We visited Nouméa two years ago and had a great experience on a cute, little rubber-tired train, called the "Tchou Tchou Train” to see the sights of the city. We were tempted to do it again or to walk around a little bit in the center of town, but finally decided to go on an afternoon shore excursion titled “Noumea’s Countryside & Aquarium.” We really wanted to visit the aquarium, because there are many unique species of tropical fish in this part of the South Pacific. In the morning, we did three large loads of laundry, walked over to the small craft market in the port’s terminal building, and had a good lunch on the ship before taking the 1:15 pm bus tour.
Nouméa has a thriving seaport and is also one of the South Pacific's most industrialized cities. But, more importantly, it is a cosmopolitan, thriving, tourist destination. We’ve seen Nouméa referred to as “Paris of the South Pacific,” and in many ways it is. French is the spoken language, and there are many French boutique stores and gourmet restaurants, as well as French (and other European) visitors flocking here for the gorgeous tropical setting, beaches, scuba diving, snorkeling, yachting, kite-surfing, and other seaside diversions.
New Caledonia (in French: Nouvelle-Calédonie) is the southernmost archipelago of islands in the South Pacific, located about 900 miles NE of Brisbane, Australia. It has been an “overseas territory” of France since 1948. Even though it’s part of France, the official currency here is not the Euro but the French South Pacific Franc (CFP). In an upcoming election, New Caledonians will decide if they are ready to assume total independence.
Nouméa is the capital city of New Caledonia, and most of the country’s wealth is focused here, as is about 70% if its population. Its main source of wealth is in processing locally mined raw materials for nickel. New Caledonia is the third largest world producer of nickel (behind Canada and Russia).
Much of the beauty and appeal to Nouméa are due to one of the world’s longest barrier reefs surrounding the island of Grande Terre, the island on which Nouméa is located. This reef (1,000 miles in length) is second only to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (1,200 miles). Contained within this reef is what is called the largest lagoon in the world, with sheltered waters ideal for sailing.
Some of you history buffs may know that Nouméa was site of the South Pacific headquarters of the U.S. military during World War II. At the height of the conflict, 75,000 American GIs were stationed on the island, and they built roads, houses, a hospital, and an airport. They still remember that era fondly in Nouméa, with a number of monuments and a museum.
We started our bus tour driving outside of the city to see the Church of Immaculate Conception (in French: L’église de l’Immaculée Conception), located on a hillside in the small village of Robinson. The church was built by Catholic missionaries ─ the Marists ─ in 1874. Our tour guide Michael told us that thousands of pilgrims come here every year to honor the Virgin Mary. Hundreds of marble plaques line the walls inside the church, some dating back a hundred years, thanking the Virgin Mary for her favors and individual blessings.
We then drove to several lookout points, for views of the peninsula and other nearby islands, as well as a World War II memorial.
The highlight of our tour was back in Nouméa at the Aquarium des Lagons (Lagoon Aquarium). We had the facility all to ourselves – the aquarium is normally closed on Mondays, but they opened it just for our tour group (about 25 of us). So, it wasn’t crowded, and we could linger a while at the displays.
The Aquarium has naturally lit tanks with water pumped in from the lagoon. This is a great place to visit, with hundreds of different tropical fish, striped (poisonous) sea snakes, nautilus snails, lobsters, and so on. All the displays had English translations. Two of the highlights for us were the amazing luminous fish & corals (in a totally dark room) and the sea turtle pond, which we could view from underwater.
The tour concluded with a drive along Rue Garnier to see the beautiful, sparkling lagoon, sailing yachts, major hotels, restaurants, and boutique stores of the city. In all, another wonderful visit to New Caledonia and Nouméa.
More great entertainment on the
Serenity – two Australians ─ comedian Rikki Jay and Electric Violinist Jane Cho.
Our table of six ordered a special dinner one night recently ─ shrimp cocktails, chateaubriand, mixed vegetables, and a meringue/fruit dessert. The whole meal was a great treat prepared just for us.
We’ve been watching news about the South Pacific Tropical Cyclone (a Southern Hemisphere hurricane), named Gita. It is a definite threat to the part of the world where we’re cruising. It hit the island of Tonga with 145 mph winds and caused a lot of damage. Serenity’s Captain Vorland cancelled our visit to Norfolk Island (Australia) and headed to Sydney directly ─ a very good decision. We will arrive in Sydney Harbor early morning on Friday (Feb 16), instead of the originally scheduled time of 5:00 pm.
This upcoming Saturday morning (Feb 17), the two of us (and 40 other WC-4 passengers, as we understand it) will transfer to
Crystal Symphony. There will then be a big gala event that evening in Sydney’s old town hall for all full-world-cruise passengers from both
Crystal Serenity and
Crystal Symphony. We’ll summarize all these events in our next blog posting.
Jim & Ginny
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