Noumea is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre. It was first founded by a British trader but then taken over by France as a penal colony, then as a center for nickel and gold mining. It later served as the headquarters of the US military in the Pacific during WWII. The main language is French and Melanesian dialects, although many also speak Japanese or English.
We had a morning tour called "Noumea City and Country". We boarded a bus and were driven around to several sights. One was on top of a mountain (hill really) to view the city and harbor from up high. The beaches looked beautiful. We stopped at one beach side restaurant for coffee and cake, then had some time to walk on the beach. We spent about an hour in their new aquarium, which was very nice. Not like ours in Monterey, but it had many species that we don't see there. It was a nice stop. Last stop was atop another hill for a view of our ship.
We returned to the ship for lunch and trying to decide what to do in the afternoon. We were going to attempt snorkeling, but would have had to take a bus to a beach, then a boat over to a small island. The seas were a bit rough, so we decided to just walk around Noumea. It was HOT, not sure the temperature, but with the high humidity, it was HOT! We found a dive store where Mel bought fins. Not sure why he left his at home. I also bought a new mask. I'd had problems with mine leaking all the time so decided to try a new one. There were few stores set up for tourists, they seemed to be for local folks, mainly inexpensive imports from China. We did find 2 craft stores and one import store. It was all African goods, so we had a preview of what we'll find in Africa. We were back at the ship in time for a quick swim before dinner. We didn't sail until 11 pm, but were on the ship early anyway. A folkloric group preformed for us for our evening show.
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