French Polynesia with "just" PADI AOWD licence - worth it?

[Liberty01]

I have 3 week summer holidays, and after bad reports about the reefs in Fiji, I thought about going to French Polynesia in August/September. But unfortunately, under French law as a PADI Advanced Diver, the depth limit is 29m.
You need to be an Rescue Diver (or CMAS**) to be allowed to go deeper (up to 49m).
I wonder whether it is worth the trip with a depth limit of 29m or I you miss the good spots particularly in Rangiroa?

Cheers, Liberty

 

[mehmet2010]

I also have PADI AOW, was there last year on FP Master, Fakarava to Rangiroa, and did not have any issues or felt that I've missed out on anything. Admittedly we did not spend too much time at Rangiroa. Enjoy!

 

[Blue Quaker]

We went out there in 2007 on a Princess cruise around French Polynesia to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We dove 2 tank boat dives at Papeete, Huahine, Rangiroa, Raritonga, Bora Bora and Mooera on the trip as shore excursions from the cruise ship. We never dove deeper than 30m on multi level dives on the reefs on any dives. There was so much to see there was no need to go deeper. The locals told us there was less to see the deeper you went in terms of marine life on the reef.
We saw our first moray eel poking its head out of the coral reef when we were walking along the boardwalk at the Intercontinental Hotel at Papeete. It was in 1m of water and our feet were still dry! We got the offer to dive with the staff on a "private dive" at Papeete (max depth 47m), but declined as there were no double tanks available. The staff were using 12l singles for that dive, so we assumed it was more of a bounce dive than an exploration dive.
The water and air temperatures were the same... 28C, amazing visibility, and the only way we knew we were underwater on a couple of the dives was the bubbles and fish...and lots of sharks! The guided dives were typically max 25 - 30m depth and 45 -55 minutes underwater. Enjoy the dives, don't worry about the depth limit.

 

[Bob DBF]

Although it never hurts to be Rescue certified.


Bob

 

[Blue Quaker]

Although it never hurts to be Rescue certified.


Bob

Completely agree Bob. I think all divers should be rescue certified, but on our trip there all the resorts asked for OW. AOW was a plus as far as the resort operators that we dove with were concerned. We were always asked by dive staff how deep we had dove in the past at every stop we made on the trip. At Papeete, once the staff saw our instructor cards, we were invited to an "after hours" dive with the staff to go deeper than they normally took their clients ( a site marked up as 47m), but we turned down the opportunity because only single tanks were available for the dive. I don't like bounce diving, and a single 12 litre capacity tank doesn't allow me to enjoy a reasonable bottom time + stops for that depth. I generally don't bother getting in the water if the bottom time is less than 20 minutes. That being said, we had a great trip. Air was the only gas available to the clients, although some of the staff at Moorea used nitrox as they were doing 4 dives a day on 2 x 2 tank trips, while the clients were only on 1 x 2 tank dive trip.

 

[Wingy]

There are OPs who "recognise" PADI - 6 Passengers seem to get a good rap, there's another chain mall op who I'd run a million miles from but they're always booked up - particularly in BB.

The 12L tanks and culture of deep air on a single tank isn't that uncommon in FP. You will probably find it's agreed between the divers before the dive that if anyone needs some more air the other divers are prepared. No long hoses or ponys just a "divers agreement". You may find someone with a 15l tank guiding you through the pass for the same reason. I'm not meaning an OOA situation it's really just to ensure everyone gets back on the boat with 50 bar.

Not prepared to go over the old FP Padi argument that pops up here quite regularly but I will say if Tipuata Pass is your reason for going to Rangiroa you won't miss out on anything - but there's certainly some awesome stuff to see at the bottom of the pass during certain seasons/aggregations.

Also will add staying at one of the pensions with a Polynesian family is great fun - Pension Tiena and Marie was my choice and very affordable considering breakfast and dinner ( The nights with trays of lobster were divine). Have fun

 

[SpeckledGrouper]

We got PADI Rescue Diver certified before our trip to Rangi in December 2016. We dove with 6 Passengers and on a few occasions went to about 150'. We did notice a few other divers claiming they were Rescue certified and clearly they were not! But it didn't take long for Pitout to spot them and put them into a different group. He was very good at putting divers with similar experience into groups. But no matter what group you are in, you will still be "shooting" the pass, that's the way "home"......

 

[Deinonych]

I have 3 week summer holidays, and after bad reports about the reefs in Fiji, I thought about going to French Polynesia in August/September. But unfortunately, under French law as a PADI Advanced Diver, the depth limit is 29m.
You need to be an Rescue Diver (or CMAS**) to be allowed to go deeper (up to 49m).
I wonder whether it is worth the trip with a depth limit of 29m or I you miss the good spots particularly in Rangiroa?

Cheers, Liberty

Where are these bad reports about the reefs in Fiji? We dove there a little over a year ago (Savusavu area), and found the diving to be excellent. Some sites showed damage from Cyclone Winston, but others were wonderful, particularly Namena. Just curious, as we are planning to return this year, likely to the Kadavu area.

 

[Liberty01]

Well,
someone who visited in November told me that there was illegal fishing, and the schools of fish had disappeared. Another source who could compare end of 2017 and 2015 also claimd that dive sites had deteriorated a lot, particularly the soft corals. He mentioned for example that there was just hard coral, but very little fish on the dive sites in Kadavu, and there were signs of dynamite fishing.

 

[Storker]

PADI RD doesn't certify you for depths beyond 30m. And from a purely personal perspective, what's the issue with not being allowed to dive deeper? Me, I have a personal limit at 30-ish meters since I've experienced an unacceptable (for me) mental decline beyond that limit. And if you're on EAN32, 30m/100' is a sensible limit. Me, I prefer EAN32 over air, so if I have the opportunity and the cost isn't prohibitive, I'm breathing that gas.