Leaving Rangiroa was tough. We had made good friends and had fantastic dives. Since our flight wasn't until mid afternoon we did make a shallow dive in the morning before we left for the airport. You know what they say...."Any time under water" (they do say that, don't they? And who really is they? Anyway, I digress)
Manihi is a medium-sized atoll about 110 miles northeast of Rangiroa. Best known for its' pearl farms (the first was established in 1968), the diving is fantastic. With only one pass, Tairapa, the diving is much like Rangiroa from a profile standpoint.
One of the very few regrets from our FP trip is that we only had 3 days in Manihi. If there was ever a place outside the mountains of Colorado that I felt at home it was here.
We arrived in Manihi early afternoon. The airport was closed a while ago when the end of the runway was washed away. Planes now use the shortened runway and taxi to a small thatched roof hut, where you deplane and catch a golf cart to the Pearl Beach Resort . Once again we had an ocean view bungalow. Being the first of the Pearl Resort in FP, this resort was a little more quaint than the Bora Bora property. The infinity pool was beautiful and almost always empty of swimmers.
The on property dive center at the Pearl Beach is Blue Nui Diving. The center is owned by Gilles, who owns the Bora Bora and Tahaa Blue Nui Centers, also. The shop is run by Thierry Cadeaux . Thierry is great. Sometimes you run into a DM that you really click with, here's one of them. Thierry is in the process of trying to idenitfy all of the Mantas in the area. Each of the Mantas have different orientation and amounts of spots on their underside. With good photos, they are distinguishable. The Mantas are named by the photographer. (i.e. Finesse)
Diving in Manihi is pretty simple. All of the dive sites are oriented around the pass or in the lagoon. Our first dive was at Le Cirque. The site is located in the lagoon, just inside the exit of the pass. Visibility may be limited, but it is well worth the dive as it is a cleaning station for manta rays . Upon entering the water you immediately follow the anchor line to the bottom (around 75 feet). From there you are in the middle of 3 cleaning stations. Mantas are not guaranteed, but we were lucky. After just 3 or 4 minutes the first of the Mantas arrived. Within another couple of minutes there were 4 males and 1 female Manta doing lazy circles around the dive site. It was truly amazing how big and graceful these creatures are. Photographing the Mantas was really as simple as moving from location to location and not getting in their way.
Mantas from 1st dive at Le Cirque
doubles
like a stealth bomber
kites
"Perdita"- the lone female
Soaring
from above
I've got my eye on you
Hey....watch where you're going
Bacchus
After the first dive at Le Cirque I was convinced that I could do the same dive everyday for a month. Granted, there wasn't much from a coral standpoint and there weren't a lot of fish, but who cares!
Dive 2 in Manihi was called La Faille. this is another rather easy dive, beginning in shallow water and working down to around 80 ft. There is more coral here and some intersting smaller fish, eels, gray reef sharks and black tips.
La Faille
Spotted Rock Cod
Convict Tangs
We knicknamed the convict tangs "high school girls" because they would hurry from place to place in large groups. "I'm going here, no I'm going here"
corals
black tip
titan trigger
red snapper
Second day at La Cirque wasn't as productive as the first. Only one Manta showed up. This was a Manta that we didn't see on day one. Named "Quasimoto", he is missing most of one of his front flaps. Thierry thinks it may have been eaten by a shark when he was younger. He certainly wasn't shy, as you can tell by the photos below:
Quasimoto
head on
gills
say cheese!
bye for now
Last dive of the trip was a drift dive through Tairapa that emptied out into the lagoon at La Cirque. The currents were't exceptionally strong going into the pass, but we did motor along fairly well. As the pass empties into the lagoon the depth goes from around 70 ft to 20 ft real quick. There's nothing you can do but hold on. Your computer is screaming to slow your ascent, but there's nothing you can do. There was some interesting life along the pass. Including... eel , long nose butterfly , flounder , marble grouper , unicorn fish , yellow trumpet , and sleeping nurse shark
I've been few places in my life where when it was time to go home I just didn't want to leave. French Polynesia was one of those places. The beauty of the land, sea, ocean life and people are unsurpassed by almost anywhere else. Thanks for letting me share some of the greatest times of my life!
