kayaking the pacific islands. - Canoe & Kayak

Discovering the ‘Lost Coast’
By Nathan Fa’avae
Tide, Jodie in the front with Zephyr and
Jessie in the back.
My three kids were born while I was a professional adventure
athlete, travelling to the far corners of 6 continents in search
of pristine wilderness to explore. Prior to that I had a career
in outdoor education and adventure tourism. Now I organise
adventure-sporting events. My work tools are bikes, kayaks,
rafts, kites, skis, maps and compasses. My office is strewn
with worn out bike tyres and running shoes.
Whether they like it or not (they seem to like it) adventure is what I know, enjoy
and probably the only thing I’m actually good at. So Jessie (5), Zephyr (3) and
Tide (1) get to go on adventures. Jodie my wife and I have had identical career
paths and we both place high value on adventure.
Our latest one was New Caledonia’s ‘La cote Oubliée ‘ (‘The Lost Coast’ –
sometimes referred to as the ‘Forgotten Coast’).
It is a 90km stretch of untamed coast between Yate and Thio in the South East,
and the only one not developed. There are no roads, very few scattered Kanak
Villages and one Nickel Mine accessible only by air and sea. It’s similar to the
Abel Tasman National Park but four times the size, ten times more remote and
with one million more fish … plus one shark – seen close up while snorkelling
with Jessie, my five-year old. Thankfully for us, the shark found the tuna more
to its liking.
The coastline is inside a barrier reef, a repeating pattern of paradise … golden
beaches, crystal clear coral reefs, scattered islands, tidal lagoons, river deltas
and marine life. Turtle and dolphin sightings are common most days, whales
if you’re lucky.
In planning, our main decision was what craft to paddle. Incept Marine at
Taihape make a whole range of inflatable boats and since I was aware they
have the best reputation for commercial white water rafts I had complete
confidence in their products. We were excited to discover they also made
inflatable kayaks and canoes. Scrolling through their website we found ‘Big
Nathan Fa’avae
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