Îlot Maître

Îlot Maître is a small coral islet in the lagoon off Nouméa, the capital of New Caledonia, reached by shuttle boat in around twenty minutes. It is a few hundred metres of white sand and low vegetation surrounded by shallow turquoise water.

The lagoon it sits in is the point. New Caledonia's lagoon is the largest enclosed lagoon in the world, some twenty-four thousand square kilometres, protected by a barrier reef of around fifteen hundred kilometres — second in length only to Australia's. Six areas of it were inscribed by UNESCO in 2008 for the diversity of coral and fish and for holding populations of dugong and green turtle.

The islet is a nature reserve with restrictions: no camping, no fires, marked paths and areas closed for seabird nesting. The water around it is shallow and consistently windy, which has made it a well-known kitesurfing site — the flat lagoon water and steady trade wind are close to ideal, and schools operate from the islet and from Nouméa's Anse Vata bay. The islet has been a nature reserve since 1989, and the seagrass beds around it are grazed by dugong, which are occasionally seen from the water.

There is one small resort on over-water bungalows and a beach club; day visitors use the public sand. Everything is brought by boat. Îlot Signal and Amédée, with its nineteenth-century iron lighthouse shipped from Paris, are the other lagoon islets served by boats from Nouméa.

Twenty minutes from Nouméa, inside the largest enclosed lagoon on earth, and a nature reserve where camping is prohibited and the nesting areas are closed. Flat water and a steady trade wind, which is why the kites are there. You can see the city from the sand, and that is part of the point rather than a failing.