moorish8idol
Contributor
Hi folks,
Just got back from a lovely albeit VERY RAINY 11 day diving trip to French Polynesia and thought I would share my trip details and thoughts in case it might help those of you considering or planning a trip there in the future.
In short: the diving is of course fantastic and a good pension can make all the difference. Fakarava is a highlight. I can't necessarily endorse going during rainy season though. Locals told me rain tends to pass quickly and in spurts in the Tuamotos but this was not my experience. Perhaps it was unusual or the sign of a new normal with climate change... but it rained nonstop for about a week straight while I was there. Thankfully the sun came out the last few days I was there (still with bursts of rain and lots of cloud cover) but the weather was a bit of (a lot of) a bummer.
Travel to FP from (western) Canada.
Flight prices were NUTS.... but I guess that is the cost of traveling to an exotic locale during the Christmas holidays. United Airlines has a new route from San Francisco to Papeete (not daily but multiple times per week) and I certainly appreciated being able to avoid LAX where Tahiti Nui flies from. French Bee also has service to FP from Paris via the US and has stops in SFO if you are considering that.
It was a 9 hour day flight from San Francisco so I booked a night at the Intercontinental Hotel in Tahiti upon arrival. Luckily I paid on points as I can't say this hotel is worth the $500 plus a night. I had a lagoon facing room (a bit of a stretch to say that but ok) which was fine. Previous reports of there being limits on AC (to a maximum low temp of 23) were unfounded and so I was luckily able to enjoy a bit of cool air. They don't have kettles in the room and frankly not including at least a tea bag and some instant coffee for you to fix in the morning for that price of a room is... stupid. You will pay 50 francs for coffee at the bar! I was there on a Sunday morning so reluctantly partook in the very expensive brunch buffet since the continental breakfast type offerings at the bar cafe weren't too appealing to me. The hotel is a 5 minute taxi ride from the airport though the going rate is 1600 XPF which is frankly quite high considering it will cost 2000 to get all the way to downtown Papeete. I reserved a dinner spot at Lotus for my arrival (do reserve in advance) and though very pricey it was nonetheless quite nice. One of the dishes was spectacular while the other was fine. The wine was just too expensive to justify so I settled on the beer.
The IH appears to cater to a lot of cruise vacationers stopping over (or perhaps just when I was there) and so I didn't feel the service level for little unimportant solo traveling me was all that great. You can exchange dollars for francs at their reception but only a maximum of $200 USD so keep that in mind. I had no problem taking money out from the ATMs at the Faa'a airport however.
My first day in Tahiti was spent mostly under a palapa as it rained non-stop for about 9/11 days I was in FP. Word to the wise: use sunscreen anyway! I don't burn easily and hadn't thought much of it since it was dark and rainy and I was under an umbrella - ended up with one of the worst face burns of my life!
Travel to the Tuamotos
I bought an Air Tahiti air pass which is really the best way to go if you are going to purchase more than 2 flight segments. It was a 1 hour flight to Rangiroa from Papeete with a quick 15 minute stop off in Tikehau. They don't assign seats so if you want a better view, I recommend getting a window seat on the right side of the ATR if you can. From Rangi, I flew to Fakarava direct and returned to Papeete with a short stop in Faite. Air Tahiti was on time and perfectly pleasant to deal with. I carried on coming to FP (I have become a bit of a pro at fitting my fins and gear into a small backpack) and so was able to do an express check-in and avoid the lines at the airport in Papeete (which was quite long and slow moving) - the express check will take you if your checked luggage is 10 kg or less. They offer free extra weight allowance to divers but I didn't need to take advantage.
