French Polynesia trip report: Rangiroa and Fakarava

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moorish8idol

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Location
Switzerland
# of dives
200 - 499
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.
 
continued...
Note: I heard that the Kia Ora ("luxury hotel") is closing down for renovations for 2 years. T

Fakarava
Sigh - what's not to love about Faka! I really enjoyed my time there. Just something about the ambiance that suited me better than Rangi.

I stayed at Veke Veke Village and can highly recommend! The family and staff running the place were really lovely people and felt like family and they really did everything they could and more to try and help out with any concerns. My diving disaster situation was made better by them helpfully making calls over the island to try and sort me out.
I stayed there as part of a package deal through E-Diving Pass that included 10 dives with the neighbouring Dive Spirit dive shop (not recommended - details below). The pension has 8 ocean-front bungalows, 2 of which are family-suites with mezzanines and 2 bedrooms. I noted that some of the 6 other bungalows had extra bunk beds in them so it looked like they could accommodate a family with 2 kids or 3 adults.
I stayed in Bungalow 3 which had a lovely porch, very comfortable double bed (with mosquito net that didn't quite fit), sitting futon and a spacious renovated bathroom with shower.
Cons: In 6 nights, they only cleaned the bungalow once (changing garbage and replacing towels) though if I had asked for them to do so, I have no doubt they would have done it. This is a fan-only accommodation and on the few hot, sunny days we had, I felt like it was still pretty hot. I didn't open all of the windows however since there were no screens and my mosquito net didn't shut completely and I didn't want to get munched on.
Pros: Lovely family and staff. Comfortable accommodations. The food was not Teina et Marie level but it was a nightly sit-down 3 course dinner - there was some repetition in the main courses but the appetizer was always a gorgeous variation of raw fish including sashimi and poisson cru. They have a modest but fairly priced bar and will make cocktails and also offer beer and good French wine at the lowest prices I saw (500 for a beer, 900 for a glass of good wine though I bought a bottle and just kept it in their fridge). This family takes good care of their animals so Noisette the cat will usually stop by and dinner just to say hi and you will regularly encounter Pousky and her daughter Puka (two sharpei-mix dogs) running around the property (occasionally hunting sharks) though they will pay you little mind. There is a lovely small white sand beach in front of the main bungalows as well as a dock with a covered area and some chairs and loungers. There are tiny little coral reefs around this shallow area of sea so you can snorkel on your own and enjoy the fish and will likely encounter some black tip and (rather large) nurse sharks. The wifi worked quite well and I could reach it from my porch (though no the further bungalows). Its also a great location as it is sandwiched between two snacks (Kori Kori, though it was closed over the Christmas holidays) and Snack Elda which was fabulous and has a lovely shaded terrace over the water. Their food was so good (the freshest, most well prepared fish dishes) and plates cost between 1600 and 1900 XPF. They close at 2 p.m. though so get there earlyish as they can be a bit slow when they get busy. They also sold wine, beer and some fairly powerful rum cocktails (though I appreciated they wouldn't sell me one unless I indicated I was done diving for the day).
Veke Veke has lots of fat-tired Dutch-style bikes you can use. On a sunny day without afternoon diving, I happily went out to explore the island a bit. The town of Rotoava is 4 km away and takes only about 10-15 minutes to get to. I also biked over to Havaiki Hotel for an excellent and highly recommended Polynesian massage (though I think I prefer Veke Veke as a hotel as it has more of a family feel to it). There are a few artisan shops in the main town as well as a grocery store.

Faka Dive Shops
Christmas/NYE in the Tuamotos appears to be a weird high-low season. The weather can be poor and many dive guides are on holidays and some dive shops are even closed. So if you intend to go during this period, I recommend booking/reserving your dives well in advance. I did just that, but it didn't quite work out. I had 10 dives pre-booked via Dive Spirit including a 2-dive trip down to the South Pass. Unfortunately this shop has had a number of issues and the locals told me that it is a fairly long-standing problem aggravated by frequent changes in management. New management is taking over the shop coming January so it will be seen whether it is improved or not.
Shortly before my arrival, DS suffered boat problems and was down to one boat. Their only dive guide then fell quite ill with a high fever and it raised my suspicions that he would be sick for a number of dives. The shop cancelled my first day of diving which was a big bummer supplemented by the fact that it was an extremely cold and rainy day and other than diving, there was absolutely nothing to do. During the day I, with the help of the Veke Veke owners, started to make arrangements to book dives with other shops though most were fully booked. With the dive guide still sick on my day 2, they sent us divers on their boat down to the South Pass where fortunately the local dive guides at Tetamanu, Gilles and Cyril, were free to take us out for 2 great dives in the Tetamanu pass. We were fed at the Tetamanu buffet and it was a solid day. Props to Cyril who was an excellent guide - very safety-oriented but also great at pointing things out and even having us posed to take cool pictures.
I was rather torn when planning my trip on whether I should try to stay at Tetamanu for all or part of my stay and I have to say that I was ultimately happy that I stayed up in the North Pass. I wouldn't have minded a second day down in the South but ultimately 2 dives there was enough and I think the isolated and rather basic nature of the accommodation there would be a minus for me. However the dives were great as were the guides, the food, the many cute animals and the fact that I counted no less than 11 blacktip sharks meandering around the resort's tiny lagoon area.
Upon returning to the North at 5 pm, Dive Spirit was unable to confirm whether their dive guide would be ready to go for the next day. They continued to take new reservations from other divers - I knew there was going to be a last-minute cancellation so luckily was able to book elsewhere and was not disappointed when DS came around at about 8 p.m. to announce they were cancelling the dives again.
I then spent 2 days diving with 02 Fakarava and frankly wish I had just booked with them for my entire stay. I can't recommend Thibault and Marion enough. They are lovely people and have a great operation going for them and I liked the small, family-feel to the shop (though I am told they hire up to 5 extra guides for their 2 boats in high season). Their boat was in great condition (with a solid cover) and comfortable and they had little touches that made the difference like towels for everyone during the surface interval out on the pass, water and snacks and maybe even a little homemade rum concoction on offer at the end of your dive day. Their equipment was also top-notch (Dive Spirit's equipment was fairly run down) and Thibault was not only a fun guide but clearly really cares about conservation and respecting the reef and the animals.
O2 being fully booked after that, I spent my last diving day in Faka with Kaina Plongee.
I didn't experience Top Dive myself but heard enough from other divers that confirmed what I had read about them previously. They refused to take some people to the South Pass as promised one day citing poor weather - except the weather was great that day and I managed to travel down to the South and back with zero problems. Perhaps they wanted to save on gas? And I also heard a pretty troubling story about an incident their shop had with some exploding tanks that injured a staff member (but thankfully no one else)... so perhaps keep that in mind when considering your shop.

