CanadianTravelAgent
Contributor
Everyone is most definately correct on the high prices in French Polynesia. I was extremely fortunate to have spent my honeymoon there 7 years ago. We were there for 32 days...basically all of September 2003 plus a couple days. Tahiti (just to recover from the flight), Manihi, Bora Bora, Fakarava, Moorea, Rurutu, and Nuka Hiva. We spent the first 10 days in the luxury resorts (Manihi and Bora Bora) and then toned it down to budget pensions for the remainder. The diving was excellent in most places we visited.
In any case...you can find more budget accomodations. And, for the most part, the diving is worth it.
Bora Bora does have that special romantic vibe. We only spent 4 nights there and it was worth it IMHO. I also wasn't expecting it to be a highlight of the diving...but it was pretty good...lots of lemon sharks and huge schools of barracuda. It was also nice to go over to the main island and get some snacks and drinks for a fraction of the cost of what was charged at the resort.
Manihi was our first diving stop and where we splurged for over-water bungalow (half the price of one in Bora Bora). We saw mantas and lots of reef sharks. Was a little isolated...not easy to get to a town to pick up supplies. I remember to save a bit of $$ on a couple of nights we shared an entree and filled up on bread. Also drank bottled water instead of anything else because of the ridiculous prices they charged!
Moorea was a pleasant surprise. We stayed at a hotel-type resort called Les Tipaniers. They had an onsite dive shop that was pretty good. We did some shark dives and also a neat little outgoing tide dive which gave us a show with hundreds of eagle rays! The island itself is absolutely beautiful. We rented a car for a couple of days which allowed us to explore and get out to a large grocery store a couple of times to stock up. We had a room with a kitchen we were able to save a bit of $$. It was a nice little place.
Fakarava was a little disappointing for a couple of reasons. We were only able to dive the pass once because of weather...saw hundreds of reef sharks hanging out...pretty cool. We stayed at a pension there...very affordable. But, there was a language barrier as my french is very basic. Since the pension offered full board, there was communal meals which were a little awkward with no one else really willing to speak english! The dive operator was also not the best...I found their dive briefings to be inadequate. He would go over stuff for 10 minutes with the french customers and then say, a quick 30 second summary to us in english. They also made the boat ride out to the sites as uncomfortable as possible...trying to get there as fast as possible...they slammed that boat into waves that made our whole bodies lift off the floor and slam back down over and over and over...and all of our gear. The constant slamming caused my husband's lens to break off his video camera inside the housing.
If I were to do this area again, I would opt for a live-aboard!
Rurutu was for swimming with humpbacks...very cool and very cold!
Nuka Hiva had some great moments with mantas and a few far away hammerhead experiences. But again, major language barrier. Other than the dive operator, most of them didn't even speak english or french. There were some other people at the pension who did speak english thankfully!
I've seen specials for trips over there for 7 or 10 nights in Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora including airfare from LAX that seem like pretty good deals compared to what we spent! Might be worth looking at if you can get a deal to get over there with accomodations bundled in.
In any case...you can find more budget accomodations. And, for the most part, the diving is worth it.
Bora Bora does have that special romantic vibe. We only spent 4 nights there and it was worth it IMHO. I also wasn't expecting it to be a highlight of the diving...but it was pretty good...lots of lemon sharks and huge schools of barracuda. It was also nice to go over to the main island and get some snacks and drinks for a fraction of the cost of what was charged at the resort.
Manihi was our first diving stop and where we splurged for over-water bungalow (half the price of one in Bora Bora). We saw mantas and lots of reef sharks. Was a little isolated...not easy to get to a town to pick up supplies. I remember to save a bit of $$ on a couple of nights we shared an entree and filled up on bread. Also drank bottled water instead of anything else because of the ridiculous prices they charged!
Moorea was a pleasant surprise. We stayed at a hotel-type resort called Les Tipaniers. They had an onsite dive shop that was pretty good. We did some shark dives and also a neat little outgoing tide dive which gave us a show with hundreds of eagle rays! The island itself is absolutely beautiful. We rented a car for a couple of days which allowed us to explore and get out to a large grocery store a couple of times to stock up. We had a room with a kitchen we were able to save a bit of $$. It was a nice little place.
Fakarava was a little disappointing for a couple of reasons. We were only able to dive the pass once because of weather...saw hundreds of reef sharks hanging out...pretty cool. We stayed at a pension there...very affordable. But, there was a language barrier as my french is very basic. Since the pension offered full board, there was communal meals which were a little awkward with no one else really willing to speak english! The dive operator was also not the best...I found their dive briefings to be inadequate. He would go over stuff for 10 minutes with the french customers and then say, a quick 30 second summary to us in english. They also made the boat ride out to the sites as uncomfortable as possible...trying to get there as fast as possible...they slammed that boat into waves that made our whole bodies lift off the floor and slam back down over and over and over...and all of our gear. The constant slamming caused my husband's lens to break off his video camera inside the housing.
If I were to do this area again, I would opt for a live-aboard!
Rurutu was for swimming with humpbacks...very cool and very cold!
Nuka Hiva had some great moments with mantas and a few far away hammerhead experiences. But again, major language barrier. Other than the dive operator, most of them didn't even speak english or french. There were some other people at the pension who did speak english thankfully!
I've seen specials for trips over there for 7 or 10 nights in Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora including airfare from LAX that seem like pretty good deals compared to what we spent! Might be worth looking at if you can get a deal to get over there with accomodations bundled in.
