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Our day at sea turned somewhat negative as we experienced some very heavy seas and winds, making it more uncomfortable as the afternoon progressed and thinning out the dinner crowds. We went to Polo, ate lightly and listened to the dishes (and maybe food) crashing to the ground and the kitchen staff responding. It is just not as much fun to drink wine when you are constantly trying to keep the bottle and glasses from careening off the table. We made it an early night, with Rob tying the shower door closed and our making sure everything was secure.

We arrived at the reef surrounding New Caledonia (the second largest in the world after the Great Barrier Reef of Australia) about 11:30 and finally docked at the cruise terminal just before 1pm. We were greeted by native Melanesian tribal dancers and drummers. A Norwegian Cruise Line ship was also in port, but they got the less attractive industrial port berth and their passengers were being shuttled over to where we were at the Cruise Terminal. We did not have an excursion scheduled until 3:50pm, so sat out on the deck and watched the comings and goings with our Kindles. It was almost 80 degrees and sunny, so a major uptick in weather.

Our excursion guide was Lida, born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She lived in New Jersey for years and then moved to Australia for 13 years and then to Noumea 4 years ago. She took a 6 month immersion course in French and then became a guide and is loving every minute. She was a very vibrant personality. We drove to several outlook points for fantastic views and she told us the history of the town being built by French convicts who were sent to New Caledonia for varying terms. After they had served their prison terms, many of them stayed and brought their families from France. There is a colonial style architecture based on the concrete buildings from those times. She told us that nickel is the major industry and we saw the smelters and one mine area near the city from one hilltop.

New Caledonia is home to over 3500 varieties of plants, 4300 species of terrestrial animals, 1000 species of fish and 6500 species of marine invertebrates. It is a UNESCO World heritage site and the coral reef is protected. The population is generally younger, with over 50% under 30 years old. We drove up to the Ouen Toro lookout point, which is in a forested park, past many multi-million dollar apartments overlooking the bays and home to a very athletic population who take advantage of all the walking and running paths. We next headed back down hill to La Coupole, a very nice French restaurant overlooking the beach. They presented us with 3 cheeses and 3 French wines with rolls and a light salad accompaniment. All was very good and certainly took the edge of our hunger. We had not eaten lunch as we noticed that there were several dishes that sounded good in the Grand Dining Room, but by the time we got back on board and down to dinner, we ate only sparingly. The ship cast off at 10pm, but we didn't even notice as we were sound asleep.

We are now in the "at sea" mode for 1 1/2 days. Unfortunately, we have found some rougher seas again and our butler, Ivo, just told us that he starting getting requests for seasick bags at 6am. While we were at breakfast, we heard more stories about the rough dinner hour two days before. Toscana lost a number of their Versace dinner plates, which just came out of a storage cabinet when the door did not hold. Hala said that they had cancellations from half the people for La Reserve and that it was very tricky keeping all the many glasses on the tables and the meat on the plates when serving. Let's hope that things improve as we move on towards Suva.