We made a break from the mainland and headed south for Isle de Pins on Monday. Nine hours of beating in to strong headwinds meant motoring all the way - topped up our water tanks again and gave the freezer a good burst. All systems working well. Met up with yacht Pamela again after meeting in Vanuatu. Went for a walk ahsore with Pamela and Dennis who showed us around the local haunts and we enjoyed a beer at one of the resorts together. Yesterday we did some maintenance jobs around the boat, scrubbing the bottom - again, making passage meals ready for our trip to NZ, greasing winches etc. With loads of things ticked off the list yesterday, today was a day of fun.
We hired a car and traveled around the island which is about 18km long and 14km wide. First stop was the produce market at Vao to buy some paw paws - yum! Then we set off around the island, stopping at Baie de St Maurice where there is a statue to commemorate the first missionaries to the island. The statue is surrounded by totem poles carved in traditional style. For some reason the locals here have a fascination with carving ugly faces with their tongues hanging out, much like our Maori carvings. Next on the anti-clockwise circuit is Baie de St Joseph, where locals sail their Pirogues, or sailing outrigger canoes. Further up the coast to the north-east at Baie d'Oro we trekked through the forest and down a shallow river to Piscine Naturelle. For those who wish to look this up on Google earth, Piscine Naturelle is a small natural swimming hole formed by a tiny inlet through the rocks where waves are pounding on the outside of the reef, but inside is calm as a millpond. GPS position is 22 35.019S 167 31.589E. The water in this swimming hole is so crystal clear you can see your own shadow on the white sand as you snorkel around and even the ripples you make on the surface of the water are reflected off the sandy bottom. There is a coral reef inside, filled with numerous fish and the largest number of clams we have seen anywhere. A truly special place and well worth the 200 franc entry fee (about $3). A great place to go for kids or anyone not so confident in snorkeling as there is no current, no open ocean and tranquil clear waters to view natures own aquarium.
After our walking and snorkeling we were ready for a coffee so treated ourselves to a cappuccino at Le Meridienne Resort. The coffee was excellent, if a little pricey at around $10 per cup, but it came with a couple of little sweet gem cakes and we were served a complimentary thimble full of sparkling water and a thimble full of mango juice. The view from the resort looking over the bay is simply spectacular and we enjoyed sitting in the sun in this idyllic location. A lagoon with many shades of blue, pretty mushroom shaped rocks and islands dotted about. Picture postcard stuff. Glad we were not staying the night though, at around $1000 per night! Next stop was Gadji on the North-west corner of the island. Again, very shallow waters go a long way out from the brilliant white sand beach forming pretty shades of blue that deepen in intensity the further out you look. A row of islands encircle the bay, with the signature pine trees standing tall.
Coming back down the west coast we stopped for a look at Baie de Ouameo before navigating the narrow path through the bush to the underground caves called Grottes de la Troisieme. These limestone caves are full of columns of limestone growing up from the floor of the cave and hanging down from the roof. Stalagmites and stalactite's. If you can't remember which is which just remember that as the mites grow up, their tites come down! There is quite a number of these caves in this small area, with many labyrinths, some going down deeper and deeper underground. The water in the bottom is so clear that it just looks like dry gravel at the bottom, until you throw a rock into it and hear the splash and see the ripples.
We treated ourselves to a wonderful lunch at Oure Tera resort (fresh Mahi mahi - if you can't catch it you have to buy it!)before continuing our journey.
We took the interior road north, stopping at the prison that housed 3000 French convicts during the 1870's and the graveyard where 240 of these souls were laid to rest. Convict labour was used to build the prison, the water tower and the cathedral in the 1870's. These were mainly political prisoners who disagreed with the French government of the day - they were the lucky ones - 20,000 political prisoners were executed by the French at that time but strangely they sent 3,000 of them out to this beautiful island in the Pacific.
We stopped by the airport to have a look at saw a replica of the airport on Wallis island. Both buildings look like they were built from the same set of plans. On the way back south we enjoyed the views coming over the hills, looking down into the turquoise bays. Very tall skinny pine trees dot the landscape especially on the coastline and on exposed ridges and islets. A fascinating day with beautiful vistas around every corner. This is by far the prettiest part of New Caledonia that we have seen so far.