On our Friday during our Noumea trip we decided to take a day trip out to Amédée island for some hopefully some excellent snorkeling and diving. We’d been staying in an Airbnb apartment in Baie des Citron in Noumea and had been enjoying the snorkeling off the beach a mere 60m from our apartment, but we were keen to more of the UNESCO world-heritage listed marine reserve. Our adventures in Baie des Citron are in this post.
Along with the promise of turtles. It was an absolutely beautiful day and some fantastic clear water with excellent, coral, fish and so many green sea turtles!
An early start…..
We had started the day very early with breakfast on our deck, with views and then off to the Marina near Port Moselle for our day out with Blue Caledonia diving. We needed to be there by 7am to check in and fill in all the paperwork for the divers.
It was a gorgeous morning and we were looking forward to some promised excellent diving and snorkeling.
It was just our family and 2 local Caledonians (1 diver and 1 snorkeler) on the trip that day. We loaded up all the gear onto the boat, and the kids were a little disappointed that we were in the small boat, rather than the big one with seats and shade. It made for a bit of an adventurous ride out to the island.
A wild ride…..
Amédée Island (Îlot Amédée) is a tiny coral atoll located 24km south of Noumea, at the entrance of the barrier reef. Situated in a protected marine reserve, it’s a scenic 45-minute boat ride from Nouméa’s Port Moselle. It might have been very scenic but in the zodiac equivalent it was a bit wild. Somehow we didn’t lose any children overboard although we were all soaked and got a good workout from holding on.
The first bit of the trip out of the bay area was pretty calm and not too bumpy. Once we passed the heads it was a different matter!
Our trip out started out with lovely calm scenery and then got a little bit wild!
We were all drenched and had sore arms from holding on for dear life. Having done some very rough zodiac rides in Antarctica I wasn’t fussed and was managing to shoot some videos and photos while ensuring the children stayed onboard! Soren and Astrid were finding it very different from the previous boat rides they’d done to dive sites 🙂 Zinnia thought the whole thing was hilarious!
With the beautiful sunny day we did enjoy the trip out and luckily it was a pleasant 28 degrees so being wet wasn’t really an issue!
Once at the island, Zinnia and I were onshore to enjoy the serenity before a few boat loads of other day trippers to Amédée came in. Anto, Astrid and Soren were off for a dive straight away, so they deposited Zinnia and I with most of the gear, and we were escorted to our beach location with our other snorkeler to enjoy some free time while the divers head out.
Soren had completed his open water certification last October and this was his first dive overseas, and in tropical water. Astrid, who has been qualified for a couple of years has dived in Rarotonga and Fiji. This was the first New Caledonia dive for all of them and it was apparently highly enjoyable and they saw turtles and plenty of tropical fish. They also did a wreck dive, which was a first for Soren and Astrid.
Exploring Amedee
Amédée Island is approximately 400m long and 270m wide, covering an area of about 4 hectares. It is most famous for it’s 56m high white lighthouse, and of course the excellent snorkeling. Zinnia and I set up our gear in the shade. We had an area of beach reserved for us by Blue Caledonia with some chairs and amazing views, so we went for a little explore.
The island is gorgeous and yes those views were the real deal. It was most definitely tropical paradise!
The island is very popular for day trips and some bigger boats of tourists were due in shortly so we were making the most of having the island pretty much to ourselves and were straight out into the lagoon for some snorkeling.
Our first turtle snorkel…..
Zinnia and I found turtles pretty quickly and plenty of beautiful fish and coral. Our fellow snorkeler was a local and had been to Amédée quite a few times so she showed us the spots the turtles hang out and it didn’t take us long to find them.
The island is renowned for it’s resident population of green sea turtles. They love to graze on seagrass near the shore so it was very easy to cruise around observing them.
Several of the sea turtles had cleaning remoras (suckerfish). The remora use a suction cup dis on their heads to attach to the turtle’s shell or underside. The turtle and remora have a symbiotic relationship. The remora gets free transportation, protection and food scraps. The turtles get groomed and the remora eat parasites which keeps the turtles cleaner and healthier. It was quite amazing watching them swim around together.
We had seen turtles snorkeling in Rarotonga, but in the past 2 years Zinnia has vastly improved her snorkeling ability and was now in her element getting to snorkel freely with these majestic creatures.
The visibility was excellent and the turtles are extremely happy to lay around playing with you. We loved watching them lazily munching on the seagrass, when they weren’t gliding through the water.
We were transfixed by the turtles but did find plenty of other fish and coral, all very close to the beach. It was so clear and calm that it was easy to cruise around and play with the fish.
