Married couple new to diving.

[Altamira]

Although the diving in FP is not as spectacular as other top rated dive locations, you will love your time spent there. Such a gorgeous group of islands! You will fondly remember your visit for rest of your lives. Have fun and dive safe.

Edit. Forgot to mention that if you get a chance to dive at Anau dive site in Bora Bora, there is a Manta cleaning station that is not to be missed. When we dove it, there were about 10 large Mantas swimming so close to us that it was a magical experience. What a treat to spend 30+ minutes watching them glide by and fly through the water.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I'm reasonably sure that FP will look pretty spectacular for new divers and then some!! A bit spoiled to start out in FP.

Welcome aboard!!

 

[Wingy]

It's entirely dependant on where in FP you are as to quality of diving.

The societies have the most benign, current free and shallower sites but much less pelagic and overall marine life action diving which by Caribbean standards would still be spectacular but going out to the Tuomotos is a different story.

Fakarava is a world heritage listed site - I'd say that it deserves a place on the upper end of worlds best diving destinations. To get the level of biodiversity there needs to be current so I don't agree that FP diving is not as spectacular as other destinations. The currents are deservedly renowned in Rangiroa and Fakarava making the Tuomotos a more advanced site I guess you could say. The sole reason for my diving in FP is currents...I love them, the bigger the better, others are not quite so enamoured of the ocean shooting you around at its will in 2knots let alone 6 knots.

So I do feel overall there's "World Class" for all level of divers. I find Bora Bora Boring Boring but I have a buddy who finds his nirvana there and thinks shooting passes is an idiotic idea, another who makes multiple trips to Fakarava each year and never goes near a pass as his reason for diving is photography. Another lucky friend has done the Austals four times....one day, one day

 

[fish323]

Although the diving in FP is not as spectacular as other top rated dive locations, you will love your time spent there. Such a gorgeous group of islands! You will fondly remember your visit for rest of your lives. Have fun and dive safe.

Edit. Forgot to mention that if you get a chance to dive at Anau dive site in Bora Bora, there is a Manta cleaning station that is not to be missed. When we dove it, there were about 10 large Mantas swimming so close to us that it was a magical experience. What a treat to spend 30+ minutes watching them glide by and fly through the water.

I am in a similar position to the OP. My wife and I had planned to go to FP this year but a £6000 trip to the UK last year kicked this into the long grass till next year. Where would you recommend that is better for inexperienced divers?

 

[Sam Miller III]

My wife who has been diving almost 50 years and I spent two weeks in FP- We were not impressed.
I would strongly suggest a SCUBA Board Surge

SDM

 

[fish323]

My wife who has been diving almost 50 years and I spent two weeks in FP- We were not impressed.
I would strongly suggest a SCUBA Board Surge

SDM

Thank you very much for your reply.
Could you be a bit more specific about FP please? How many/which of the islands did you visit, which disappointed you? What were you expecting to see that you didn't see?
I had to do a google search for SCUBA board surge to find out what it was.
After reading through the threads I didn't see many photos of fish or other sea creatures.
Ideally I would like some named locations, so I could take a look at some clips on youtube as to what I might expect to see. One of the main reasons to go to FP was to swim with whales and sharks. Swimming with sea lions in Argentina blew me away, as did whale sharks in Mexico.

 

[kelemvor]

This year's surge is a done deal. The group is going to Fiji for an invasion this June, which I believe is much better diving than FP. They're currently full (or were full last time I checked) but there's a wait list and there are always cancellations before those big trips.

The details are here: ScubaBoard Invasion 2019 Fiji Package Deal

I have gone on a couple of the scubaboard trips and they are great! The resorts really bend over backwards to please such a large group. Also, the folks organizing the trips have been doing it for a long time. Their trips seem to run very smoothly from my perspective. Not that there's never a problem, but they are johnny-on-the-spot to fix even a small problem.

The closest thing to a problem I've had is that there are so many giveaways at the parties that it takes a long time to give everything away! Worth it.

Personally, FP (bora bora) is on my bucket list. Everything I've heard about the diving there is that basically it sucks and don't bother. If I remember right, it's mostly sandy bottoms with not much or any coral reefs. I want to go, but it won't be a "dive" trip.

@Wingy might be able to add some more color as she's been there (FP) too.

 

[SoccerDad]

Hello all - Dave and Gretchen from Littleton, CO and just getting certified. Gonna head to French Polynesia late January.

Lots to learn!

That is awesome. The wifey/dive buddy and I will be in Fiji late Feb. Great to plan your vacations around diving.

 

[Wingy]

As above - the society's diving is boring as bat crap other than the whale migration at Moorea. Societies being your once in a lifetime trip image - Bora Bora, Moorea, Raita, Tahiti etc.

Head to Fakarava and Rangiroa in the Tuomotos and enjoy big stuff in the passes at Rangiroa...or....take it up with UNESCO about Fakarava being a world heritage site but according to most posters so far "underwhelming/not impressive". Old bloke name of Cousteau also seemed a bit fond of Tipuata Pass calling it the greatest drift dive on the planet but everyone's got different opinions and standards.

Marquisas diving is strangely a weird combination of the two but..darker?..I've not done much diving there due to time of year bashing massive waves up against the cliffs.

Yet another archipelago, the Austals, is extremely rarely heard of but the three people I know who have dived there seem to get this glassy eyed look of rapture about their time there.

I will get there when I decide to go back to my hitching around the world on yachts and tall ships life or I have the 6 weeks required to get there and back from Papeete on the Arenui supply ship.

Here's a lil snapshot of boring old FP


Edit - right at the beginning of this clip is my favourite part of Tipuata..diving under a breaking wave. Tipuata roughly translates as "smashed head" which is what can happen if your buoyancy doesn't agree with breaking waves, razor sharp rocks and one metre of water

On further pondering...I think FP and the mixed response it gets may be in a part due to timing, operator, expectation and that "I travelled 20,000km for this?" feeling. It's also very much dependant on diver type - it's really all about the passes so current junkies find it heaven, photographers find it enfuriating. The soft corals at Fakarava are amazing inside the lagoon apparently where there is no current and I do believe that FP is quite euro centric. If divers are thinking South Pacific paradise it must be amazingly colorfull down there I can see why one would be disappointed

 

[fish323]

Hi
Thanks
I have seen that video before. I have been scanning youtube looking for videos of the best dive sites around the world.
I don't know what people expect to see in FP, but for the uninitiated like me, seeing those sharks and swimming with whales and their calves would be amazing, add to that the scenery of the atolls, I'm not sure what more a tropical holiday could offer, especially if you were to make the holiday coincide with the grouper spawning.
Your friend who does the photography, could you link me to some of his FP photos.
If you noticed, when I asked people to get specific on where they had visited and what was wrong they suddenly went quiet. I think the mistake people have made is, they go on a package holiday and only visit one of the 118 islands.
Cheers