Diving Bora Bora and Moorea

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Pinache

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Hi!

I have an upcoming trip to Moorea and Bora Bora for a few days on each island. My husband doesn't dive, but I'm AWC. We are planning a snorkelling excursion in both places. I also booked a dive on Moorea. I have done a decent amount of diving in the Caribbean, Cozumel, and Hawaii. I have also dove the GBR.

Is it worth diving Bora Bora? Is it very different than the snorkelling? I will only be able to go out 1 day.

Thanks
Thanks!
 
If I had one day to dive, I would do it on Bora Bora, hopefully at the Manta Ray cleaning station (Anau dive site). Perhaps it is where we were, but I was not impressed with Moorea diving, and that island has a lot to see topside.
 
I had the opposite experience. Bora Bora diving was okay. Anau did have one or two Mantas and mostly Spotted Eagle Rays. (I had better Manta experience from Ishigaki, Japan.) Moorea diving was more exciting at Les Pointes Blanches, where nine feet Lemon Sharks would approach since they think you have food. The dive shop I went with didn't feed, but some others do, thus the close-up Lemon Sharks.

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I had the opposite experience. Bora Bora diving was okay. Anau did have one or two Mantas and mostly Spotted Eagle Rays. (I had better Manta experience from Ishigaki, Japan.) Moorea diving was more exciting at Les Pointes Blanches, where nine feet Lemon Sharks would approach since they think you have food. The dive shop I went with didn't feed, but some others do, thus the close-up Lemon Sharks.

View attachment 680162

Looks like he's laughing at you
 
I also preferred Moorea over Bora Bora. Moorea has beautiful healthy reefs with sharks everywhere. My dive in Bora Bora was within the lagoon so visibility wasn't the best.
 
I preferred Moorea over Bora Bora. We dove inside the lagoon and near the reef in Bora Bora and the vis was not that great inside the lagoon. We dove outside the fringing reef on Moorea. We were there the wrong time for Mantas in Bora Bora. The only place I saw mantas was Fakarava. Many more sharks especially lemons in Moorea.
In Moorea we dove around the pass (outside and inside) to opunohu bay. There are more passes in Moorea than Bora Bora and most dive sites are on this side of the island.
There was quite alot of surge outside the reef on Moorea. Obviously much less on the lagoon/island side.
 
What dive operators did you all use in Moorea? We are thinking about taking a a cruise and Moorea is one of the spots. Also, if anyone know anything about the diving in Raiatea, that is the other spot, would love to hear about it and recommendations on who to use.

Thanks,
cuzbound
 
What dive operators did you all use in Moorea? We are thinking about taking a a cruise and Moorea is one of the spots. Also, if anyone know anything about the diving in Raiatea, that is the other spot, would love to hear about it and recommendations on who to use.

Thanks,
cuzbound
We were on the Paul Gauguin which has it's own dive operation. We did not stop at Raiatea.
 
I was there two weeks ago. My impression is based on a very small sample from an anniversary vacation with my non-diver wife, during which even a moderate amount of diving would have been contrary to the together-time mission of the trip.

I enjoyed Moorea more than Bora Bora. I saw a very large fever of Eagle Rays at Bora Bora at the end of an otherwise depressing dive over moonscape. Moorea offered more healthy coral and variety of fish, plus a turtle, and three species of shark (white tip, black tip, and lemon). Neither offered the biomass one would see in the Florida Keys. But, as I said, my sample was very small. There's probably much better diving in both places that I didn't see.

The Moorea dive operator was Moorea Fun Dive, a small PADI center that's little more than a shack on the beach with a small aluminum boat on an improvised mooring ball a few meters away at wading depth. The two French women who run it were cordial and professional, and the inexperience of my Instabuddy gave our guide a chance to display her ability to extend a dive by sharing air and still showing us interesting critters.

My best dive of the trip was at Raiatea: a gorgeous slope of healthy coral down to about 100 feet with unlimited visibility, plenty of reef fish and some bigger stuff hanging out in the depths, including the first whale I've seen while diving. The dive operator was Hemisphere Sub, located at the Apooti Marina (the first big marina you see if you go counter clockwise around the island from the airport). They picked me up from and dropped me off at the AirBNB we were staying at for no extra charge--I think it's a normal service they provide to anyone. They're a solid operation. They also gave me a choice of AL80 or Steel 100 tanks at the same price.

My French is rusty and only basic tourist survival quality. Language was not a barrier with any of the operators, even though English speakers are a minority of the tourists in French Polynesia.
 
I was there two weeks ago. My impression is based on a very small sample from an anniversary vacation with my non-diver wife, during which even a moderate amount of diving would have been contrary to the together-time mission of the trip.

I enjoyed Moorea more than Bora Bora. I saw a very large fever of Eagle Rays at Bora Bora at the end of an otherwise depressing dive over moonscape. Moorea offered more healthy coral and variety of fish, plus a turtle, and three species of shark (white tip, black tip, and lemon). Neither offered the biomass one would see in the Florida Keys. But, as I said, my sample was very small. There's probably much better diving in both places that I didn't see.

The Moorea dive operator was Moorea Fun Dive, a small PADI center that's little more than a shack on the beach with a small aluminum boat on an improvised mooring ball a few meters away at wading depth. The two French women who run it were cordial and professional, and the inexperience of my Instabuddy gave our guide a chance to display her ability to extend a dive by sharing air and still showing us interesting critters.

My best dive of the trip was at Raiatea: a gorgeous slope of healthy coral down to about 100 feet with unlimited visibility, plenty of reef fish and some bigger stuff hanging out in the depths, including the first whale I've seen while diving. The dive operator was Hemisphere Sub, located at the Apooti Marina (the first big marina you see if you go counter clockwise around the island from the airport). They picked me up from and dropped me off at the AirBNB we were staying at for no extra charge--I think it's a normal service they provide to anyone. They're a solid operation. They also gave me a choice of AL80 or Steel 100 tanks at the same price.

My French is rusty and only basic tourist survival quality. Language was not a barrier with any of the operators, even though English speakers are a minority of the tourists in French Polynesia.
My English isn’t rusty. But a “fever” of rays is a brand new term for me. Not in the dictionary for sure. Better than a fluther of jellyfish or a shiver of sharks I suppose.
 

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