Today was a party in my stateroom. Not a big party, just Kevin, Joe and I watching the sail-in to Noumea, New Caledonia. I ordered coffee, Danish pastries, muffins and fruit to be delivered to my cabin at 8:00. We watched the ship sail into the harbor. The captain said in his announcement yesterday, that we would be sailing into a double reef lagoon to get to Noumea. I thought it would be fun to watch it in my room. However, it was not that impressive. The reefs were very small and circular, not a barrier type as I had expected. They were also quite small. You can see by the pictures....when I get them posted.
Noumea was disappointing to say the least. We thought we could see a lot of the city by taking a Hop on-Hop 0ff bus. Joe and I purchased the tickets at the Guest Services, they were 15.00 each. There was a shuttle but to take us to the Visitor's Center at the dock. The ship docked in the commercial area of the port so the view was of shipping containers. Not the first time this has happened, but due to the size of the ship, we can't dock just anywhere.
The Visitor's Center was quite small and not impressive. The yellow shirt guide told us that the Hop on bus was in the parking lot. It looked like a normal bus. I spotted what I thought was the Hop On bus (the double decker with open top), but she said that was a "City Tour Bus" and wasn't our bus. I was disappointed because I like to take photographs. As it turns out, there wasn't much to take pictures of in Noumea. There was a beach, Lemon Beach, that seemed like it would be a popular place to go, but not many people were there on this windy overcast Christmas Eve. We drove by a farmer's market type of area, that the guide said closes at noon. It looked like it was quite busy and I guessed that mostly it was locals and 30% tourists. There was a P & O cruise ship docked right at the Visitor's Center and I think a lot of those folks were at the market.
We did the 20 minute tour, it's a small town and stopped at the center for a beverage and WiFi. Joe had an orange smoothie (12.00 AU) and I had a Coke (6.00 AU). We checked mail and visited for awhile and then got on the bus to the ship. I went to the stateroom to work on the blog and Joe went to the mid-ship pool to rest from the exhausting day of sitting on busses.
My work finished, I went up to the mid ship pool to find Joe. He was napping on a lounge chair, so I grabbed a burger and ate lunch. Joe joined me at the table a half hour later and then Kevin showed up around 3:30. A few minutes later, Kevin and Joe went down to their stateroom to change and I went to the Crow's Nest for Happy Hour. Gary came in a little after 4, followed by Joe and then with Kevin we were 4 again. We enjoyed cocktails and around 5, Joe and I went to my stateroom to watch the sail away from the balcony. Gary went to his room to rest and then dress for dinner. Kevin went to the LGBT Meet-up.
The sail away was uneventful, except for the sunset. I like watching the sun set out on the ocean. Brilliant Reds tonight, but not very big. Lots of clouds. at gets dark around 7 PM and both Joe and I wonder why it's dark so early, when last year in Antarctica it never got completely dark at all, only twilight. It's a mystery we have to Google to get the answer, when there is adequate WiFi.
We met for dinner at the Pinnacle Grill tonight. It's the upscale restaurant on the ship. We have enjoyed meals here on all the Holland America cruises we have been on, usually having 2 meals there each cruise. Greg had called in a Christmas gift for me for the meal and I really enjoyed my ribeye. Kevin and Joe always get the Filet, Kevin REALLY likes this meal. He says it's the best in his life and looks forward to one every cruise. We are also going to try to have New Years Day dinner here as well. I finished with the Baked Alaska, however, both Kevin and I thought that the one on the Zaandam and Maasdam was better than the Noordam's. We were all tired so we headed to our staterooms immediately after the meal. Tomorrow is Mystery Island in Vanuatu. It's a small island similar to Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas. Not much to do, but I do want to walk on land so I can say I have been there.
