A Brief Trip to Heaven

On Wednesday we invited the crews of several other boats to join us for a trip to the southeast side of Iles des Pins. Our objective was to then take our dinghies out to an atoll surrounded by treacherous reefs so we could visit a little island inside the lagoon. We had seen photos of this place – a tiny island with a long white spit of ultra-white sand surrounded by beautiful colored waters. The island is called Ilôt Nokanhui. It is rumored to have been rated the top beach in the world for honeymooners to visit.

Around 9 AM, the crews of s/v Trim, s/v Kilkea II, and s/v Serenity came on board. We were soon motoring our way around the island about 6 miles. We were treated to some very pretty views along the coast along the way, and an excellent spot to anchor Tahina in white sand.

We then all piled into two dinghies (we dragged Serenity’s dinghy with us), and started around the shoreline inside a reef. After about 3 miles, we had to brave our way out into the big seas for about a mile to get over to the atoll. As we headed out to it, we had waves crashing into us completely soaking us all. But, we soon made it across the open sea and carefully negotiated our way across the reef into the lagoon.

We soon arrived at Nokanhui and almost couldn’t believe our eyes. This place really lives up to its reputation. The white sand beach was amazing. Someone had built a little pyramid from driftwood in the middle. Surrounding the entire island was turquoise waters. On one side the water suddenly got deep and the color was dark blue providing ultra contrast to the water. We had partly cloudy skies, and the colors were constantly changing. We all immediately began taking pictures and reveling in the beauty. We spent a couple of hours there completely forgetting to put on sunscreen and baking in the sun.

The crew of s/v Trim has been taking pictures of local beers in beautiful locations on their trip around the world. We loaned them a couple of local Havannah beers and they were soon taking some pictures. I took one with the fisheye lens and it turned out pretty good I think.

I spent most of yesterday processing the photos. I took a bunch of panoramic shots with a fisheye lens. Many of the photos you’ll see below have been straightened into ultra-wide-angle panoramic shots to give you a taste of what we experienced. First you’ll see a few shots taken as we headed out on Tahina, then a few from the island, and finally one shot as we were leaving in the afternoon.

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And, finally, I also took a 360 panorama from the middle of the sand spit. This will give you a real sense of the beauty of the place. Make sure you look all around, including down. Maybe you can get a sense of the fine powder between your toes, imagine the smell of ultra clean air, a light breeze, and the sun on your face.

Perfect Island – Ilot Nokanhui in New Caledonia