Video: Snorkelling at the Phare Amédée

Regular readers may know that while living in New Caledonia, I've come to love snorkelling and count it as one of my all-time favourite activities. Just last week we were at the Phare Amédée again, and though I was tied up with Pablo, Laurent and the girls got to go snorkelling. Last Sunday, we also went to the Ile aux Canards, where this time, I got to swim with some of the largest fish I've yet to see in New Caledonia.

Why all the excitement over fish? See the two-minute clip below on "Snorkelling at the Phare Amédée" by YouTube member, bivele (click on the arrow and turn up the volume on your machine). The clip starts with one of our famous sea snakes (tricots rayés), moves onto the adventures of a sea turtle and shows off our beautiful coral, angel fish and more.

Many thanks to "bivele"!

Maré: Warrior's Leap

To continue our tour of the Loyalty Islands, which we undertook over Christmas 2006 ...

Legend has it that a warrior, harassed by his enemies, leaped across this gaping 5-meter wide crevice in the cliff that dominates Allier Bay in Maré. All of his enemies fell to their deaths as they attempted the same feat.

A terrible fear of heights kept both Sophie and I from trying our luck, though Laurent most likely would have tried in his younger days.

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2006.

Sophie and Pablo Up and Out

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2006.

We interrupt our tour of the Loyalty Islands with this newsflash on Sophie and Pablo.

I have been amiss on the blog as of late as Sophie has had her exchange partner from New Zealand visiting for the last ten days. Nicky was an absolute delight - it was fun to see how other anglophone (English-speaking/culture) teenagers view and operate in the world. We came away thinking that New Zealanders are wonderfully cool and easy and spontaneous and full of life. She was a true pleasure to be around. To give Nicky a feel for New Caledonia, we took the girls camping in Poé (two and a half hours north), we took a day trip to Phare Amédée (home of the famous sea snake story) and spent an afternoon at Ile aux Canards (great snorkelling). Of course there was shopping and afternoons spent at the Baie des Citrons as well.

Now in a few days, Sophie is off to Europe for four weeks! Ack! We are running around getting everything ready for her trip to Paris and London - and I am missing her already. Her summer break has flown by - what with ten days in Loyalty Islands, ten days of her in New Zealand, ten days of having her exchange partner here and now she is up and out across the world for a month. What a charmed life she leads!

Meanwhile, Pablo is up and walking around the room (holding onto furniture), any room, whenever he can. He has also taken to waking at 5 in the morning and talking (loudly) until nap time between 8.30 and 9.00. He has much to say. He is still not sleeping through the night ("Sacrée Mary", as Laurent says - as our friend Mary predicted that Pablo would not sleep much before he was born) and both Laurent and I wonder where he gets his energy. Pablo is nonetheless one of the world's happiest babies, so no complaining here!

Maré: Its People

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2006.

We were lucky enough to meet and talk with some of the locals in Maré (Maréans) - not so in Ouvéa (which was where we went next). We found them to be very warm and welcoming - but not warm and welcoming in the touristy kind of way. They were genuinely open and willing to share their culture, not for money but out of pride for their island and their way of life. Unlike on the main island (Grande terre) of New Caledonia, the Maréans (largely Melanesian) control how things are run on the island (which is also true on the other Loyalty Islands and Ile des Pins). Only about 2% of the population on this island are French - so you really feel as if you are in direct contact with the locals, the minute you arrive.

On our tour day of the island, we spent a morning with our Kanak guide above (click on the photo for a larger image). Not only did he take us all over the island, but he talked about what his life was like. As it was the holiday season, and Santa Claus had arrived by boat the night before, and there had been fireworks and parties into the night and early morning, he was a little worse for the wear. (Kanaks like to party in a big way - we saw a number of them flat out from all the partying during our tour and our guide explained that all the shops were closed, because after they had been drinking, they could get aggressive and either walk out with the shops' merchandise or get into nasty fights ...)

In the photo above, our guide had just taken us down into an enormous cavity that led to an underground water hole. He explained that the names we saw on the cave walls were the result of competitions - the men like to climb the walls (as high as they can go) and then carve their names in the walls. Mind you, our guide was about 35 years old. When I asked if women and children came down into the water hole, he said that they all do. They all love to swim there - and that the more women there are, the higher the men climb.

Throughout our tour, we saw children playing in the dirt roads. We are accustomed to seeing them bare foot (you often see them running and playing soccer bare foot in Nouméa), but due to the heat, they were also entirely naked. Smiling, laughing, they would continue their games in the street despite the approach of a dusty Peugot 206 and look after us with a vague (and passing) curiosity. They made me hanker after their total simplicity and unshakable "joie de vivre".