Rangiroa
While in Rangi I dove with 6 passengers and stayed at the Pension Teina et Marie. It was overall a pleasant stay and experience but I far preferred Fakarava so was glad that I chose to spend more time in Faka. People will tend to tell you that you can have the best dive of your life in Rangi as there is always the chance to encounter (on a single dive), hammerheads, tiger sharks, silvertips, grey reefs, whitetips, mantas, whale sharks, rays and of course the resident dolphins. However, I think the "average" dive in Rangi is far less impressive. Perhaps I was less than lucky but in 6 dives in Rangi I never encountered the friendly dolphins a single time. I saw "carpets" (ie way down past 50 metres) of rays (I was told they were "raies leopard" but they were not spotted or eagle rays but looked much more like dark-coloured mobulas to me) and carpets of grey reef sharks. Some were at rec levels as well as a spattering of white-tip reefs and the occasional silvertip. I saw a great hammerhead twice but just in passing at around 25-30 metres. We encountered an oceanic manta on one dive but quickly encountered some of Rangi's epic vortex-like currents (not fun at all) that took us through a washing machine of powerful up and down currents. Having done Egypt and Eastern Pacific dive sites before, I found these to be the craziest currents I have ever experienced. This was 1 of 6 dives whereas the remaining dives had currents were very manageable. A whaleshark was spotted a few days before I arrived but I took it as being a rather exceptional sighting.
You can generally only do the Tiputa Pass in incoming tides (during outgoing tides you tend to stick to the reef and in one case we did the 15 minute boat ride north to the Avatoro pass) and viz was excellent (though needed since most of the fauna seemed to be quite deep in the pass). If you do the 4 pm dive, you get the benefit of taking the boat back when the dolphins are doing their regular surfing along the incoming tides (which was nice since we didn't see them in the water). 6 passengers generally has on offer 2 morning dives, a 2 pm and a 4 pm dive (FP laws only allow 3 per day per person).
I found 6 Passengers to be a great shop and can recommend it. They had excellent Scubapro equipment (included in your dives if you need it) and the facilities are nice and spacious with plenty of room to gear up, clean gear, relax etc.
Pick up and drop off at your pension is included and they will take you back for your lunch interval. They offer Nitrox but it is at quite a high cost so didn't seem to be used very much.
Teina et Marie Pension:
Pros: Excellent food included in the half pension. Breakfast in FP is the same everywhere it seems - baguettes with some butter, jam, spreadable cheese and coffee/tea. Some days you might luck out and get a pain au chocolate or croissant. Dinners were served family style and were absolutely beautiful French preparations of local fresh fish. On Christmas Eve they treated us to local beer and a great spread of barbecue meats, scalloped potatoes and poisson cru along with cake (supplemented by other guests who had brought their own Champagne and homemade foie gras). The price is quite good relatively speaking (when comparing to other pensions in FP - my cabin would have cost me $10-20 in most places in South America) and I paid 8500 XPF per night with 2 meals included for a water-front bungalow. The wifi reached to my bungalow, I had wonderful sea views from my porch and there was always plenty of hot-water in the shower (particularly needed since my stay was rather cool and very wet). The fan was enough but my stay was not sunny or hot so I can imagine it might not be adequate on hot nights. My transport from and back to the airport was also included with my stay and I found Maeva and her staff to generally be nice and welcoming. The location is quite good as well. It is a few steps over to Snack Lili (excellent) which is across the street from Snack Puna (good) and a 5 minute walk down the street to 2 grocery stores where you can buy snacks, food and booze (Teina did not offer their own to buy but do have a big fridge where you can store your own stuff). Warning! You can't buy alcohol on Sunday (afternoons) so come prepared if you are like me and arrived on a Sunday PM very bummed out I couldn't enjoy a cold beer on my porch.
Cons: The bungalow was quite rustic and was kind of clean though there were quite a few ants milling about the bathroom. The bed was not particularly comfy and the pillows were a real lowpoint. They did not clean the room (or change towels or garbage) during my 4 day/3 night stay. This may also be a silly point but it was important for me - there were lots of stray cats and dogs around the property - they were not well cared for or fed and the pension staff/owners did not treat them very well when they appeared (regularly) looking for food (or just love). I understand where they are coming from but it made me quite sad, especially since in Fakarava there was an abundance of animals and they all appeared really well cared for. I'm a diver because I love wildlife so seeing the topside wildlife treated rather poorly broke my heart.
