Current position is in Baie De Kuto at the Isl De Pin.
22:39.459S 167:26.378E

 

We had a lovely few days in the coral lagoon and Ils De Mato with plenty of excellent snorkelling on the surrounding reefs.

The corals and fish were great and even found a banded sea snake.

 

We left Ils De Mato on 31st May and motored our way carefully for 15NM through the southern lagoon – an area full of reefs and small islands which are marked as not surveyed on our chart!!!.  We escaped the reefs via Ils Ndo and then had a very pleasant 25NM sail across to the Isle of Pines.

 

It is a fairly quiet spot although the day we arrived was Cruise Boat day so sure there was plenty of excitement ashore that we missed out on!!!

There is a local shop and bakery so we are able to get a daily baguette  and a few other bits.

Yesterday arvo we were invited onto Skylark 2 (from Geelong) for an afternoon tea of fresh scones and banana jam also freshly made from the local bananas!!

 

The bay is full of turtles and we also have a resident dugong to keep us entertained.

 

Today we are heading ashore to one of the beachside resorts for a spot of lunch *Yum*

 

We are expecting to stay a few more days and will then start heading back to the big smoke of Noumea to reprovision before heading across to the Loyalty Islands.