Up at 5am to watch our approach to our port in Noumea. I was slightly too late as we were just exiting the channel between some amazing uninhabited (?) islands. I’ll need to rise 4:30 am tomorrow to catch both sunrise & the islands!

We had a tugboat standing by to help us ease into our berth in the port. The driver moved the huge vessel like a ballet dancer, could tell he really loved his job. Kept an exact distance from the ship, moving the boat with grace & ease, even spinning in place, just for fun.

On the dock side there was a group of locals welcoming us to their island with a traditional dance amongst the containers of the busy working port.

Noumea is known as the French Riviera of the South Pacific and I concur. It looks very cosmopolitan, a stark contrast from the “local flavor” of the previous islands. It has elegant boutiques, French bakeries, and expensive restaurants. High-rise apartments, shopping malls, boulevards and esplanades. I must admit I liked it a lot.

For $26 I bought an all day pass on the HoHo bus + water taxi to Duck Island. My first stop was the Morning Market, half of which is devoted to fruits & veg, the other to souvenirs for tourists. I then stayed on till the end of the line to catch the little ferry from Anse Vata, the windsurfing beach, over to Ile de Canards. A gorgeous little day resort island with beach cabanas, lounge chairs, a restaurant and excellent snorkeling. Underwater it’s a complete smorgasbord of hard corals tinted fluorescent colors I once thought could only be man-made. The strong wind stirred up the detritus so visibility wasn’t great but I still really enjoyed it. On land the wind became quite relentless after 1.5 hrs which just about equals my patience for sunbathing so I packed up and headed back for more city sightseeing.

The rest of the bus route was equally windy so I stayed aboard until I returned to the cruise terminal. I’d no shopping to do and it’s no fun walking around in a gale so I returned to the ship at 1:30pm.

A late lunch with my friend Christine, then tea and cookies in my cabin and an attempt to nap to recover from my early morning.

Christine and I joined Aspen on her balcony to watch the ship leave the dock and sail off into the sunset, literally. Then we 3 ladies had a delightful dinner together before those two went off to catch a show and I to bed and a movie.