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We had a restful night docked in New Caledonia and we set out early in the morning to check out the sights. Nouméa is referred to as the “Paris” of French Polynesia because of the significant and somewhat Paris-like development in the down town area.
Britain established a settlement here in 1851, but the French were anxious to assert control so they established a settlement in 1854. This settlement was initially called Port-de-France and was renamed Nouméa shortly thereafter. The area served first as a penal colony, later as a center for the exploitation of the nickel and gold that was mined nearby. During World War II, Nouméa served as the headquarters of the United States military in the South Pacific.
We took a shuttle bus into town (which turned out to be only a few blocks away) and walked around looking for an Internet café. We also needed a cable for our iPad as we couldn’t find the new style cable, only the older iPhone-style ones we brought (we later found it in the backpack). We did find a store that carried Apple products and a bunch of other electronics, so we were in luck! While it wasn’t quite “Paris”, it did have more infrastructure than the other French Polynesian islands (an Apple store and everything!). The main thing that looked like Paris were the sandwich shops with their baguettes. Nice enough town, however.
We found a pretty good Internet connection in a café in the port terminal building and, after dodging a few rain showers, were able to get back to the ship in time for lunch. Our plan was to take the short walk back into town and go on a quick tour, but again, the rain kept us at bay every time we got close to leaving!
Later in the afternoon we got the news from our Captain that he had decided to change our itinerary. There is a ridge of low-pressure right where we are scheduled to sail, so he has changed our course to try and stay out of the 15-30 foot swells that are forecast. The swells tonight shouldn’t be more than 15 feet, which isn’t too bad.
Trip Summary » Travel with Dale & Margaret - […] Noumea, New Caledonia […]