We hadn't planned to stay at the marina in Noumea- like everything else in New Caledonia, it comes with a dear price. When we arrived on a Saturday morning, though, coming to the dock meant we could check in that morning- officials were on hand- instead of waiting for Monday and doing the rounds at their offices ourselves. That's like gaining 48 hours for our pit stop New Caledonia- coming in was an easy decision! I'm relieved to have a few days to spend with easy shore access, instead of bobbing in the anchorage with our yellow quarrantine flag snapping under the starboard spreader.
Coming to the dock is turning out to have been a fun option, too. Up and down both sides of the visitors pontoon are boats we've met on different parts of our path across the Pacific. We haven't seen many of them in a while, and it's been fun to catch up and hear about their adventures.
Next to Tagish- we've shared anchorages since Mexico!
The challenge here will now be to avoid getting pulled into the cruiser's version of "analysis paralysis", or in this case, that specialized version known as weather waffling. Everyone here is aiming for Australia. We've all heard it's going to be a more active month for weather systems. Even the French gendarme who helped us check in looked askance and asked if we knew this was the beginning of the storm season. But opportunities to cross will open, and with good wind, it may only take us 5 or 6 days to reach Coffs Harbour.
The first window to depart may be opening up as soon as Tuesday- and so we watch, and make sure we're as ready as possible to head back out to sea.