Beaches in New Caledonia

A French territory holding the largest enclosed lagoon in the world, some twenty-four thousand square kilometres of it, protected by a barrier reef of around fifteen hundred kilometres — second in length only to Australia's. Six areas were inscribed by UNESCO in 2008 for coral diversity and for populations of dugong and green turtle. The main island, Grande Terre, is long, mountainous and nickel-rich, and the mining that follows the nickel is visible from the coast road; the Loyalty Islands and the Isle of Pines are coral and flat, and they hold the white sand. The Isle of Pines takes its name from the araucaria that stand along its shores, and its Oro bay is a natural pool filled and emptied by the tide. The trade wind is reliable and the lagoon is flat, which makes this one of the Pacific's better kitesurfing destinations, with Nouméa's bays used year-round. The territory is Melanesian and French at once: Kanak custom governs land on much of the islands, and a permission asked of a village is the normal way to reach some beaches. Practically: prices are French and high, the dry and cooler season runs April to November with the cyclone risk from December to March, and domestic flights or the Betico ferry reach the outer islands. Saltwater crocodiles are absent here, which is not true of the Melanesian coasts to the north-west.