Our trip to Noumea - a brief summary...

First of all, thanks to everyone who gave advice to us before we left on our trip (especially mandja and tropicgirl)...

The holiday didn't start off that well with airnz losing my check in luggage upon arrival! This caused a lot of inconvenience for our trip, and it still isn't sorted now after about 3 weeks! They can't even tell me if my luggage is lost...

Ok, back to the trip... Noumea was nice... especially Baie Des Citrons... did some swimming and snorkelling on the beach. Anse Vata is nice too but too windy for swimming... a lot of windsurfers there! We found cheap(ish) food at Baie des Citrons, there was a stall selling kebabs which was delicious. Also a place called Peters Place I think... nice food there too. Tried the pizza at Chez Alban which was good as well. Treated our selves a few good meals at Le Chaumerie (beautiful food!), seafood buffet at Le Meridien hotel, lunch at Le Bilboquet... Le Fare at The Palms Shopping Centre is also quite reasonably priced in my opinion.

The morning market was very nice, we spent the first 4 nites at Casa Del Sol so did our own shopping and cooking. Had to buy myself some clothes to wear, it was very expensive! Oh... and the chocolate mousse at the cafe in the Place de Cocotiers was beautiful!

Our day trip to Isle des Pins was not that good though. We booked our trip through Destination Ile des Pins, thinking this was the only way to do it... booked and paid on Monday for our trip on Wednesday. I asked them if I would get the lobster meal, which was what we wanted and what everyone recommended... they said they did not know. I asked if the meal was on the beach? They said yes... and I then told them I wanted lobster. They said they would call to ask the restaurant.

Wednesday comes, and we go on the boat... the sea was so rough! The boat was bouncing all over the place and the trip took 3 hours instead of 2! When we got there, we were told the ferry was leaving an hour early which would not give us enough time to have lunch and go to the Piscene Naturelle which was what we paid for. The lady at the hotel told us that she would ask the shuttle driver to take us to the piscene naturelle first, then we could come for lunch after and go back to the ferry after that. The driver takes us on the van to Piscene Naturelle, we get there about 11.30 am, he tells us he will be back to pick us up at 12 noon. I say that is not enough time, but he says he needs to get us back in time for lunch! So we head out to the Piscene Naturelle, took us 15 minutes walk to get there... we spent about 5 minutes in the water... it was beautiful there... we were so dissapointed we had to leave! In the end we went, and walked back to meet the driver having only spend 5 mins at the Piscene Naturelle. He took us back to the hotel and we went for lunch. I asked for the lobster, they said no... that we paid for the buffet lunch. I argued with them for a while, then gave up and just had the buffet lunch which was prawns. The prawns were nice, but not what we wanted. After lunch we walked along Kuto beach, then walked to Kanumera and since it was only about 2pm we did some more snorkelling at Kanumera... there were also fish here so we spent more time snorkelling here and then at 3pm headed back to the ferry.

All in all a very rushed day trip, and we did not get what we paid for! When I got back to NZ from my holiday, I found an email from the Destination Ile des Pins... they had emailed me after i had paid advising me that the ferry had engine problems and would take 3 hours instead of 2 and would be leaving an hour earlier and if we wanted a refund, we could cancel. But this was a bit too late! I would have expected them to try harder to contact us to let us know, even meet us at the ferry terminal that morning! I complained to them , but they did not offer any compensation. I am very dissapointed with their service and would advise anyone wanting to make a trip to Ile des Pins not to book through them! You can arrange the trip yourself easily.

One thing I want to know though... because we only spent 5 mins at Piscene Naturelle, and only at the shallow areas... how does it compare to Kanumera bay? Does the Piscene have more fish? Nicer fish? Just wondering because we found Kanumera bay very beautiful with all the fish... and were so dissapointed we could not spend more time at the Piscene... we might have to go back again...

Also, this was my first time snorkelling... how does snorkelling at Piscene Naturelle compare to snorkelling in other parts of the world? For example, tahiti, fiji, samoa, bali, australia, thailand, asia, etc... is it all the same?

Thanks in advance!

Q-... how does it compare to Kanumera bay? Does the Piscene have more fish? Nicer fish? Just
A - naturally I havent counted the fish , but there are many in both. The fish at the Piscine are very plentiful, easy to see , as they are in a confined space, and easier to look at as the shallow water is quite clear.

q-how does snorkelling at Piscene Naturelle compare to snorkelling in other parts of the world
a - snorkelling elsewhere is often better - in terms of fish, coral etc , at the Piscine its simply much easier - especially for rank beginners, plus its safe, easy and in a beatuful setting

A day trip to IDP is not enough - 3 or 4 days is ideal.

how does it compare to Kanumera bay? Does the Piscene have more fish?

Rest assured: No! :-) I found Kanumera had much more of both coral and fish. What the Piscene had though was that unique scenic beauty.

how does snorkelling at Piscene Naturelle compare to snorkelling in other parts of the world? For example, tahiti, fiji, samoa, bali, australia, thailand, asia, etc... is it all the same?

Nope. Every area is different.
Actually, I found the snorkelling at Kanumera quite a bit poorer, especially in terms of species diversity, than most of the South Pacific or South-East Asia.
It's a bit too far south, and also far from the centre of marine biodiversity, which is made up by Indonesia, the Philippines and PNG.