January 7, 2025
After a rough day at sea we arrived this morning in Noumea. When I say rough day, it wasn’t really that bad. We had approximately 10ft waves, that was a little more intense then we had so far on our voyage. After the ship’s staff had posted ” barf bags” all over the ship, we were prepared for the worse.
Early this morning we sailed through an opening in the reef which surrounds most of the island. We entered the harbour and docked in the commercial part of the port. As it was Saturday today, there was not much activity in the container port.
New Caledonia is a former French colony, but it is an independent country now, still depending on lots of financial support from France . The population is approximately 280,000. Noumea is the Capital with a population of approximately 95,000. Noumea is a very modern almost Western City. The main industry is the nickel mine. This mine is causing ongoing issues with local environmental groups who want to protect the reef surrounding the Island. There are calls to expand the tourist industry, but the shortage of hotels limits this expansion.
For this morning we had booked a city tour. After leaving the port area, we set off on the road following the shoreline. We came by beautiful sandy beaches and a Boulevard lined with numerous cafes and eateries. I noticed a lot of people swimming, jogging and biking. It was a perfect day for those activities, as there was a little bit of a cloud cover today with temperatures around 26 deg. C. After leaving the beach areas we drove up a mountain enjoying the spectacular views. After arriving at the top of the mountain we were given time to shoot some pictures of the scenic views all around us. Then we got back on the bus and drove through the City back to the Ship. During our ride through the City we didn’t notice any aftermath from the civil protest they had less than a year ago.
After getting off the tour bus, we got on the shuttle bus to get us to the port terminal building outside the port compound. At the terminal we did a little shopping at the market which was set up there. There were a variety of cafes and eateries along the water frontage. We ended up sitting down at a coffee place with the greatest selection of European pastries. (yummy) Having enjoyed this treat we returned to the ship with the shuttle.
Noumea is a port where I easily could spend a week enjoying the beautiful sandy beaches and working on my French Language skills.
Later in the afternoon we enjoyed a sail away party on the back deck while we sailed out of the harbour onto our next stop.
Cheers
Cor and Carol
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