Imprisioned in New Caledonia

The best possible jail in the world.

We were literally stuck in this little island for 3 weeks. New Caledonia wasn’t even on our itinerary. What happened was that while in the Cook Islands, my application for a tourist visa for Australia was rejected. The airline made a huge mistake and declared that I “had been convicted of a criminal offence”, hence my visa was rejected (not once but 3 times) and it took us 40 days, several visits to every Australian consulate in the South Pacific area, and horrible headaches and frustration to finally get it . You don’t want to deal with this type of situation being on “FIji time”, island time, or lazy, incompetent people time. Coming from visiting all the areas East of New Caledonia, our only choice was to head West, and every flight out of New Caledonia stops in Australia. Not many options. We had nothing else to do but wait for my visa, without even knowing when they would get back to us.

This is when we decided to rent a Catamaran and disconnect from the real world.

Visiting New Caledonia and not getting out on a boat to see the lagoon (the largest in the world), the deserted tropical islands and the barrier reef (the second longest in the world) is like going to China and not seeing the Great Wall or going to Venice and staying indoors.

I will try to describe our experience out here in the lagoon but I know I will be short on words and expressions to give it justice. Basically, it has been the highlight of my trip so far. Maybe the highlight of ANY trips in my life? Maybe even one of the best adventures of my life?

I am not exaggerating. It was magical. Six days on a 47 meter catamaran sailing the South Pacific islands of New Caledonia. Just us, plus a nanny, a cook and a captain. It was just too beautiful, too perfect.

I had swam with sharks before, but only while scuba diving. Swimming with sharks with your children, mere meters away from you, as they dove into the depth, watching how they want to pat them, feels a hundred times more exhilarating; eating the freshest seafood possible, caught with your own hands on the same day; having all types of weather changes with the most unique light, full moon, rainbows, sun, scattered rains, wind, no wind; kitesurfing in one of the best places in the world, launching your kite from the catamaran; teaching your children to scuba dive in the most shallow, crystal, warm waters; snorkelling chasing turtles and rays; discovering a different deserted immaculate white sand beach every day.... it’s as close to paradise as I had imagined. It felt otherworldly — magic— and I soaked in every second.

Here's a video about one day swimming with sharks. Look closely and you'll see a bull shark at the very end, when thankfully all of us, but my husband were already back on the boat.

And here' s is me, proudly fishing and gutting 2 big mackerels with my own hands !

We had no phones or internet during our entire time on the catamaran. During all that time we had no idea if my visa for Australia had been approved or not. We were depending on that to decide our next destination and buy tickets. We returned to the mainland to find out it had been rejected, again. I was furious. So mad. We found ourselves in an difficult situation, either apply again and wait without knowing for how long, or simply skip Australia and go straight to some other country. I am so happy we decided to apply again and wait, because the 6 weeks we spent in Australia after New Caledonia were some of the best in our trip, unforgettable

Facts about New Caledonia and it's capital, Noumea.

Let's talk about New Caledonia in general, not only about the “catamaran dream came true”.

To start with, New Caledonia is a French island. This makes a humongous difference when comparing it to other South Pacific islands. We had just been in Fiji and Cook Islands before arriving to NC, and I can tell, the minute you set foot on the island you feel the difference. Much better infrastructure, way better food quality, good restaurants, some designer brands, and this very unique French factor. I had heard it was the Saint Tropez of the Pacific. It is true that it is much more European than any other island in the South Pacific. New Caledonia does offers a taste of the tropics with a French twist, but not as much as to say it is like a little France on a tropical island. In New Caledonia you communicate in French, it uses Pacific francs for money, has French wine, cheese and butter in its supermarkets and Renaults, Citroens and Peugeots are on the roads, but ….nope, not quite there yet.. Let’s not push it.

There is a noticeable cultural and economic divide between the local Kanak people and those of French descent. They do not mix. They do not socially interact.

Accommodation is limited. You have 2 very good hotels, and many second rate ones. There is no in-between. In Noumea, the capital we stayed at the Chateaux Royal. It was a Club Med a few years ago, and it is now managed by a new hotel chain. The hotel was nice, good rooms, nice beach, good location, very good restaurants, but the service was terrible. Still I think is the best option in the island together with the Le Meridien next door.

There are 2 different cool bays, Baie de Citrons and Anse Vata both offer plenty of places to eat and shop.

We loved the Shed where we had a fantastic meal while watching dolphins feed right underneath our table, The Cow, a tapas bar with amazing karaoke contests (here people seem to take singing very seriously), and Amorino for Icecreams.

With children, the Tchou Tchou Train is the perfect way to tour the city over a couple of hours.

It is an expensive island. Wine is extremely expensive, there are big taxes on it, and strangely, supermarket and stores can’t sell alcohol after 12 noon on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday (French bureaucracy at it’s best)

Personal opinion, Noumea itself is not spectacularly beautiful (in terms of white sand, clear water, etc.) The island does have tropical forest and mountains, but we didn’t visit them. I think if you go to NC, you have to make trips out of the main island to appreciate all the beauty in it’s lagoons and sea (Isle de Pine, diving with rays in Amadee Lighthouse Island, Ilot de Maitre, Piscine Naturelle), and of course if you are a Francophile.

Here some photos of our almost 2 weeks living like locals