sky the mountainsides were covered with an array of greens, interspersed with incredible trees with bright orange flowers. herons flew low over the river, kingfishers dived and parakeets chattered overhead, it was really lovely and we paddled on for a couple of hours enjoying the new view round each meander. then there was a strident yowling - strange. si spotted the source first, but didn't change course - a small black kitten on a sandbar. next thing it had waded into the river and started swimming towards me - of course i was now paddling towards it. i scooped it up and carried it to the shore, a bedraggled bundle of fragile bones covered in grass seeds with round grey eyes and a wide pink mouth - we couldn't ignore it. i set off to try and find a house or some people - there was nothing. returning to si we decided to take it with us. i put him on the board between my feet and off we went up the river again. he stayed still for a while, but complained constantly, probably because he was starving. then he walked to the front of the board - and before i knew what would happen he'd jumped over the front and disappeared beneath the nose. nightmare - i was running over the top of him, but i had to keep going, to stop or change course may have prolonged the disaster, forcing him right under the water for longer if i turned the wrong way. luckily he didn't get stuck in the fins and suddenly reappeared behind me, i turned the board, tried to scoop him out on the paddle blade as his nose was barely above the surface, the slippery surface was no good and the kitten fell in and went under again, i struggled to grab him and fell in too, meanwhile si was laughing as the scene unfolded, (though that's because he didn't know i'd run over the top of the kitten). eventually the kitten and i were back on my board - and we needed to re-think the plan. si's shorts had pockets, so we slipped the kitten in, he struggled for a while as we paddled onwards, then stopped trying to escape and was still. we got to our turning point and si wanted to swim, holding the kitten we discovered the reason for the stillness was he was freezing cold and shivering. i cuddled and dried him off whilst si's shorts dried in the sun, then we lined the pocket with soft dry bamboo leaves, put the kitten back in and started the return trip down river, pc (pocket cat / paddle cat or petite chat) had his head out resting on a paw and dozed off as we battled the gusts that blasted up the river. happily, apart from the battle to get down one memorably slow stretch, the wind was not consistent and we made good progress back to the village and our dinghy. arriving at roxi i opened a can of sardines, the kitten was utterly ravenous and tried to eat the spoon too. i washed him to get rid of the salt from his earlier dunkings and fed him again, he was still hungry - and so thirsty. and so the evening passed - me cuddling, feeding, brushing and stroking pc and si talking about market day tomorrow and the number of extra people that would be in the village. morning came and we had a happy fluffy kitten to offer. after a few "non's" we approached the right soft hearted man, he cooched pc behind the ears, smiled and said 'oui'. i handed him over - reluctantly.

possible in the flat grey light. so there's not much to tell. the last sail we had was chilly, wet - and fast, difficult to see the pass through the reef and no good at all for whale spotting with all the waves and wind blown spray, it is the season the humpbacks are here with their babies - we're still hoping to see one.
we did get to isle de pins though and it is very lovely, quite different from the main island of new caledonia, far less developed, and it's great weather for walking. we hiked to the peak, n'ga and could see almost the entire island. we stood there and planned which bays to visit, where would be a great dinghy trip, and where would be wonderful to paddleboard - all of course on that morning when we wake up to the turquoise waters of the tropics.
we had another walk where i was gathering armfuls of pumice and trying to hold onto my bundle of treasures, whilst keeping my eyes peeled for the next perfect piece, i do know it floats, but somehow i tried to walk across a patch of pumice which turned out to be hiding a knee deep pool. thank goodness no-one saw the embarrassing slip as the ground disappeared beneath my feet and i stumbled and tripped into the hole - didn't drop my precious goodies though.
we are in baie de kuto and the water is clear, several turtles live around here and it's lovely watching their huge heads apear and listening to them draw in a deep breath before subsiding again. we also have 'the boys' living under our boat - a group of large aggressive ramoras - which are fun to watch when you chuck scraps over for them to gobble and squabble over.
fingers crossed for the beautiful island blues and greens to reappear very soon.

the pass - you avoid the waves and look for the smooth areas, but for us it all looked smooth. we found the pass, sailed through and by lunch time customs had cleared us in.
new caledonia has a reputation for being expensive, and it's true a trip to the supermarket is scary, even the local market is expensive, but whilst in the city we did the cultural things; museums, botanical gardens, the tjibaou cultural centre (stunning) - all really interesting and the bus fares and entrance fees were cheap. the lagoon surrounding new caledonia has unesco heritage status and many areas are a marine reserve, so we're looking forward to exploring under the water.
it's been grey, chilly and wet since last we arrived and i wore my merino for the first five days and we still need the duvet but yesterday we managed to leave the marina under a veil of drizzle and grey and headed to a marine reserve on the outer reef which was lit from above by bright blue. wonderful to arrive, anchor in the sun and eat a perfect baguette for lunch. if proof were needed that we were in a marine reserve; we threw over a floating thermometer to test the sea temp, it was instantly assaulted by two large ramora and several snapper type fish - so glad i hadn't jumped in. then a loud exhalation announced the appearance of a huge turtle - we're still discussing which species - it had large protruding eyeballs. we sailed over the flat seas inside the reef, keeping an eye on the depth as it's not possible to see through the sea surface and spot the coral reefs when it's overcast - until we found shelter behind a tiny island which is another marine reserve. we thought it would be peaceful here out of the city, but the noise of the fish all night were enough to wake you up. another day sail across flat blue seas where we could see through to the reefs, this time surrounded by hills showing deep red mining scars amidst the green foliage and past chimneys of a processing plant adding their clouds to the sky. tonights stop is just 40nm from isle de pins, our intended destination and an idyllic spot with good walking and snorkelling.
thought we were in the middle of nowhere, but i've just been hand feeding a duck that turned up.