The diving in the Garuae Pass and on the Ohotu and Maiuru reefs is really quite spectacular albeit a bit repetitive after a while. We were lucky to see some mantas in Ohotu (in addition to lots of sharks and a great variety of fish) and then of course diving Garuae and drifting into Alibaba Canyon is pretty top notch with the hundreds of grey reefs, some white tips and huge schools of fish (small barracuda, yellowfin goatfish, snappers, soldierfish etc) plus all of the colourful favourites and giant Napoleons.

Diving in FP in general
There was a lot of varying information about diving in FP before I left. I had been told that recent changes to the laws meant that everyone regardless of cert level was limited to 30 metres in FP (not true) so I decided against upgrading to my Rescue Diver specifically for the trip. I can't say whether or not the laws have actually changed but I can tell you what is happening in practice in the Tuamotos having dealt with 4 different dive shops.
OW and CMAS 1 level divers are limited to 20 metres. Some shops like 6 Passengers will limit you to 20 metres on your first dive with them regardless of your level/experience. Advance OW divers can go to 30 metres whereas you need Rescue Level, CMAS 2 or Deep Diver specialty to go to 40 metres. Higher CMAS levels can go to 50 or 60 metres.
I am unfamiliar with the french system but noted that "deco diving" seemed to be endorsed and practiced in both Rangi and Faka, despite using single tanks of regular air. Not really my cup of tea given how isolated the Tuamotos are (from a chamber and a major hospital, for example).
 
continued... 3/3

Returning back
I had a 12 hour layover in Papeete on my way back to Canada. I wasn't interested in driving myself around and my flight coming in around 11 am it was too late in the day to take advantage of any day trips on offer. Given that it was NYE, a number of local hotels with day passes told me they were "full" (over the phone at least) and the Tahiti IC really tested my patience. When I left after my initial stay, they told me to call 48 hours before my return to confirm that I could have a day pass to leave my bags and make use of their facilities. The guesthouse owner and I then spent tons of time on a total of 4 calls before my arrival trying to do just what they asked. No one could really help us and they tried to charge me 29,000 XFP for a bungalow to use for a few hours. No, thanks. There is a luggage storage at the Faa'a airport so I left my bag there for the day and took a 2000 XPF taxi down to the Papeete central market to do some souvenir shopping and grab some reasonably priced Poke at the mall. On O2's recommendation, I headed to Blue Pearls for my jewelry shopping and found they had good quality and variety of pearls including a lot of options in my (lower) budget range. Helpful too and they process the duty-free tax paperwork for you which you then take to the Customs guy at the airport, have him stamp it and then put it in a stamped enveloped they provide for you and leave it in the mailbox at the airport. I then headed to the IC after and basically let myself in and enjoyed the pool for the day. If you book a treatment at the spa (quite nice) in the late afternoon like I did, you can then make full use of their showers, hair dryers, change rooms etc. and not have to pay for a bungalow or even a courtesy room in order to get yourself cleaned up in time for your flight.
The airport in Tahiti is rather efficient but the one thing I have to say is that it irked me that a place where there are tons of $1000 a night overwater bungalows, does not have any AC in its airport. It was uncomfortably hot there and made worse by the fact that they have a small open air grassy knoll in the main waiting room where people can smoke. So you are choked with other people's smoke wafting through the very hot and cramped waiting room.

That's it! Hope its helpful to some - happy to answer any questions.
 
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.
Either you had bad luck or I had really good luck - I got 8 dives in with 6 Passengers in early October and we saw (and heard) the dolphins on every dive. On 4 of the dives they swam right through/around/with our group and interacted with us for a few minutes - some clips below. Also, as part of a snorkeling trip, we went outside of the pass and got in the water with a pod that swam with us for a few minutes as well - one even jumped clear out of the water right next to us. So, for me, the dolphins in Rangiroa exceeded expectations - they were really amazing and the highlight of my trip!


 
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