T
he main island of the New
Caledonia group is called
Grand Terre and is almost
completely ringed by a
barrier reef, creating the
largest lagoon in the world. The reef
itself is the second longest coral reef
on the globe, beaten only by its close
neighbour the Great Barrier Reef of
Australia.
However, whereas the Great Barrier
Reef is an hour-and-a-half boat ride
from the nearest ports of Cairns
or Port Douglas, the coral off New
Caledonia is much more accessible.
In fact a boat is not even needed
since significant coral is accessible by
snorkellers swimming off the main
tourist beaches.
TOP LEFT Tropical crayfish get real big.
TOP RIGHT A beach south of Noumea.
MIDDLE RIGHT The jungle rapidly
reclaims what man leaves behind.
ABOVE Ile du Canard.
OPPOSITE Anyone want their own
deserted island?
We had reason to visit Noumea,
the capital and largest city of New
Caledonia, to test a new model boat
which was commissioned by a local
fishing operator. Tough job, I know,
but sometimes we boat reviewers have
to take one for the team.
We were told that February is not
the ideal time to visit the country,
temperatures are in the low 30s and
it rains almost every day. The lack
of trade winds at that time of year
though meant that sea conditions
were settled and hence it proved the
best time of year for exploring the
profusion of sea life.
ISLAND MINING
The main industry in New Caledonia
is mining, particularly nickel and
cobalt but also some iron ore. This
has unfortunately resulted in severe
environmental degradation in places,
mainly due to the soft soil covering
the island that quickly erodes during
the torrential rain that regularly falls
in the tropics. Thus runoff of the red
topsoil occurs everywhere a road is
68 trade aboat.com.au
