Terry Scuba
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Figi or Tahiti in August? And places to stay?
Fiji or Tahiti in August?
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I cant comment on Fiji, that's on my travel and dive list for sure. I have been to Tahiti in late 2013 and we stayed on the island of Moorea for two weeks. We landed at PPT on the main island of Tahiti, took a cab to the catamaran terminal (10 min, if that) and walked on that for a quick boat ride to Moorea. Not sure what the other islands are like, but Moorea was super laid back, I really enjoyed it. I would compare it to Kauai.
I did my pool dives and classes in Canada but did my OW dives there to get certified. We dove with Moorea Fun Dive which is on the west coast of the island and the owners are Christian and Marie, at the time they had just taken over the operation and they are fantastic! We did 8 dives with Christian, the first OW dive we saw a couple Lemon Sharks, tons of black tip reef sharks, a Great Barracuda (still the largest I've ever seen) many other little critters which at the time I couldnt identify let alone spot without the help of Christian pointing them out. Did a drift dive to see the Spotted Eagle Rays, another dive called the Canyons and one other to check out the lava flow from the extinct volcano. The visibility was fantastic and when we were getting certified Christian had joked that we're having dessert first by kicking off our scuba diving in Moorea.
We rented a few VRBO's for most of the time there (tbd-rentals was one of them Moorea07) and the other was called Fare Hamara, but I dont think they're renting it anymore
we also stayed at the Sofitel Moorea Ia Ora, which is very nice. You can snorkelling right from your room (or the beach) and the water is super calm at Temae beach.
There is lots to do on Moorea other than scuba diving, you can rent jetski's and go feed sting rays, go quadding through the island, tour some of the plantations, snorkel, just soak up the sun on the beach and lots more. The food is fantastic there, quite a variety of restaurants (even a burger joint owned by fellow Canadians with a burger that is not to be taken lightly). I dont think we had a bad meal the entire time.
As you can see, I cant reccommend it enough, cant wait to go back, but next time I will be spending time on some of the other islands like Tahaa, Raiatea or Bora Bora
I did my pool dives and classes in Canada but did my OW dives there to get certified. We dove with Moorea Fun Dive which is on the west coast of the island and the owners are Christian and Marie, at the time they had just taken over the operation and they are fantastic! We did 8 dives with Christian, the first OW dive we saw a couple Lemon Sharks, tons of black tip reef sharks, a Great Barracuda (still the largest I've ever seen) many other little critters which at the time I couldnt identify let alone spot without the help of Christian pointing them out. Did a drift dive to see the Spotted Eagle Rays, another dive called the Canyons and one other to check out the lava flow from the extinct volcano. The visibility was fantastic and when we were getting certified Christian had joked that we're having dessert first by kicking off our scuba diving in Moorea.
We rented a few VRBO's for most of the time there (tbd-rentals was one of them Moorea07) and the other was called Fare Hamara, but I dont think they're renting it anymore
we also stayed at the Sofitel Moorea Ia Ora, which is very nice. You can snorkelling right from your room (or the beach) and the water is super calm at Temae beach.There is lots to do on Moorea other than scuba diving, you can rent jetski's and go feed sting rays, go quadding through the island, tour some of the plantations, snorkel, just soak up the sun on the beach and lots more. The food is fantastic there, quite a variety of restaurants (even a burger joint owned by fellow Canadians with a burger that is not to be taken lightly). I dont think we had a bad meal the entire time.
As you can see, I cant reccommend it enough, cant wait to go back, but next time I will be spending time on some of the other islands like Tahaa, Raiatea or Bora Bora
I assume by Tahiti you mean French Polynesia not just the main island of Tahiti. I will also assume you are not trolling based on vagueness and the spelling of Fiji.
I have done both although Fiji is coming up on 10 years ago. If I had to choose I would go back to Fiji. We stayed and dived around the Taveuni area. The soft corals there are fantastic. The walls were covered in soft corals and the tops in many sites had many healthy hard corals. All the fish you wanted to see. Some sharks, mostly white tip reef sharks.
It's not that FP was bad. Lot's of sharks - mostly lemons and black tip reef sharks. Mantas at Rangiroa. I did not dive Fakarava but was told on the same trip that it was exponentially better than Rangiroa. It just that Fiji was better at least for me. FP did have small fish but mostly it was sharks. I have to say though, if there are alot of sharks there has to be alot of fish but we just didn't see them. The corals in Fiji (Taveuni) seemed to be more abundant than FP.
Around Taveuni and all the society islands the views and vegetation are awesome. There is not alot to the Tuomotus topside as they are atolls but still nice. I think Moorea is the most striking of all the Society islands. I think I would rather stay on Moorea than Bora Bora (or other Society islands). If Moorea you would have quick access to Tahiti also. FP is expensive as well.
The diving on Bora Bora was not that great, Moorea better and Rangiroa good for Mantas and dolphins in my experience. The passes at Fakarava are something I wished I could have done.
