We booked a zodiac ride out to a marine reserve on a place called Duck Island (there are no ducks) off the coast of Noumea, New Caledonia. near Lemon Beach (there are no lemons). The boys LOVED it, we went over 30 knots. About twice the speed of the cruise ship. I have no photos of the zodiac, the camera was tucked away so as not to get a free shower. It sat about 10 people and had those rigid inflated sides. The driver pulled a few donuts around the harbour and gave us a great 20 minute ride.
So Duck Island is run like a little resort where people come by boat to spend the day and head back to the city for the night. You rent a beach umbrella and set of chairs, snorkle gear etc and there's a restaurant on site as well. The town is full of marinas as nearly one third of the population of Noumea owns a boat.
Dave & I went snorkeling. Jack tried again for a bit, but didn't have a good fit with the adult size masks. The coral here was massive and everywhere, not as colourful as other areas we've seen though. There were no sandy bits to stand on either, so you just had to keep going! It was pretty choppy too, but lots of fish around.
Best part was seeing a group of 8 or 9 rainbow coloured parrot fish in about 4 feet of water above the coral. There was no where for them to hide from me, so I got a good long lingering look. As it was too shallow to properly clear my snorkle and look for Dave to join me, I kind of just floated around for a bit thinking he might come looking for me. Then a movement catches the corner of my eye to my right and voila! A SEA TURTLE about 10 feet from me. I had been pretty still but he saw me move and headed off a bit towards the deeper water. I was able to follow the turtle for quite a few minutes swimming along behind him as he meandered around gracefully. We didn't have an underwater camera, so I have NO evidence, but I was super excited because everyone else had talked about the sea turtles and I hadn't found any yet. When I had the thought that perhaps I should turn back, I popped my head up to look around and realized that I was quite a way from the beach and actually outside the buoys for the snorkeling area. Oh, and Dave was on the beach watching me! Yeah, so much for the buddy system. At least he knew where I was and wasn't "looking" for me. So, I headed back in, quite overjoyed to relate my story. He laughingly said he was just wondering how far out I would swim before coming to the surface to check my location. Someone had asked me about my favourite moment on this journey so far . . . I think the sea turtle takes it. It was our last port of call before finishing the cruise in Sydney and our 4th time snorkeling. I was stoked!
The ship left around 4pm that afternoon and we headed out for 2 more days at sea. The captain can be seen on the side of the boat navigating through the harbour . . . he blasted the ships horn so many times that afternoon that I lost count. Just because he likes to do it mostly, and maybe once because a small sailboat tried to cross in front of the ship on our way out of port . . .
The last 2 days at sea were actually the roughest we had for the entire journey. That night was full of creaking and banging, with the hangers in the closets rocking back and forth. After nearly 24 hours of rough seas, wearing my sea bands, I was coping alright until I tried to watch the matinee movie on the big screen. Bad idea. I had to leave the theatre after about an hour to head back to my room and lay down. Totally motion sick. I grabbed a sick bag from the stairwell and made use of it before I even got to my room! Yes, I succumbed.
I was worried about the boys in kids club . . . but they were perfectly fine. Xavier had even commented earlier that morning as he was trying to pee in the toilet "hey, the floor keeps moving!" Yes, oh "blonde" child of mine, we've been on a moving ship for the last 17 days and you've just noticed that the floor moves???
Dave was on the opposite side of the spectrum from me and smiled even wider as the motion of the ocean increased. He also got quite a chuckle from the numerous people stumbling through the hallways and restaurants, walking this way and that with the motion of the ship.
By this point, it felt kind of like we lived on the ship anyways, and we procrastinated a bit in packing up our suitcase until the last night, but by then there wasn't much else to do since the pool was closed due the high seas and I couldn't very well stand up and dance the night away . . . so pack we did. On to the next stage of the journey! Sydney.
