Ile des Pins Island to Noumea, New Caledonia
12 October 2011 | Noumea, New Caledonia
This photo of our friends on SV Wetnose was taken in Baie de Jokin, Lifou Island while we were snorkeling. L to R, Chuck, Sandi, Pat and Jim.
October 8, 2011
On Saturday, we quietly left Ile des Pins Island at 5:15 am. It gets light at 5:00 am. We motored in flat seas and light winds, and under bright sunny skies. On the way, Humpback Whales entertained us by spouting and then jumping half way out of the water, twice. We arrived at Noumea on the main island of Grande Terre, the capital of New Caledonia, 9 hours later, at 3:00 pm. We hailed the Port Moselle marina but they did not have space available for us at their visitors' dock so we anchored across the bay. This place is filled with boats! It is hard to believe that a population of 95,000 people in Noumea would have so many pleasure boats. We dinghied to the Port Moselle marina and walked into the nearby "Latin Quarter" to look around. We stumbled into La Vielle France patisserie (pastry store) and were totally stunned to find ourselves in an air conditioned French pastry heaven filled with sumptuous eclairs, tarts, cakes, cookies, meringues, and breads. After 3 months in the primitive countries of Vanuatu and Tonga, we went into culture shock when we saw the perfect French pastries displayed before us. When we managed to gather our wits about us, we picked out an eclair, a few profiterols (ice cream in puff pastry), and a baguette, all of which were perfectly delicious.