Thursday, 12th August, 1993
Rosemary and Mac on the Seahorse Pontoon
his morning we visited the Seahorse Pontoon out on the reef. This is the high point of my trip, I think. The Seahorse Pontoon is an observatory of reef life, where you can see the fish and coral through underwater windows, they feed the fish so you get to see a lot, also a glass-bottomed boat takes you over lots more of the "coral garden" and you can snorkel. As it happened today, however, they couldn't snorkel because the water was full of jelly fish, almost transparent with long trailing tentacles of sting, which kept people out of the water. However, the fish observatory was great, a huge variety of fish in all colours and sizes and the glass bottomed boat trip was great.
Rosemary on board the Seahorse Pontoon
he coral is in fantastic shapes and colour and we went over giant clams and a wreck.
We spent all morning out there taken in a fantastic catamaran power boat called "Manta", a 45 minute trip over the lagoon. (I don't know if I have mentioned it before but New Caledonia has the largest lagoon in the world enclosed by the second largest barrier reef. No prizes for guessing the largest! It also has the third largest nickel industry in the world, which has contributed greatly to the insalubrious effect Noumea gives "Fairstar" tourists.)
he Seahorse Pontoon makes Aussies feel at home. It was designed in Queensland and the "Manta" is an Aussie built boat, and they serve Fosters beer. Tomorrow is our last full day. It's been interesting, but I don't know if Mac has enjoyed himself. Its very hard work doing nothing when you would rather be at work.