Overall we found Fiji to be cheaper, less touristy than FP and we found the Fijians to be extremely friendly. We stayed on Matangi but it is small and isolated. Good for relaxation but not alot to do. I dived as much as I could. Staying on Taveuni would be another good option. The Taveuni area is wetter and more green than Viti Levu or Vanua Levu. However many people go to Viti Levu and the diving around there I understand can be good. I did not stay on Viti Levu but you may have access to Nadi for shopping or whatever. A couple of sites around the Somosomo straights in Fiji had cyclone damage and were stripped to bare rock. We did those only once but did find blue ribbon eels on them. My favorite dive site is in Fiji and I prefer corals, fish, and walls over sharks.
You'll have surge and current at both, some more or less depending on the site.
I can't really recommend places to stay as I have no idea what you want or want to do. You'll have to be more specific. Both can have low end to high end. Tahiti is 8.5 hours and Fiji is 11.5 hours from LAX.
I have done both although Fiji is coming up on 10 years ago. If I had to choose I would go back to Fiji. We stayed and dived around the Taveuni area. The soft corals there are fantastic. The walls were covered in soft corals and the tops in many sites had many healthy hard corals. All the fish you wanted to see. Some sharks, mostly white tip reef sharks.
It's not that FP was bad. Lot's of sharks - mostly lemons and black tip reef sharks. Mantas at Rangiroa. I did not dive Fakarava but was told on the same trip that it was exponentially better than Rangiroa. It just that Fiji was better at least for me. FP did have small fish but mostly it was sharks. I have to say though, if there are alot of sharks there has to be alot of fish but we just didn't see them. The corals in Fiji (Taveuni) seemed to be more abundant than FP.
Around Taveuni and all the society islands the views and vegetation are awesome. There is not alot to the Tuomotus topside as they are atolls but still nice. I think Moorea is the most striking of all the Society islands. I think I would rather stay on Moorea than Bora Bora (or other Society islands). If Moorea you would have quick access to Tahiti also. FP is expensive as well.
The diving on Bora Bora was not that great, Moorea better and Rangiroa good for Mantas and dolphins in my experience. The passes at Fakarava are something I wished I could have done.
Overall we found Fiji to be cheaper, less touristy than FP and we found the Fijians to be extremely friendly. We stayed on Matangi but it is small and isolated. Good for relaxation but not alot to do. I dived as much as I could. Staying on Taveuni would be another good option. The Taveuni area is wetter and more green than Viti Levu or Vanua Levu. However many people go to Viti Levu and the diving around there I understand can be good. I did not stay on Viti Levu but you may have access to Nadi for shopping or whatever. A couple of sites around the Somosomo straights in Fiji had cyclone damage and were stripped to bare rock. We did those only once but did find blue ribbon eels on them. My favorite dive site is in Fiji and I prefer corals, fish, and walls over sharks.
You'll have surge and current at both, some more or less depending on the site.
I can't really recommend places to stay as I have no idea what you want or want to do. You'll have to be more specific. Both can have low end to high end. Tahiti is 8.5 hours and Fiji is 11.5 hours from LAX.
I can't comment on August, because we always travel around December/January which seems to be rainy season where ever we go
But I can wholeheartedly say that I LOVED Fiji. We stayed at Wananavu in 2014 and dove the Bligh Waters, will never forget the experience. The Coral, the amount of fish, just incredible. I would definitely go back.
Just 3 month ago, we went to FP, stayed on Moorea, Tahiti, Rangiroa and Bora Bora. We dove Moorea, Bora Bora and Rangiroa. Different diving than what we are used to but it grows on you. Rangi, of course, was the highlight with Sharks and Dolphins, but I still prefer Fiji.
But I can wholeheartedly say that I LOVED Fiji. We stayed at Wananavu in 2014 and dove the Bligh Waters, will never forget the experience. The Coral, the amount of fish, just incredible. I would definitely go back.
Just 3 month ago, we went to FP, stayed on Moorea, Tahiti, Rangiroa and Bora Bora. We dove Moorea, Bora Bora and Rangiroa. Different diving than what we are used to but it grows on you. Rangi, of course, was the highlight with Sharks and Dolphins, but I still prefer Fiji.
scubajunky17
Contributor
Interesting that you prefer Fiji to Rangi, Fakarava blew my mind and Rangi was pretty bloody awesome too! the south pass in Fakarava and the north Pass were incredible in my eyes.
You have really got me interested in fiji though, is budget diving possible there ? or is it all high priced resorts ?
You have really got me interested in fiji though, is budget diving possible there ? or is it all high priced resorts ?
Not sure who you are asking. Fiji is cheaper in general than FP. Rangiroa was good and though I did not get to dive Fakarava, the other divers that did it said it was exponentially better. However Fiji around Taveuni was better than Rangiroa and any of the Society islands though I saw astly differnet things like more sharks and mantas in FP but not as many in Fiji. Much more healthy and bigger hard and soft corals in Fiji (taveuni). There are high dollar places in Fiji and many lower priced options depending on where you stay. We stayed at Matangi but that is high dollar. There are others on Taveuni like Garden Island which I would consider if we go back and some lodges/hostel types. Lot's of divers go to beqa lagoon on Viti Levu on organized dive trips from Colorado and it seems reasonably priced. Depends on your budget.
scubajunky17
Contributor
I'm asking anyone who can help and thanks for your input, great to see this forum really active and helpful after it was quiet for a while and I been away for a couple of years. Any info you can give me on diving Fiji's quality spots at a budget rate are MuCH appreciated !
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