caledonia

Nov 8, 2000

Well you all missed a decently exciting election...early in the evening CNN called Florida for Gore only to have to put it in the undecided column two hours later...ultimately, out of six million votes cast, only about 1700 difference between Bush...so now there is an ongoing recount and the prospect of waiting for those overseas absentee votes trickling in. Meanwhile, the Senate looks likely to split 50-50, with Mel Calahan, the late Governor of Missouri, winning from the grave to beat Ashcroft. The best part is that Ashcroft was ahead while his oppenent was alive, but once the Governor died in an airplane crash, Ashcroft starting losing ground.

not much else to report...it is buzzing inside and outside the beltway.  My friend Andrew Young works at our Auckland Consulate rather than in Wellington. His wife is Meg. They have a son aged about four.

all best Pancho

Nov 10, 2000 - en route to New Zealand

Dear Steffie and Mike.

Glad to hear you are figuring out the local Solomon Island customs and dialects. Do you know what language the crocodiles speak? So sorry to hear about the Malaria. hope Steffie is better.

We are en route to NZ. Rachael flew out ahead with another family. So far 20-49 knots of wind on the nose. Not very comfortable. We have an extra crew for the passage. A very strong Cook Island guy who has sailed allk over the Pacific in a replica of the ancient Polynesian sailing outriggers. Even he is sea sick though.

Our Piracy expert says to stay away from the South China Seas, especially now that Indnoesia is erupting against Americans. (They are hunting down American at the hotels in Indonesia and the US Embassy is closed.) But you aren’t heading there yet. Our other friend in the State Department who was posted in the Philippines may have more relevant information for you. His name is Pancho Huddle, and I’ll e-mail him today to let him know that he'll hear from you. His e-mail is: Hiuddlefp@state.gov

Keep us in touch with your travels. Well be back in the South Pacific next season with our new roller furling.

All the Best,

XXOO

Sam and Caren