Amédée Lighthouse — Attraction in New Caledonia

Outstanding Tour.

The Mary D tour to Amedee Island is justifiably one of the top attractions in New Caledonia. The island is public land but Mary D (a family business) has had a long-term agreement to bring tourists to the island so while Google lists this as a review of the Island, it’s actually a review of the only tour option.

The only area of this tour that is lacking are the Mary D/Amedee Island websites. They don’t give a clear description of what the tours involve. So I’ll explain our experience.

At 7.35am a large bus collected us from our hotel (Le Meridien) and took us (via a few other hotels) to the port where we boarded the boat for an 8.15am departure. The Mary D Seven is a large boat that holds maybe 150 people. Our tour (July 3, 2022) was almost full.

The cruise to the island was calm and took only 45 minutes. They served coffee, pain au chocolate and croissants on board. This was not included in the tour price.

The island is quite small and there’s basically 7 things to do. We did them all:

1. Sit on the abundant deck chairs by the beach.
2. Visit the small store. We bought a hot chocolate after swimming but given how substantial lunch was, see below, it probably wasn’t necessary.
3. Climb the lighthouse. This was well worth doing. It’s 240 steps but I did it when it wasn’t busy and took maybe 3 minutes to get to the top. It’s not hard and the view is excellent.
4. Lunch. Amazing. The company puts on an extensive buffet lunch. There is plenty of food and drink and it’s all included in the tour price. It was excellent. There was a short dance performance during lunch that was very good.
5. Glass-bottomed boat tour. This is included in the tour and you’re divided into groups of about 30 and given a wrist band which determines which tour you’re on. Each tour goes for about 30 minutes. We saw coral, fish, a turtle and a small shark through the glass. The tour was very accessible, even to people in a wheelchair. The main commentary was in French but another guide translated the key points into English.
6. Swimming and snorkelling in the ocean. This was the absolute highlight. The reef starts at the beach and we swam with large turtles in water that was less than 2m deep and always within 200m of the shore. There were so many coloured tropical fish and it seemed trivial to find turtles. It’s free to borrow masks, snorkels and flippers. The staff make sure everything fits and tell you where to swim. The water is so calm and clear, you could see fish just wading in the water. Remarkably, I estimate only about 20% of the people on our tour went snorkelling. The others really missed out.

At 3.30pm we began boarding the boat, were back on our bus at 4.30pm and back at the hotel by 5pm.

The tour was extremely professional and the quality of the experience with respect to the ease of seeing the fish and turtles was better than tours I’ve done in Maui, Cairns or Fiji. Ningaloo Reef is probably the only place that has been better.

I thoroughly recommend this tour.

To Mary D: you’re doing a great job but I strongly suggest adding more detail about the tour to...

Did as part of p&o cruise shore tour. $220 pp only $20 -$40 or so more than booking direct with Mary D who did the tour and have the monopoly for trips to amedee Island but Mary D wouldn't take direct bookings when I tried. Lovely little island white sand clear water. The included extensive bbq style buffet lunch was delicious, desserts limited and average but did include a sugar free mousse and dragon fruit. Show entertaining. Have sun lounges , only a few umbrellas and under trees. Left of jetty facing island was best area . Included glass bottom boat trip very ordinary mainly because not great coral but did see big fish that arrive when give fish food. Snorkeling very ordinary not great but still pleasant pastime. Saw 2 turtles which was great. Be careful rips and sea snakes. We had 2 come onto land under my sunbed! No idea if dangerous or not. No one said anything about them or saw no signs . Left noumea 9am 45min boat ride left island 3pm. Pleasant day relaxing. Probably not do again mainly due to the steep price and felt too short a time. Other better snorkelling islands...

Visited Amedee Island with Mary D cruises with a group of friends and thoroughly enjoyed it. The day trip was well organised and included hotel pickup/drop off, ferry tickets, lunch, glass bottom boat tour and island access. The location is stunning and is around a 40 minute ferry ride from Noumea’s ferry wharf one way. It is a protected destination and the ferry only has one service to and from daily on most days of the week. The abundance of wildlife is outstanding and the location was pristine. On the island, one has the option to hire additional equipment at a small fee which I’d recommend such as snorkels, kayaks and paddle boards. The island accepts both cash and card. We were very fortunate and managed to see a number of turtles whilst on the water and a number of local snakes (they’re harmless so long as you’re respectful of their presence). The destination is suitable for solo, couples and families and well equipped with facilities such as toilets. Buffet lunch organised by the tour was delicious and expansive. Definitely worth the...