Moving around - A little sample of the large lagoon

Sailing around the huge lagoon

We left Port Moselle on Wednesday to visit some of the little islands nearby Noumea. We couldn't go far as we left our mainsail in Noumea for repairs and have also ordered a cover for our dinghy. Our plan is to come back to the marina next week. 

The lagoon is huge and from the many places that can be visited we choose Ilot Te Ndu first as recommended by Mark and Dianne. A beautiful little inhabited island surrounded by coral reefs. It is part of the natural reserve so all the fish in the coral is protected for desperation of Oscar that couldn't go spearfishing while the big groupers indolently looked at him.

Sunset at Ilot Te Ndu

We snorkeled in several places and saw lots of turtles, sea snakes, a couple of white tip small sharks, unicorns, groupers, trouts and lots of colorful fish. The highlight in this area being the turtles.

Coming to the surface for a bit of air

It was a weekday and at sunset the place was just   ours. We spent 2 beautiful days and then left towards Ilot Laregnere. At mid way we stopped in Recif Senef for a snorkel. It is a very pretty place with many colors and lots of fish. Oscar was very keen to find the groupers here but I guess they know they are not protected in this place so they were nowhere to be seen. Again the white tip sharks always patrolling the reef. 

If you can spot, the shark patrolling the reef

Ilot Laregnere is another natural reserve with a nice beach, picnic area, camping and BBQ facilities. It is very popular for the locals. This Friday was the start of a long weekend here in NC and soon weekenders started arriving in their boats. Many of them camping in the beach. Even in the rainy weather people was enjoying themselves and at night we could see several bom fires in the beach. 

Weekenders at the beach in Ilot Laregnere

Next stop was Ilot Maitre, the island with the famous Escapade resort. A beautiful hotel where apparently the majority of the tourism comes from Japan. We went to visit and had a drink at the bar. The place is fantastic though quite expensive and there is no where else to go in the island, so no alternative for restaurants around. 

Bungalows at the Escapade Resort

This is our last stop and soon we'll be back at the marina. In all the places we've stopped we had our remora pets underneath Zenitude, everyday waiting for breakfast time, maybe because they are french, they love the scraps of our baguetes.

Breakfast time for the remoras  

A nice week over, we are back at the marina with internet again, probably for about a week. 

G.