Safely arrived in Nuveaux Caledonie (New Caldedonia)

This morning just before sunrise we put the anchor down at Bonne Anse (Baie Est) on the south end of the main island of New Caldonia and gladly went to sleep after a beautiful sail over from Vanuatu. My last night shift, from 1am to 4 am this morning, was the most interesting one in a long time. I had to enter the "Canal du Havanna" which can be really mean but is very wide. Ok, that was not the real challange. But the current did change directions of Alita so I had to do a constant look out and look onto the map to make sure we're not hitting any of the multiple reefs here. I love communities, but I did not want to add to the reef-wreck comunity. Just when I thought everything is calm, I can sit down and read a bit I looked around and saw some big lights coming: a cruise ship was heading our way and I was exactly on the recommende ship track that the cruise ship most likely will also follow. So I decided to get off the track as we can go in shallower waters than the cruise ship with its 40m beam and 9m draft. Well, once he was arond the corner from he next red "traffic" light, he also went off the track a bit and we passed in a distance of about 150m/yards. Nice ship.
Here in New Caldonia they are quite friendly with checking in so that most sailors who arrive spend the first day at anchor somewhere to relax and then go to Noumea to check in. We will do the same. We spent the day at anchorage today, did a wonderful little hike to a spectacular look-out and we will continue our trip to Noumea tomorrow morning. You can see the French influence already without having sen a person: marked hiking paths, look-outs, observatories, information boards. You do not find this anywhere in Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu - and not even French Polynesia.
Off we go to sleep (again). I had (have) diarrea now (it showed up on the first night of the crossing so I did not have such a great time), I need lots of sleep....

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com