We travelled from Auckland to Noumea via Air New Zealand which was a comfortable 2.5 hr flight.
This was our totally relaxing portion of our trip. We stayed at the Hiton Doubletree on island of Ilot Maître off the coast of Noumea New Caledonia. We arrived on March 26 and stayed through April 2nd. Our villa was located on the lagoon above the water which was interesting. There is a ferry which runs a couples times a day back and forth from island to Noumea. The area reminds me of Taratupa with our resort across the bay. New Caldonia has been a place that I always wanted to visit.
Most evenings we sit on our lanai and watched the sun set and watch the resident turtles swim back along with varying sizes of fish.
The resort is a little dated but an excellent location and very laid back. The downside is the food is very expensive and limited to either the bar menu or what is on the main buffet menu at the restaurant. The food has a good flavor, and you could have seconds if desired. Also, the drinks are expensive, but it is a resort and most resorts that is the case. Overall the staff tries to please however, French is a foreign language to me and I struggle with French language beyond – bonjour, excusez-moi, and peux-tu parler anglaise. English is very limited with most of the staff, so a little challenging when ordering eggs over medium.
After the 2nd day, we scheduled the ferry to town for lunch and to pick up some champagne and red wine. In addition, we had a nice Italian lunch in town which was half the cost.
In late March, the temperature in the sun has been in mid 80’s and water temp is 81 degrees. A slight breeze quickly feels refreshing in the shade. The water feels cold when you first jump in but is refreshing. In the mornings, we would see several schools of needlefish and cardinal fish swimming around. The coral in the area has been damaged from too many people but still exists and life is abundant below the surface. There are several grass areas which draw turtles and little fish followed by some larger. The largest fish we saw was probably a good 3 ft in length with most less than 1 ft. We also saw one small shark.
I snorkeled a little each day typically until my arms became tired. I did find many small Blennies inhabiting the coral and several of the Chaetodontidae family (butterfly fish) which are very colorful. Also, there was one sea cucumber below the rock ledge at our villa one day and gone the next so no sea salad. There were different size cardinalfish including little Meteor cardinalfish in some of coral heads. The area for snorkeling is a nice large area with sand, grass and coral shoals. The coral is damaged to heavy use and people who walk on the coral at low tide while trying to snorkel. The area
This am (April 1st) I spotted something in the water which Bonnie thought it was initially a joke. We watched an octopus under our lanai move about. I was able to video the octopus in approx. 6ft of water which was relative still at this time in morning. You need to watch the full 2-minute video of the octopus.
Take Care