We woke to an overcast day, but there was no rain.

My early morning walk to the boulangerie today to buy a croissant for Mick and a baguette for our lunch was much easier than it was a few days ago. I knew where I was going this morning and it made the trek much quicker. I did one small detour to see if I could find out a little more about a restaurant that I’d seen a sign for that looks very interesting; it advertises that it has a very limited menu each day, based on what is available in the market.

When I arrived at the location around 7.30am, there was no sign of a restaurant or a terrace. The business is advertised as a Beauty Salon with Thai Massage also being available. I was planning on returning later in the day to talk with someone – but instead I received an email reply to one I had sent off to the address on the sign requesting a reservation. And, lucky I did. The email stated they had left the BDC (Baie des Citrons) and had relocated to Magenta – about 20 minutes away in a taxi. So, that restaurant is off our list and Mick will cook for us again.

Weirdly, loads of restaurants are also closed on Tuesdays. It is obviously that it is not ‘high’ season in New Caledonia at the moment.

I walked past the marina again, and this time I spotted a couple of naval vessels, right at the back of the rows of boats.

Mick and I had spotted a patrol vessel on the open waters in Anse Vata on Sunday – travelling very quickly, with the crew standing at attention on all the decks.

According to the information I could find on the ‘net’ this is a P400 class patrol vessel. And, this could well have been her last hoorah!

La Glorieuse is the fifth ship in the P400 class of patrol vessels within the French Navy. She is the last vessel of her class still in service with the French Navy but is due to be decommissioned in May 2023.

Wikipedia

Not having hired a car has made things much less stressful, but I must admit that at the end of the day, Mick and I are both pretty tired as we have walked quite a way.

Tomorrow we plan on using our day pass on the buses to explore more of the area – which should mean we don’t ‘clock’ as many kilometres.