Yellow Fish cruises: Day 75: Noumea, New Caledonia

The alarm went off at 4:20am, and I immediately picked up my iPad to watch the live stream on McGee’s race. It was wet and cold in Portland; these guys were head to toe mud by the time they reached the finish line. Knowing I would have been there if I hadn’t been cruising, I was grateful that our weather today was gorgeous, sunny and a tad too hot. McGee and his teammates, through sheer grit and determination, had a great performance today.

Next up: McGuy and the basketball season. Their different interests mean nearly year-round spectatorship opportunities. Life is fun. :-)

Since today was Sunday, most museums in Noumea were closed. We decided over breakfast to visit the Noumea local market for the first time ever, and then spend the rest of our day on one or two of the beaches on the HOHO bus route. Before we walked off the ship, we went up to the jogging track on Deck 19 for a birdseye view of Grand Terre, the largest island of New Caledonia on which the capital of Noumea is located.

The island is mountainous except along the shore.

This is a nickel processing plant near the freight port.

The ship was flying several flags this morning.

The ferry terminal and the Maritime Museum in the foreground

I haven’t talked much about it, but the Ruby Princess is going to go live with the new Ocean Medallion system in January. The many digital displays around the ship are being set up by several contractors on the ship for the next few months. This is the one in the Deck 14 midship elevator lobby. It has some interactive features that are already operational.

There is daily itinerary of the cruise; this one is for the first day in Sydney.

We thought the photo was beautiful.

The photo for today in Noumea

We took the free shuttle out of the freight pier to the tourist information center and purchased all day Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) bus tickets for AU$10 each (about US $7.50). Before we boarded the bus, we walked across the street to the Johnston Supermarché to get some snacks for the beach. G bought chicken flavored potato chips (yuck) and I bought a small bag of almonds. The store closed at 12:30pm today because it was Sunday; we were lucky it was open at all.

Our first stop on the HOHO bus was the Noumea local market. This was going to close at noon, but we were there before 10am and so had plenty of time to explore. The outside was mostly canopies filled with local crafts and souvenirs; however, the covered inside stalls were full of locally grown produce.

Outdoor local crafts and souvenir stalls

The produce stands inside

A few stands offered tropical flowers, just as in the Papeete Market in Tahiti

These were those tiny, very sweet pineapples such as those grown in Moorea

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I would love to shop this way at home.

I was looking for a reason to buy some of these gorgeous herbs but couldn’t come up with one.

I did buy this peeled and cut up papaya to enjoy on the beach.

Sweet as candy.

We started our beach day at Lemon Bay Beach, sitting in the shade of a tree while we ate our snack. There was a race going on of small jet skis, called jet pilots, and that was fun to watch while we ate.

Lemon Bay Beach

A little girl dressed in local attire

Next, we went further along the route to Anse Vata, which we think is the prettiest beach in Noumea. It is also the location of the water taxis to Duck Island. We took one to the island when we were here two years ago.

Anse Vata Beach lined with palm trees.

Duck Island in the distance

While we were comfortable when we were in the shade on a beach, catching the breeze off the water, the day grew much hotter, topping out about 95F. Adding in the sun and humidity, it was definitely a beach day. Even then, by 2pm or so we were cooked, and took a HOHO bus back to the tourist information terminal, and then a shuttle bus back to the ship. The heat had wiped me out so thoroughly that I just wanted to collapse in bed and nap and cool off. G went to the Horizon Court Buffet for a quick lunch, and then joined me.

With plenty of time today, we showered and went first to the Elite Lounge. Because it’s held in Skywalkers this cruise, we had fantastic views of the island from 18 decks high, just below the jogging track we’d been on early this morning. I was very hungry by then, and enjoyed a few crudités before we went to dinner in the DaVinci Dining Room. I had ordered three courses for tonight's dinner, anticipating that I’d be hungry tonight. The stir-fried calamari was fantastic. Headwaiter Mehai delivered a special dessert for me, peach cobbler made dairy free. It was delicious.

Day 4 dinner menu, page 1

Day 4 dinner menu, page 2

Day 4 dessert menu

Tonught’s Princess Theater entertainment was a mentalist, and that is so not our thing. Instead we went to the Wheelhouse Bar to listen to a new band that just came on board this cruise, a four piece Irish band called Full Tilt. They are not replacing an existing band, but are an additional one. They are fantastic, and the lead singer also does Irish dancing, a la Riverdance.

Our intention was to get to tonight’s tropical deck party, but we didn’t. I think the heat and the time in the water today wiped us out, and, of course, I wasn’t helped by that early wake up this morning. We have two more small island beach experiences in the next two days, and need to pace ourselves.