Kuto Bay, Isle of Pines
Prony Bay
Amédée Islet
Baie des Citrons, Nouméa
Ouvéa Lagoon, Loyalty Islands
Dive the Aiguille de Prony hydrothermal spire
Snorkel the Oro Natural Pool
Hike Katepai Mountain to view the Heart of Voh
Visit Amédée Lighthouse
Outrigger pirogue excursion, Upi Bay
Isle of Pines
Loyalty Islands (Lifou, Maré, Ouvéa)
Nouméa
Grotte Oumagne (Queen Hortense’s Cave)
Voh
The dry, cooler season from April to November brings steadier trade winds and less humidity, with July through September the most settled stretch for sailing the barrier reef. The wet season, December to March, coincides with the South Pacific cyclone season, and while direct hits are uncommon this far west, most charters avoid January and February. Winter nights (June to August) can turn cool enough for a light jacket, a detail few first-time guests expect from a Pacific island.
Charters fly into La Tontouta International Airport (NOU), about 37 kilometres northwest of Nouméa, served by direct flights from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and mainland France. From the airport it’s roughly a 40-minute transfer to Port Moselle Marina in Nouméa, the territory’s main port of entry and the usual starting point for a lagoon charter. A handful of itineraries instead join at the Isle of Pines or one of the Loyalty Islands by domestic flight.
Kuto Bay on the Isle of Pines is the classic first stop, a curve of pale sand and pine-topped islets in remarkably clear water. Prony Bay, in the lagoon’s remote south, anchors near mangrove-lined inlets and the Aiguille de Prony dive site. For a longer itinerary, Ouvéa in the Loyalty Islands has one of the finest lagoons in the territory, its long white beach fringing turquoise water along the island’s western coast.
Ten to fourteen days lets you combine Nouméa, the Isle of Pines and at least one Loyalty Island without rushing between anchorages spread across a lagoon covering some 24,000 square kilometres. A shorter week-long charter works well if you stay within the southern lagoon, based around Nouméa, Prony Bay and the Isle of Pines, saving the longer overnight passage to Ouvéa or Lifou for a future trip.
Not quite: the heart-shaped clearing in the mangroves near Voh, on Grande Terre’s west coast, only reads as a heart from directly above, which is why Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s 1992 photograph of it needed an aircraft. Most charters arrange a microlight or helicopter flight over it, though a three-hour hike up Katepai Mountain reaches a viewing platform at 400 metres with a clear, if more distant, view. Either way it’s a detour from the coast, best combined with a stop in the Koné-Voh-Pouembout region.