A tropical paradise……
After plenty of time in the water we had to surface for a bit to grab a drink and play in the sand if you are Zinnia! This was certainly the way to spend a day of the school holidays!
Once the divers returned, all brimming with stories of the turtles, fish and coral they’d seen. They were keen for a drink and snack while Zinnia and I were off for our guided snorkel with Vivien the dive guide. Vivien quickly figured out that I was an experienced snorkeler and Zinnia was a strong swimmer for 7 years old so he took us out to some sections of reef we hadn’t yet explored.
We learnt a bit about some of the fish we found. This mostly involved him telling us things about the fish with it’s French name and then me identifying it and letting him know what we called it in English. We did find some very nice coral formations and plenty of friendly fish to swim with.
Anto and the other kids had come out to join us after not too long and we found plenty of fish and turtles together.
There were so many turtles that it was impossible not to trip over them. They were everywhere, swimming, munching on seagrass or just resting in the coral.
Enjoying the beach and the water!
After our guided snorkel, we ate our baguettes that Anto had prepared that morning on on the beach and enjoyed the beautiful lunch picnic views. There is a restaurant on the island and you can book a buffet lunch at as part of your day trip but we were more than happy to spend extra time in the water and were not sorry that we’d brought our own lunch with us.
The kids were happy playing on the beach between snorkels and eating to refuel their energy.
The lighthouse was under renovation so we couldn’t go up today for the views, but we had plenty of beach scenery instead.
It was time for the divers to head off for their second and final dive. Zinnia and I were more than happy to head back out into the reef to explore a few more of the areas we’d discovered with Vivien on our guided snorkel.
There were still plenty of turtles around so we swam with them and headed for some of the interesting coral areas.
The water colour was gorgeous and it was hard to stay out of it! There were so many great coral and fish that even when Zinnia got tired she was saying to me ‘but mum I just don’t want this to ever stop as it’s so beautiful’.
Fish, turtles, sharks and snakes……
Zinnia did eventually opt to go into the beach and build sandcastles while I continued to snorkel nearby. As I was able to see her from a fair way out, and she was happily playing on the beach near the calm lagoon I thought this was an acceptable plan. When I dragged myself out after my millionth turtle encounter she duly informed me she found a sea snake but let it go in the bushes! Kids 🙂
Thankfully there were no snake bites and we did return to the water for a some more snorkeling. The coral and fish were abundant and the visibility had continued to be excellent all day.
I was also lucky enough to see a white-tipped reef shark cruising around!
Afernoons on Amédée Island
The divers returned all exhausted after a much more choppy dive and boat ride back to Amédée, but having seen plenty of reef sharks and lion fish. They voted the morning wreck dive was more relaxing but both had been great for fish and coral and they had enjoyed themselves. Soren was now utterly exhausted and both he and Astrid decided to spend some time relaxing in the beautiful turquoise water.
We were all a bit sunburnt despite repeated sunscreen application and wetsuits. I think I spent close to 5 hours snorkeling and Zinnia over 4 hours. The snorkeling was definitely top-notch!
Despite all the sun and sand we were all keen to stay as long as possible and make the most of the amazing scenery and snorkeling. Amédée is definitely a beautiful spot to visit!
By 4pm it was time to pack up and head back to the boat for our trip back to Noumea.
The bumpy ride back!
The boat back to Noumea was another 45 minutes of bouncing, soaking ‘fun’.
Soren who was so exhausted napped the entire trip back holding onto the metal bar, somehow not falling off despite being tossed all over the place.
Astrid just fell into the floor area after some violent bumps and then held on for dear life trying not to puke and Zinnia again thought the whole ride was fabulous, shouting with glee!
As we approached Port Moselle we had some lovely views of the beaches and city coming in. We were all sunburnt and soaked but it had been worth every dollar!
Sunsets and recovery naps!
It was an excellent day out out, only ruined by the news when we got back that there had been another shark attack and all the beaches in Noumea were closed again. This was going to somewhat ruin our plans for the next few days. Luckily we’d only seen friendly reef sharks while out and none of the bitey ones.
Soren and Zinnia immediately fell asleep for a nap, too much sun and activity for one day!
We did have to rouse everyone for dinner and another spectacular sunset from our deck.
The day trip out to Amédée hadn’t been cheap but we all agreed it was a highlight. Beautiful scenery, amazing snorkeling and all those turtles! The divers had enjoyed their dives and we’d been blessed with some excellent weather.
All the kids were rather shattered when we got back after so much sun and water time but it was an awesome day out. Those memories of swimming with the turtles in that beautiful lagoon are going to last a lifetime.
Up next….
Our adventures out at Ilot Maitre, and more amazing snorkeling and yes more turtles!
