1. Check-in is easy, and free.  No advance paperwork required.  We’ve heard it’s common and perfectly acceptable (if not entirely officially legal) to stop and rest overnight before checking in.  While there are foods not allowed by bio-security, it’s fairly easy to know in advance what they are and plan accordingly.  We finished all our check-in within a day of arrival; Port Moselle Marina even took care of our customs check-in for us (thanks, Carole!).
2. WiFi works.  The primary wifi for transients like US is to use a mobile phone as a hotspot.  It’s managed by the some folks who run the post office.  While it’s debatable whether you consider it cheap (for 20 MB, $1/hour or $2.10 for 24 hours, or $4.20 for 24 hours unlimited [but slow after 20 MB]), in Noumea, for $5/day Port Moselle Marina offers wifi (+trash deposit, use of their ample dinghy dock and hot showers).  And there’s free wifi hotspots scattered around Noumea.  Note:  Recommended – figure there’s a high likelihood you’ll need the unlimited wifi so bring lots of $5 phone recharge cards with you – we will our next trip before leaving Noumea!
3. Squeaky-clean.  The sidewalks are swept (we nearly hugged the professional sidewalk sweeper we saw shortly after our arrival).  Places to dispose of trash plentiful.  There’s even recycling!
4. Accessible outdoor activities.  Promenades, parks and trails, are easy to find, attractive and well signed and maintained, and generally free. 
5. Food, wonderful food (Oliver Twist if you’re feeling melodic).  Fabulous salami, fish and cheese.  Yeah, we know folks rave about the bread, too, but it’s not on our gluten-free diet.  We haven’t had good salami for a long, long time.  Fresh white tuna from the fish market costs about the same as chicken, about $7.50/lb.  We’re eating lots of tuna!
6. 1^stworld urban transportation. There’s an ample and affordable bus system. Walking is a pleasure, thanks to sidewalks and crosswalks. Roads are well maintained.  We believe there’s a rental-car road trip calling our name… and if we choose not to sail to Iles Des Pins, we might consider taking a fast ferry there.
7. Museums and gardens.  There’s lots to choose from, decent quality (so we hear, we’ll do them on a rainy day) and they’re quite affordable, anywhere from free to $15/person, but usually less.
8. Industrial.Incongruously, as much as I love pristine natural surroundings, seeing a thriving industrial port is strangely satisfying.
9. American-friendly.  New Cal dedicates a number of sites to thank US service members for their WWII efforts on behalf on New Caledonia.
10. Bustling bay.  Sailboat races, outrigger canoes, paddle boarders with dogs in tow.  A flash ferry zips past, offering a potential option for getting places we’d prefer not to sail. 
11. Nautically-oriented.  We’ve never seen more boats than in Noumea – likely 1,000 or more, mostly sailboats.  There’s 3 huge marinas in Noumea, plus tons of places to grab mooring balls or drop an anchor.
12. Navigational aids are superb.  Accurate charts.  Monster-sized, couldn’t-possibly-miss-them lighthouses.  Larger-than-life, clearly visible lead-lines….
13. Oodles of anchorages.  With so many anchorages, it’s easy to sail with a minimum of fuss from one to another as a day-sail, and there’s enough variety to offer shelter in just about any kind of wind.  Prony Bay alone could keep a cruiser busy visiting a slew of spots each less than 3 miles from one to the next.

Even the smokestacks seemed clean and shiny in Noumea, New Caledonia.

Cruising by the Numbers

We’ve spent most of this last week cruising in Prony Bay, about 30 miles from Noumea, New Caledonia.

Up Next
We’re planning on cruising in New Caledonia until November.  After New Caledonia, we head to Australia, by December 2016 (but probably earlier).  There, we plan to sell our boat, and go back to work, somewhere.