The colours of this place are amazing! The finest whitest sand and some of the bluest seas we have seen in the Pacific. Visited New Cal in 2003 and going back in September 2008 for a few months of cruising, swimming, surfing, kiting and swinging happily at anchor. Things I loved about New Caledonia: - buying warm crossiants from the market and having a big bowl of chocolat chaud - surfing the reef breaks - one time a pod of dolphins joined me on the wave! - hiking from one side of Grand Terre to the other - cycling around Isle [View Full Entry]

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Thursday, March 06, 2008 Today we were in Noumea, New Caledonia. We docked about 7:00am and it did take awhile for the ship to be cleared by immigration. We had not chosen a shore excursion as we had at one time thought about doing a scuba dive trip. When I got burned on my leg I knew I did not want to put it in salt water and it is a good thing we decided not to go because the weather was overcast, with just a few sprinkles. The weather had been overcast here for about 3 weeks - they [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday, March 5, 2008 Today is another sea day as we are about half way to Noumea. The calendar of events is packed. We began our day by attending the lecture on Noumea. Now know what to do, and not do; what to see, and not see. After the Noumea lecture we had the next Explorations Speakers Series lecture. This time it was by a Colonel David Horner - Australia’s military historian. He has an incredible resume as a student, professor, veteran, author/editor (26 books), and consultant to TV programs. His talk was titled, “War Comes to Paradise Japan Strikes!” Basically [View Full Entry]

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New Friends The ship is beginning to feel like a very small village. Faces are now familiar and I’m starting to pair the names and faces together. Yesterday at lunch I sat next to Len from …….. Bridgeport!. From the “can you bite off your nose to spite your face” notebook; Joy from Australia did not think she needed a visa for New Guinea, cost in Australia, $25. The government changed the rules and she was required to get one on board at a cost of $104. She took umbrage at this rip off and decided to leave the cruise at [View Full Entry]

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The first Sea Day. Today was our first full day at sea and there was just too much to do. Enjoyed breakfast at 7:00, then finished yesterdays blog and welcomed the sunshine, our first since last Friday. Then it was a little ironing. The first of our WWII lectures provided the background for war in the Pacific. The lecturers are military historians well versed in both sides of the conflict. Next I joined the Cruise Critics Meet and Greet. Unlike past M&G, where champagne or coffee and tea and cookies were served and the members interacted, this was more of a [View Full Entry]

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Apres la folie de Mardi Gras ce weekend, nous allons nous reposer en Nouvelle Caledonie (NC) et arrivons donc dans sa capitale Noumea. A premiere vue, Noumea n'est pas vraiment le paradis qu'on s'imagine. Mais quand on regarde de plus pres, on decouvre une culture et une societe interessante, avec ses problemes et ses bons points aussi. On est alles faire une excursion dans la Province Sud ou Francois notre guide nous a montre des plantes et des arbres datant de plus de 50 millions d'annees. On a aussi vu un cagou, oiseau endemique a la NC. Quelques paysages magnifiques et [View Full Entry]

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Que de bonheure! Wie nicht anders zu erwarten hat uns die Suedseeinsel "La grande terre" mit Sonnenschein und 30°C empfangen. Nach einer kurzen Stadtbesichtigung von Noumea zog es uns sogleich mit einer 2 einhalb stuendigen, schaukeligen (Iris hat sich den Kaffee noch einmal durch den Kopf gehen lassen) Faehrenfahrt auf das Trauminselchen "Ile des Pins". Unser neu erstandenes, australisches (made in china) Zelt Schnaepchen (30 €) wurde erstmals auf die Probe gestellt....denn vorgesehen war pures Campingfeeling....um ehrlich zu sein ist in Neu Kaledonien alles sooooo teuer dass man sich ausser einen Zeltplatz (der dafuer mitten am Strand) gar nix leisten kann. [View Full Entry]

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The Nobregas are off to sea ... a new experience to add to our travel adventures!!! A 10 day cruise on the "Pacific Dawn" sailing to 4 ports of call around the south pacific region. Anticipation was high, we've heard a lot about it! Couldn't wait to get into that mile of food... As you all know on any cruise, anything and everything is available in on stop shop! and we weren't disappointed in that aspect...! A brouchure tells a million stories though, as we know things don't always go to plan as in our case. 2 days into it, captain [View Full Entry]

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Our excitement of getting to visit New Caledonia dampened a bit when we started researching how much it costs to stay there! Definitely it has imported prices as well as the language from France, and thats a real shame for backpackers. Új-Kaledónia látogatása iránt érzett lelkesedésünket kissé lehűtötte mikor rájöttünk, hogy milyen sokba is fog ez nekünk kerülni. Nemcsak a nyelvet, de az árakat is importálták Franciaországból. With only a short time available we opted to visit the most talked about location in New Caledonia, the remote island of L’lle des Pins (Isle of Pines). The only way to get there [View Full Entry]

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By request, here are some older photos from New Caledonia. These were taken during the seven years I lived there. [View Full Entry]

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