Bon jour mes amis! Nous sommes arrive en Nouvelle Caledonie. I think that's how one says it. Anyway, we are thoroughly enchanted with this country. From the minute we pulled into the visitor's dock at Port Moselle, we were warmly received. Of course, this is almost France, and as Steve Martin astutely recognized 30 years ago...they have a different word for everything. Despite the language barrier, everyone we've met has been very kind and helpful. Most people speak a little English, and contrary to France, most people will suffer our very broken French and answer us in French until it is clear that we haven't understood a word and then they'll answer again in English. Not so the real France.

Even the officials here are easy going. For example, we weren't quite in time to clear in with customs before they closed their offices for the night, but the marina gave us the bathroom/shower key and said we could get off the boat and use the facilities. This would have been unheard of in Samoa, Tonga and Fiji where you couldn't set foot on the dock until all the officials had stamped their paperwork on your kitchen table. The next morning, Eric was allowed to leave the boat and bring his paperwork up to the harbormaster's office. The harbor staff relayed the papers to Customs on our behalf and said if we didn't hear back in a short while we should just consider ourselves checked in. Wow.

Yesterday we had lunch at a little café. Eric and I didn't see beer listed on the menu, but we asked if they had "Number 1," the local beer and the waitress said, "Sure." The beer came in paper cups and showed up on our tab as 7-up. I guess that is how the proprietor gets around needing a liquor license. No fuss, no lengthy explanations; he just figured out a work-around. Curiously, the only people who have seemed somewhat clueless work in the Tourist Information Office. Once we asked about the hours for the municipal pool, and we were told "in the morning until the afternoon."

When I asked again for more specific hours, the man answered cheerfully, "Early in the morning until late in the afternoon." We've been to the pool twice already and we just make sure that we show up a while after sunrise and leave before we get hungry for dinner and it's all worked out just fine. For my Seattle friends - we could only be so lucky as to have another outdoor pool like this one at home: 50 meters, separate pool for small kids, arena seating for swim meets, accessible to all, inexpensive entry fee, right on the bus line. But I digress....

Amongst the cruising community, New Caledonia is reputed to be the expensive place to stay, second only to Tahiti. What we've found is that the prices do approach prices back home ($7-10 a person for a midrange café lunch), but this place has an infrastructure and that costs money to maintain. Need to use a restroom? They have one nearby. It has toilet paper, the flusher works and the room is clean. Need to buy a marine part? They have a store. Want to fly to Vanuatu? They have a travel agency. In fact, on Wednesday we took the kids to see "Le Dernier Maitre de l'Air" (Avatar, the Last Airbender) at the cinema. We've officially re-entered the consumer-based, global economy.

Tomorrow we'll visit the New Caledonia Museum where we are to see Melanesian artifacts and learn about the Kanak people who are indigenous to these islands. I would say this is the only sad part of the visit, that so much of the original Melanesian lifestyle and the people themselves have been over- shadowed by French culture.

After the prudishness of Samoa, Tonga and Fiji, it is refreshing to walk down the dock and see boat captains tending their boats in nothing more than a pair of (threadbare) underwear. Ladies here wear high heels and fashion belts, and they smoke cigarettes. Public-display-of-affection is clearly no longer taboo, at least in the city center. And ironically, Eric was unable to swim in the Municipal Pool in his modest swim trunks. Instead, they require "le speedo." As befits the hospitality of this place, the lifeguard first offered to loan Eric one of his "le speedos" and when Eric politely declined the offer, the life guard said he could go ahead and swim anyway, but to please come back next time with "le speedo."

We head to Vanuatu on Sunday, taking an airborne vessel instead of our usual water craft. We all look forward to making such a fast passage to another country and to sleeping a couple of nights in a hotel. We will spend 3 days on the island of Efate in their capital city, Port Vila. Then we'll fly to an outer island called Tanna, home to Mt. Yasur a highly active volcano. We've hired a guide to take us up the mountain at night to view the eruption up close. We'll be back in Noumea on Friday Oct 8th ready to begin final preparations for our last passage of the journey.
I've seen a couple signs recently that caught my eye:
1) In Fiji on the Lautoka wharf "Your safety is your responsibility" (whom does that leave to sue?)
2) Near the handicapped parking spaces in Noumea " If you take my parking space, please take my handicap as well" ( a little in your face, but perhaps effective)
3) On the women's bathroom/shower area door here at the Port Moselle habor "This room is strictly for use by women only. Those couples wishing to shower together, please use the Men's."
4) On a Chinese restaurant here in Noumea "Restauration Chinoise" (not quite French, but not quite English either)