November 3, 2015
Mare, New Caledonia (pronounced like Marie)
After 3 relaxing days at sea, we arrived in Mare, New Caledonia. A sleepy little tropical island. We visited a nice beach, and then a Vanilla plantation and then went to an area that was advertised as “Cliffs” but was more like a beautiful cove area. The scenery was pretty.
The beach area where we were able to swim for a little while. The water was not as warm as we had hoped.
Adam and I at the beach.
Beautiful aqua colored water – just not as warm as we expected!
The locals were happy to have tourists to sell products and services to.
Local merchant ‘huts’
The scenery was so pretty
Our ship docked nearby
More nice scenery
Coral – with Adam’s underwater camera. Not very colorful
Even though it was not as warm as we hoped, we still swam a bit
Vanilla Plantation was up next
Tropical and lush plants were all around us
Adam near where they gave us some vanilla tea and coffee
Vanilla Plants
Our tour driver – he told us we couldn’t talk to him because he had other women to talk to.
This was the view from our tender as we arrived on shore.
Next were the ‘cliffs’ – we had to go down over 200 rickety steps to get down to water level – it wasn’t bad on the way down, but quite a hike back up!
The water color was so pretty!
Lovely view! After our tough trek back up the steps!
Then a mini tour inside a Native hut. The man told us that this was where council meetings would take place with the chief. We had to duck to go inside
Inside – looking up at the ceiling
It was pretty roomy inside. The firepit was to keep the mosquitoes out, and to keep the humidity lower.
A kitty that hung out with us. The animals on the islands didn’t appear to be very healthy.
Adam with a fresh coconut water treat.
They made flower wreaths for us.
The hand-made flower wreaths for us
After our tour, we headed back on board for a relaxing afternoon….sail away for Lifou, our next stop.