Just got back from a lovely albeit VERY RAINY 11 day diving trip to French Polynesia and thought I would share my trip details and thoughts in case it might help those of you considering or planning a trip there in the future.
In short: the diving is of course fantastic and a good pension can make all the difference. Fakarava is a highlight. I can't necessarily endorse going during rainy season though. Locals told me rain tends to pass quickly and in spurts in the Tuamotos but this was not my experience. Perhaps it was unusual or the sign of a new normal with climate change... but it rained nonstop for about a week straight while I was there. Thankfully the sun came out the last few days I was there (still with bursts of rain and lots of cloud cover) but the weather was a bit of (a lot of) a bummer.
Travel to FP from (western) Canada.
Flight prices were NUTS.... but I guess that is the cost of traveling to an exotic locale during the Christmas holidays. United Airlines has a new route from San Francisco to Papeete (not daily but multiple times per week) and I certainly appreciated being able to avoid LAX where Tahiti Nui flies from. French Bee also has service to FP from Paris via the US and has stops in SFO if you are considering that.
It was a 9 hour day flight from San Francisco so I booked a night at the Intercontinental Hotel in Tahiti upon arrival. Luckily I paid on points as I can't say this hotel is worth the $500 plus a night. I had a lagoon facing room (a bit of a stretch to say that but ok) which was fine. Previous reports of there being limits on AC (to a maximum low temp of 23) were unfounded and so I was luckily able to enjoy a bit of cool air. They don't have kettles in the room and frankly not including at least a tea bag and some instant coffee for you to fix in the morning for that price of a room is... stupid. You will pay 50 francs for coffee at the bar! I was there on a Sunday morning so reluctantly partook in the very expensive brunch buffet since the continental breakfast type offerings at the bar cafe weren't too appealing to me. The hotel is a 5 minute taxi ride from the airport though the going rate is 1600 XPF which is frankly quite high considering it will cost 2000 to get all the way to downtown Papeete. I reserved a dinner spot at Lotus for my arrival (do reserve in advance) and though very pricey it was nonetheless quite nice. One of the dishes was spectacular while the other was fine. The wine was just too expensive to justify so I settled on the beer.
The IH appears to cater to a lot of cruise vacationers stopping over (or perhaps just when I was there) and so I didn't feel the service level for little unimportant solo traveling me was all that great. You can exchange dollars for francs at their reception but only a maximum of $200 USD so keep that in mind. I had no problem taking money out from the ATMs at the Faa'a airport however.
My first day in Tahiti was spent mostly under a palapa as it rained non-stop for about 9/11 days I was in FP. Word to the wise: use sunscreen anyway! I don't burn easily and hadn't thought much of it since it was dark and rainy and I was under an umbrella - ended up with one of the worst face burns of my life!
Travel to the Tuamotos
I bought an Air Tahiti air pass which is really the best way to go if you are going to purchase more than 2 flight segments. It was a 1 hour flight to Rangiroa from Papeete with a quick 15 minute stop off in Tikehau. They don't assign seats so if you want a better view, I recommend getting a window seat on the right side of the ATR if you can. From Rangi, I flew to Fakarava direct and returned to Papeete with a short stop in Faite. Air Tahiti was on time and perfectly pleasant to deal with. I carried on coming to FP (I have become a bit of a pro at fitting my fins and gear into a small backpack) and so was able to do an express check-in and avoid the lines at the airport in Papeete (which was quite long and slow moving) - the express check will take you if your checked luggage is 10 kg or less. They offer free extra weight allowance to divers but I didn't need to take advantage.
