Toodles: Recap: New Caledonia

We left Vuda Point Marina on Tuesday morning and had a great sail the whole way to New Caledonia. We were concerned there might not be enough wind, only 10-15 kts, but Toodles went surprisingly fast and we got to New Caledonia in good time.

Vuda Point Marina, Fiji

The first we saw of New Caledonia was the mines that exposed the dark orange soil.

We hear the best cruising in New Caledonia is the Ile des Pins and the Loyalty Islands. Unfortunately, the only port of clearance in New Caledonia is Noumea, past all these great locations. Wanting to do things by the book, we headed up the coast to Noumea a bit disappointed as we knew we were unlikely to come back to the good bits.

To clear customs in New Caledonia, you are required to tie up at the marina. This was surprisingly easy with the help of marina staff who grabbed lines and called all the relevant authorities for us. Customs was a breeze and the quarantine officer was helpful and easy to deal with. The only mild irritation was that we had to trek half an hour uptown to get to the immigration office, but this gave us a good opportunity to check out the town.

The town of Noumea was not what we had expected. The place felt less “French” than the other French islands we have visited so far. It didn’t rival the sleepy seaside French village of Deshaies in Guadeloupe, where the only things missing were berets. We found only one proper French bakery in Noumea, but it was hidden in an industrial area. There are some good restaurants on the waterfront by the ferry building with good food but not offering the level of French cuisine that we have become accustomed to. Noumea also had the first world problem of very bad internet.

We visited the Museum and did a lot of exploring on foot around the town. After only a couple of days, we felt ready to move on.