From the bottom of the ocean to the top of the world here's wishing you clear water, great snow (hey...we ski too!) and a very Happy New Year for 2003.
Steve and Allison and Bacchus (the dog)
Manihi is a medium-sized atoll about 110 miles northeast of Rangiroa. Best known for its' pearl farms (the first was established in 1968), the diving is fantastic. With only one pass, Tairapa, the diving is much like Rangiroa from a profile standpoint.
One of the very few regrets from our FP trip is that we only had 3 days in Manihi. If there was ever a place outside the mountains of Colorado that I felt at home it was here.
We arrived in Manihi early afternoon. The airport was closed a while ago when the end of the runway was washed away. Planes now use the shortened runway and taxi to a small thatched roof hut, where you deplane and catch a golf cart to the Pearl Beach Resort . Once again we had an ocean view bungalow. Being the first of the Pearl Resort in FP, this resort was a little more quaint than the Bora Bora property. The infinity pool was beautiful and almost always empty of swimmers.
The on property dive center at the Pearl Beach is Blue Nui Diving. The center is owned by Gilles, who owns the Bora Bora and Tahaa Blue Nui Centers, also. The shop is run by Thierry Cadeaux . Thierry is great. Sometimes you run into a DM that you really click with, here's one of them. Thierry is in the process of trying to idenitfy all of the Mantas in the area. Each of the Mantas have different orientation and amounts of spots on their underside. With good photos, they are distinguishable. The Mantas are named by the photographer. (i.e. Finesse)
Diving in Manihi is pretty simple. All of the dive sites are oriented around the pass or in the lagoon. Our first dive was at Le Cirque. The site is located in the lagoon, just inside the exit of the pass. Visibility may be limited, but it is well worth the dive as it is a cleaning station for manta rays . Upon entering the water you immediately follow the anchor line to the bottom (around 75 feet). From there you are in the middle of 3 cleaning stations. Mantas are not guaranteed, but we were lucky. After just 3 or 4 minutes the first of the Mantas arrived. Within another couple of minutes there were 4 males and 1 female Manta doing lazy circles around the dive site. It was truly amazing how big and graceful these creatures are. Photographing the Mantas was really as simple as moving from location to location and not getting in their way.
Mantas from 1st dive at Le Cirque
doubles
like a stealth bomber
kites
"Perdita"- the lone female
Soaring
from above
I've got my eye on you
Hey....watch where you're going
Bacchus
After the first dive at Le Cirque I was convinced that I could do the same dive everyday for a month. Granted, there wasn't much from a coral standpoint and there weren't a lot of fish, but who cares!
Dive 2 in Manihi was called La Faille. this is another rather easy dive, beginning in shallow water and working down to around 80 ft. There is more coral here and some intersting smaller fish, eels, gray reef sharks and black tips.
La Faille
Spotted Rock Cod
Convict Tangs
We knicknamed the convict tangs "high school girls" because they would hurry from place to place in large groups. "I'm going here, no I'm going here"
corals
black tip
titan trigger
red snapper
Second day at La Cirque wasn't as productive as the first. Only one Manta showed up. This was a Manta that we didn't see on day one. Named "Quasimoto", he is missing most of one of his front flaps. Thierry thinks it may have been eaten by a shark when he was younger. He certainly wasn't shy, as you can tell by the photos below:
Quasimoto
head on
gills
say cheese!
bye for now
Last dive of the trip was a drift dive through Tairapa that emptied out into the lagoon at La Cirque. The currents were't exceptionally strong going into the pass, but we did motor along fairly well. As the pass empties into the lagoon the depth goes from around 70 ft to 20 ft real quick. There's nothing you can do but hold on. Your computer is screaming to slow your ascent, but there's nothing you can do. There was some interesting life along the pass. Including... eel , long nose butterfly , flounder , marble grouper , unicorn fish , yellow trumpet , and sleeping nurse shark
I've been few places in my life where when it was time to go home I just didn't want to leave. French Polynesia was one of those places. The beauty of the land, sea, ocean life and people are unsurpassed by almost anywhere else. Thanks for letting me share some of the greatest times of my life!
From the bottom of the ocean to the top of the world here's wishing you clear water, great snow (hey...we ski too!) and a very Happy New Year for 2003.
Steve and Allison and Bacchus (the dog)
