This is the first of a few pics I'm posting from our short trip out into the Pacific onboard the P&O cruise liner Pacific Dawn. The engines are running as the ship gets ready to depart Noumea, the capital city of New Caledonia. We only had a few hours in Noumea - enough to take a 'highlights' tour. I would have happily spent more time there. Away from the port the beachfront areas such as Baie des Citrons look a lot like the south of France, with French colonial architecture mixing beautifully with the palms and coral of the pacific.