Isle of pines

Hi all,

I'm looking at booking a flight to the Isle of pines, isleofpines.com tourist site offers an organised day trip (flights, mini bus trip around the isle and lunch) but it seems quite expensive; works out about $400 / 25,000 cfp. Am I better off waiting until I get to Nouméa and booking from there or is this actually a good price??? My main goal is to do some diving for the day which is not mentioned in the day trip....

Thanks,
Ciarán

We found New Caledonia to be expensive for organized tours - we passed on the Amedee Island day trip that would have cost us Cdn$315.00(Sept 2006). However we did take advantage of Air Caledonia's 3 day package tour to Ile de Pins that gave us(2 adults) airfare, 3 nights accommodation at a budget gite and transportation to and from the airport for about Cdn$650.00. I can't advise on the dive situation on Ile de Pins but would definitely recommend a visit there. We did the pirogue tour on the baies which ended with snorkeling at the piscine naturalle - fabulous! If that was any indication of the sea life, diving should be great too! The island really deserves more than a day tour if you can swing it. I can't say if waiting until you get to Noumea would be better but my impression of the area is that bargains are not the norm. Hopefully someone might have other information for you.

I agree with Newfie, that Isle de Pins deserves more than a day trip.
If you only have a day to spare, & your main interest is diving,why not go with a dive company in Noumea & save the airfare to Isle de Pins.