Rangiroa
While in Rangi I dove with 6 passengers and stayed at the Pension Teina et Marie. It was overall a pleasant stay and experience but I far preferred Fakarava so was glad that I chose to spend more time in Faka. People will tend to tell you that you can have the best dive of your life in Rangi as there is always the chance to encounter (on a single dive), hammerheads, tiger sharks, silvertips, grey reefs, whitetips, mantas, whale sharks, rays and of course the resident dolphins. However, I think the "average" dive in Rangi is far less impressive. Perhaps I was less than lucky but in 6 dives in Rangi I never encountered the friendly dolphins a single time. I saw "carpets" (ie way down past 50 metres) of rays (I was told they were "raies leopard" but they were not spotted or eagle rays but looked much more like dark-coloured mobulas to me) and carpets of grey reef sharks. Some were at rec levels as well as a spattering of white-tip reefs and the occasional silvertip. I saw a great hammerhead twice but just in passing at around 25-30 metres. We encountered an oceanic manta on one dive but quickly encountered some of Rangi's epic vortex-like currents (not fun at all) that took us through a washing machine of powerful up and down currents. Having done Egypt and Eastern Pacific dive sites before, I found these to be the craziest currents I have ever experienced. This was 1 of 6 dives whereas the remaining dives had currents were very manageable. A whaleshark was spotted a few days before I arrived but I took it as being a rather exceptional sighting.
You can generally only do the Tiputa Pass in incoming tides (during outgoing tides you tend to stick to the reef and in one case we did the 15 minute boat ride north to the Avatoro pass) and viz was excellent (though needed since most of the fauna seemed to be quite deep in the pass). If you do the 4 pm dive, you get the benefit of taking the boat back when the dolphins are doing their regular surfing along the incoming tides (which was nice since we didn't see them in the water). 6 passengers generally has on offer 2 morning dives, a 2 pm and a 4 pm dive (FP laws only allow 3 per day per person).
I found 6 Passengers to be a great shop and can recommend it. They had excellent Scubapro equipment (included in your dives if you need it) and the facilities are nice and spacious with plenty of room to gear up, clean gear, relax etc.
Pick up and drop off at your pension is included and they will take you back for your lunch interval. They offer Nitrox but it is at quite a high cost so didn't seem to be used very much.
Teina et Marie Pension:
Pros: Excellent food included in the half pension. Breakfast in FP is the same everywhere it seems - baguettes with some butter, jam, spreadable cheese and coffee/tea. Some days you might luck out and get a pain au chocolate or croissant. Dinners were served family style and were absolutely beautiful French preparations of local fresh fish. On Christmas Eve they treated us to local beer and a great spread of barbecue meats, scalloped potatoes and poisson cru along with cake (supplemented by other guests who had brought their own Champagne and homemade foie gras). The price is quite good relatively speaking (when comparing to other pensions in FP - my cabin would have cost me $10-20 in most places in South America) and I paid 8500 XPF per night with 2 meals included for a water-front bungalow. The wifi reached to my bungalow, I had wonderful sea views from my porch and there was always plenty of hot-water in the shower (particularly needed since my stay was rather cool and very wet). The fan was enough but my stay was not sunny or hot so I can imagine it might not be adequate on hot nights. My transport from and back to the airport was also included with my stay and I found Maeva and her staff to generally be nice and welcoming. The location is quite good as well. It is a few steps over to Snack Lili (excellent) which is across the street from Snack Puna (good) and a 5 minute walk down the street to 2 grocery stores where you can buy snacks, food and booze (Teina did not offer their own to buy but do have a big fridge where you can store your own stuff). Warning! You can't buy alcohol on Sunday (afternoons) so come prepared if you are like me and arrived on a Sunday PM very bummed out I couldn't enjoy a cold beer on my porch.
Cons: The bungalow was quite rustic and was kind of clean though there were quite a few ants milling about the bathroom. The bed was not particularly comfy and the pillows were a real lowpoint. They did not clean the room (or change towels or garbage) during my 4 day/3 night stay. This may also be a silly point but it was important for me - there were lots of stray cats and dogs around the property - they were not well cared for or fed and the pension staff/owners did not treat them very well when they appeared (regularly) looking for food (or just love). I understand where they are coming from but it made me quite sad, especially since in Fakarava there was an abundance of animals and they all appeared really well cared for. I'm a diver because I love wildlife so seeing the topside wildlife treated rather poorly broke my heart.