Day 43: Nouméa, New Caledonia

Saturday, 18 February 2017
At Sea — South Pacific Ocean

Stats @ Ship’s Time 8:30p (NCT) … UTC 9:30a (18 February)
Temp: 79.9F (26.6C)
Position: 22.22.00S / 166.14.76E

The great difference between voyages rests not with the ships,
but with the people you meet on them.
~ Amelia E Barr ~

Nouméa, situated on New Caledonia’s main island of Grande Terre, greeted us with sunshine — a good omen for a day of R&R on the beach … although that changed for a while later in the day.  Even as we approached our berth, the distinctly French atmosphere of the city — which served as a penal colony in the mid- to late-1800s — was apparent.  With its bustling big city ambiance, it was easy to see why Nouméa is described as being the most westernized of the Pacific islands capitals.

New Caledonia is home to the world’s biggest lagoon and the second largest coral reef.   Thus it was a no-brainer that our first visit here would be focused on snorkeling — for Mui.  Initially, we were going to accomplish this by taking a water taxi out to Duck Island on our own.  But then we changed our mind.
   
We broke our general rule of not booking a ship’s tour and went on an excursion that O organized.  With a price tag of $339/person, the Amédée Island Escape was more than double what we would have paid had we booked directly with the operator.  So why didn’t we do so?  Because the 8:30a ferry departure was too close to the ship’s scheduled arrival time of 8:00a.  As it turned out, Insignia arrived early and was cleared in plenty of time for us to make the ferry.  In the end, though, the O tour worked out better because it cost us nothing since we used “play money” — OBN [non refundable onboard credit] from O — to pay for the experience.

Amédée Island is a small coral islet about 24 km offshore from Nouméa.  It sits in the middle of a designated marine reserve that protects the abundance of coral and sea critters found in these waters.  At 8:00a, we joined 42 other passengers in the Insignia Lounge to exchange our tour tickets for the bus that transferred us to the Mary D Odyssey for a 30-minute fast-ferry ride out to the island.

The ferry was at near-capacity, with the balance of passengers made up by people from various hotels around the island.  We were to find out later that there would be a second boat filled with passengers from the Royal Caribbean ship also in port.  Oops — this escape was obviously not going to be the exclusive experience we thought it was going to be.
 
No sooner did the boat leave the dock that it started to rain.  No matter — we were required to sit inside for the duration of the ride anyway.  The wet stuff didn’t stop until we arrived at our destination.  Luckily, by the time we found lounge chairs under an umbrella the rain was moving away.

Mui lost no time in donning his snorkel gear and getting in the water … as did a good number of others.  Before long, the snorkelers were little more than moving dots on the water.  I sat for a while just enjoying the scenery, waiting for the sun to come out before going for a walk around the island.  Even with the sun playing hide and seek behind the clouds, the scenery was beautiful.  Less than a ¼-mile in length, it didn’t take long to walk the island, but it felt good to stretch my legs.

I waded in the water along the beach but just couldn’t get myself to go for a swim.  Why?  Sea snakes, of course.  We were alerted to their presence on the island when our guide handed out information to read on the transfer bus.  Sure, they are shy.  Sure, it’s impossible to get poisoned by them unless you stick your finger deep into their mouth to where their fangs are located.  Didn’t matter.  Seeing them slithering around on land, and swimming ashore from the water … well that was enough to kill any desire on my part to go for a swim.  The good news — it wasn’t that hot that I needed to cool off … until much later in the day.

One of two types of sea snakes found on the island … the other one is beige and black
striped.  There are apparently 6,000 to 8,000 of these on Amédée … we don’t see that many.

The 7-hour tour included lunch — served buffet style with a Melanesian dance show that followed.  If I were to nitpick, I’d have to say this was my least favorite part of the day.  Too crowded; too hurry-up-and-get-your-food paced.  Oh well — I’ll put that behind me and focus on the fun stuff instead.

After lunch, Sonia and I paid the USD $3/person fee to climb Le Phare Amédée [Amédée Lighthouse].  What we didn’t know when we set out to do so was that we would be required to do it barefoot … I guess they didn’t want people tracking sand inside.

The 183 feet (56 m) high lighthouse is said to be one of the tallest in the world.  Made of iron, its components were constructed in Paris in 1862.  The 1,265 pieces — weighing over 855,000 pounds (~388,000 kg) — were shipped to New Caledonia to be assembled on Amédée Island.  It was lit for the first time on 15 November 1865, the saint day of Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III.

I set off to climb the 247 steps to the top with a bit of trepidation … mostly because I wasn’t sure if my lungs were up to the challenge after my recent bout with exhaust fumes.  Surprise, surprise … I did OK … no wheezing, no coughing … must have been the warm and humid air that eased my breathing.  The trek up was worth the effort when we stepped out on the observation deck that rims the tower just below the light.  With the sun out, the scenery was brilliant and we could see the reef stretching out from the shore towards the depths.  That only 8 people were allowed up at any one time made wandering around to enjoy the views that much more pleasant.

The last activity of the day was a glass-bottom boat tour … about 30 minutes.  Emilia, our guide, was very informative, but the boat was on the move except when we stopped to feed the fish.  So, by the time we looked for what she was talking about, we were already past it.

Our return to the jetty coincided with the ferry departure time of 4:00p.  The ride back to Nouméa was uneventful … we sat in the back this time and shared a booth with two girls from NZ.  We had a nice chat with them and before we knew it, we were back at the ferry dock.  A short bus ride returned us to the ship.  A lovely sunset and dinner with Sonia and Boris at the Terrace Café wrapped up our day in port.  With everyone aboard, the ship set sail at 7:30p … ½-hour before it was scheduled to do so.

Mui said the snorkeling was amazing — he swam with three sea turtles and saw an abundance and variety of fish and coral.  He said he would rate Rangiroa best for the clarity of water and the coral, but this one was tops for everything else.  Good snorkeling was the whole reason for booking the tour, so despite some small reservations I have, I’d say it was a successful day ... especially since the OBN made it essentially free for us.

Now we have another day at sea to rest before the next — and final — port of call of the Island Edens segment of our RTW voyage.

Click here to see a few more photos from our day on Amédée Island.

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