New Caledonia: Loyalty Islands

One mantra of cruising sailors is that we are not on vacation.

Too many things go wrong with boats and weather, to say nothing of the general lack of conveniences, to be carefree. Our time in New Caledonia’s Loyalty Islands was a rare and welcome exception. Nothing was broken, the weather was reasonably cooperative, and we felt—like we were on vacation!

Ouvea

Ouvea is a low narrow island, 15 miles of white crescent beach with a necklace of tiny islets on an outer reef aptly named the Pleiades. The blue hues of the lagoon defied description, the sand was soft as powder, and we usually had the whole place to ourselves. Paradise found…

Sundowners on the beach, woo hoo!
(in case you're wondering,
that bottle of duty free gin lasted a very long time)

Turtles were large and curious

We visited caves along a cliff on the windward side of the island, accessed by wading across a salt water river then climbing a ladder the local people use.

After providing shelter for villagers during a cyclone,
an altar was placed in this cave

The pouch around our guide's neck,
woven from traditional fibers and decorated with sea shells,
held his cell phone!

Mouli was the most traditional village we saw anywhere in New Caledonia. The French government has provided electricity, phone service and running water almost everywhere, but the people here still live in cases (conical thatched huts).

The chief's grande case is surrounded by a fence of large logs
and has the most decorated ornament at its peak

Lifou

The island of Lifou is not far from Ouvea, but its geology is radically different. High cliffs predominate, with coral gardens along the base of the cliffs.

A local family adopted us for a day, and we got a chance to experience how the Kanaks are balancing aspects of their traditional culture with Western influences.

We were invited for a lunch of fruit, bread and sausage,
on the porch of their small European-style home
(painted orange, which is a very popular color for both clothes and houses)

However, they also spend a great deal of time in their traditional case,
which is right next door to the other house

Sleeping mats, a drying rack for fish, and popping corn for the fire
(the fire pit, not in the photo, is right in front of our feet)
are visible inside the case

On Lifou, the living arrangement of both styles of homes side by side is very common

The structure on the right is an open-air space for family gatherings

A well-preserved carving

Snorkeling was superb in that crystal clear water!

New Caledonia: Grande Terre

Grande Terre: Noumea and the Bay of Prony

Culture shock!

After three months of feeling at home in small villages, barefoot and without electricity, we arrived in Noumea: capital of New Caledonia, and the most cosmopolitan city in the South Pacific island nations. The waterfront market sells fine cheese and olives rather than taro and cassava; food stalls make crepes to order, and one is never far from a pastry shop. New Caledonia is still colonized by France; for better and for worse, it shows.

Once again our arrival timing was fortuitous, just in time for the 30^th annual Carnival of Noumea--a Mardi Gras-style parade with 1200 stunningly festooned participants (photo above) and a fireworks display worthy of any major U.S. city on the 4^th of July.

With a European feel comes European prices, so we didn’t spend much time in the capital. A few scenes from our days there:

We could resist the fancy pastries

but we couldn't resist these expertly made crepes

French fast food: baguettes and more baguettes

The Tjibaou Cultural Center, in honor of the Kanak pro-independence leader assassinated in 1989, is an architectural masterpiece that houses traditional and modern Kanak art.

The tall curved structures evoke both Kanak huts and graceful pines.

On the outer grounds are traditional carved statues
and lengths of fabric tied to posts.
A gift of fabric is the standard offering
from guests to hosts in Kanak culture.

Carving is still the predominant art form,
especially of intricate symbolic designs on large pieces of wood

A "living display" of traditional costumes,

instruments and music

Outside of the city, the rest of Grande Terre—and it really is a very Large (Is)Land—is sparsely populated. It’s also a remarkably dry island, more akin to Australia (almost 800 miles to the west) than to lush Vanuatu (about 250 miles to the east).

We took some nice hikes in the Bay of Prony, on the far south end of Grande Terre. The landscape is

characterized by red earth and dense scrub vegetation, occasionally dotted by araucaria pines.

Hiking up (and up and up) to a lighthouse

Red mud colored our dinghy line, shoes and feet

Remains: there is a great deal of mining, particularly of nickel,
on Grande Terre

At 30-45 meters, the indigenous columnar pines
tower over everything else

Hunter-gatherer Art found a genuine treasure!
The nautilus is frequently associated with New Caledonia,
but finding a shell of this size and condition is rare