We spent 5 nights in New Caledonia and stayed the entire time at an airbnb in the southeastern part of Noumea (near Anse Vata beach). We enjoyed our airbnb experience as our host was very kind. She greeted us as we arrived and pointed out some key locations on a map. But when it was all said and done Matt and I both agreed that in retrospect it would've been nice to stay at a hotel and have concierge service to help us plan activities, since when we made calls there was always a language barrier since most people we talked to only spoke very rudimentary English at best, if at all.
Another thing I should mention is that if you're flying internationally into NC (which I assume is nearly always the case) then you'll fly into Tontouta airport which is over an hour outside of Noumea and you should really pre-book transportation before you get there as taxis are rare and expensive. We used Navette-Lesmouettes.nc (a recommendation from our airbnb host) and had no problems. They only took cash though, so we had to use the ATM at the airport as soon as we landed to get some XPFs. It was 3,000/person or 5,000 for two people. They took us directly to our airbnb.
Overview of Our Trip
Most days we walked to Anse Vata beach and hung out there. There were a good amount of restaurants there so that there was a variety but it wasn't overwhelming. We didn't eat out that often as it was pretty expensive and we hadn't heard great things about the quality of the food. We had a few croques, which are toasted sandwiches with ham, cheese, and cream, I think. I also had a crepe snack almost every day. When in Rome, right? But mostly we bought groceries and had our meals at the airbnb.
The Anse Vata beach was decent. It was long with lots of nice shade trees. There are no waves on almost all of the beaches in New Caledonia since they are protected by the lagoon surrounding the islands, and Anse Vata beach was no exception to that. The water was warm and pretty clear. Some areas were rockier than others. There are a couple of public bathrooms around and places to rinse off the salt water and sand. Plage de la Baie des Citrons is the other beach in the on the west side which was pretty similar with a few more restuarants. We didn't spend much time there since it was a bit further walk for us.
One day we took the water taxi to the Isla de Canards. You can see the island from Anse Vata and it's really tiny; it takes less than 10 minutes to circumnavigate the island. It was easy to get to as water taxis from a hut on Anse Vata beach went back and forth (1,200 XPF per person round trip). The best part of the island was the snorkeling. The water was very still so you're not being rocked around by waves. We saw lots of cool sea life. The best part was the octopus we found and watched for almost 30 minutes as it moved from coral to coral and changed colors before our eyes. You can rent snorkel gear on the island but it's 1,000 XPF per hour (almost $10/hour) so it's best to bring your own if you have it. You also have to pay to rent chairs/tent if you want any sort of shade to sit in. There's one restaurant on the island but we hadn't heard great things so we saved our money and packed a lunch.
We also spent a day at Isla de Amedee. I had really wanted to scuba there but by the time I tried to arrange it it was too late; I either could never get through to someone, or they didn't speak any English, or they were booked up. The one dive shop which I heard about late but heard the most good things was Abyss Plungee and their number was (+687) 79. 15. 09. He answered and spoke English but they were already booked up. Those are the breaks when you don't plan in advance.
So anyway, I had spent the entire weekend trying and hoping to schedule a dive and then Sunday night came and we still didn't have anything planned and we were trying to find something to do. We wanted to go to Amedee Island but Mary D is the only "official" way to get there and they weren't taking people out on Monday. Plus they are expensive and include lots of other activities that we didn't need. So we found another blog which mentioned a fellow named Dimitri (phone number +687 77.27.16) who would take you to the island for a smaller fee. We were actually able to reach him on Sunday night and he agreed to take us Monday morning, so we were really thankful that he was flexible for the last-minute planning. "Meet me at the taxi hut on Anse Vata at 8am" he said. He was 40 minutes late but he did show up in his 7-seater boat. He charged us a bit more since he hadn't planned on taking anyone out that day and we were the only two; 10,000 XPF/person instead of the quoted 6,500/person we saw on the blog, but that's still significantly cheaper than Mary D's so we were happy with it. Plus since Mary D wasn't operating that day we basically had the island to ourselves which was really cool. We were able to sit in the beach chairs wherever we wanted without paying. We were able to snorkel all day, as Dimitri had lent us snorkels/masks. We brought our own food since Dimitri doesn't provide that (Mary D has food/drinks included). The only bummer was that the Amedee Lighthouse wasn't open since the big groups weren't there.
The snorkeling at Amedee was really good, too. Again, not any waves and hardly any current so that's nice. We saw lots of different fish and coral. I got to hang out with four sea turtles throughout the day, which was definitely the highlight. We also saw four of the infamous Amedee water snakes as we were walking about the island. We read that they will chase you (on land and in water) if you mess with them, but they leave you alone if you do the same so we had no problems. I was nervous about it though as I was in the water.
On our last day we rented a car and explored outside Noumea before our 1am flight. I wanted to do a horseback tour but again- lack of advance planning made that unattainable (when we called they said you should have that scheduled at least 2 days in advance). So we drove northwest along the coast to Poe Beach. It was a nice way to spend a few hours but I probably wouldn't prioritize getting up there otherwise. We also got to see La Roche Percee which was only a few minutes away. Again, it was nice but not necessarily a must-do in my opinion.
Budget
I spent $457 total while in New Caledonia. This is per person and in US dollars. It doesn't include flights as all of our international flights were purchased together. Matt and I split almost everything equally (except for my daily crepes :) ). Here's the breakdown:
Ground transportation: $78. This included our transport from the airport and our rental car/gas on our last day.
Lodging: $166. We spent all five nights at the same airbnb.
Activities: $124. This included our rentals and water taxi on Isle de Canards and our adventure to Isle de Amedee.
Food: $89. So many crepes.
Summary
We got some much needed R&R while in New Caledonia but you could be as adventurous as you want to be. There are some great snorkeling and scuba diving sites as the country is surrounded by the second largest coral reef in the world. The people we interacted with were nice and genuine; they weren't trained tourism professionals which has it's pros and cons but was mostly refreshing for a change. The best advice is to plan big activities in advance and then go with the flow and enjoy the unique locale!
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