Moorea and Bora Bora Diving Tips

[ScubaRx]

I'll be going to Moorea and Bora Bora in late June next year on my honeymoon. My fiance and I are currently workinng on our OW certification and we would like to hit some diving hotspots while we are there. What tips or secrets do y'all have for the island of Moorea and Bora Bora? Should we dive on other islands? Are there particular companies y'all would recommend over others? What other certifications would you recommend? (We are thinking Advanced OW and Nitrox.)

Thanks so much for the help!!

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

www.tahiti-explorer.com/forums/ubbthreads.php

We are going in Sept/08 for our wedding anniversary for 2 weeks, 8 days on the Paul Gauguin cruise ship and 4 days on Moorea.

 

[refinished]

My wife and I went to both islands for our honeymoon six years ago... We were both certed at the time. Great times. AOW and EANx are nice to have, but not a prereq for most of the diving there.

On Moorea, we had such great snorkeling right from the back of our hut-on-stilts at the Sheraton that we didn't do much diving. In fact, I think we had a better time snorkeling than diving by a fair margin. And I love to dive... We watched a 30 minute fight/lovers quarrel between three octopi that covered a couple hundred yards of distance from start to finish and ended with serious injury to one of them. Stunning behavior and we would not been able to keep up with it if diving. That was the most amazing thing I have seen underwater in person or on film. We did a 'shark' dive that was quite impressive. Hundreds of sharks in the water - interesting to do once. In short, the diving was quite good, but you could see most of the really good stuff in six feet of water. I recommend renting a car, driving to Belvedere Point, and then taking a hike on the trail that leads to the Three Palms or Three Coconuts or whatever it was called. A great hike!

On Bora Bora, we had marginal snorkeling off the room (Le Meridan) so we did more diving. We dove a site called Tapu that was pretty incredible. Massive, flat coral formations. Napoleon Wrasse. Sharks galore - including lemons! Another site called Manta Point was also incredible. Fleets of mantas the size of double garage doors flew all around us. Do go for the manta areas - they don't see them every dive, but it's worth ten boring dives when they come in force. I recommend having your hotel's boat drop you on a deserted motu where you can 'get native' like a newlywed. You will still remember it at least six years later.

 

[ScubaRx]

Thanks for the info guys. I can't wait to make that long flight. I will keep the deserte motu in mind. Thanks for the tip ;-)

 

[Zod066]

Here's a few links. Also, please find attached a link to my UW photos from Bora Bora and Taha'a taken in June 06. Muri Muri was by far the best site on Bora Bora. It is near the airport. That's where most of the shark, turtle, barracuda and Napolean Wrasse shots are from. We are going back to Moorea and Bora Bora in two months - hopefully the Humpbacks will still be in Moorea.

http://www.dive-moorea.com/dives-sites_en.html

Kodakgallery.com Slideshow

 

[SCUBAJENNIFER]

I had a really good time on both islands...I would recommend Bathy's Dive Club on Moorea and Bora Dive Center on Bora Bora. Bathy's is at the Intercontinental Hotel, which was VERY nice.
I would definitely second the trip up to the Belvedere on Moorea, it's absolutely breathtaking. Although, I wouldn't do it in a Fiat Panda again. He he... You can see both Opuhona Bay and Cookes Bay. Go and have a great time!!

 

[ffhamm]

My wife and I were in Bora Bora a year ago. It was my wife's first ocean dives. And this is the location that gave her the scuba bug... before we went there I think she only went diving to keep me from diving solo.We used Top Dive, at the time they had multi- dive packages ( 10 dives or something at a discounted price)that could be used at their other locations and they do have a location on Morea also. We got a much better price by buying our dives in advance. I dont see it on their website anymore but TOPdive - Your scuba diving centers in Tahiti and her islands You may want to check into it.
The diving was excellent, more that I could have hoped for, we saw at least a hunded or more sharks per dive, lemons too. Only wish I would have had a camera at that time.
If you've never been to Tahiti, be prepared for a little sticker shock, we payed about 35 dollars for suntan lotion and about 50 for a burger and a beer. If you havent already booked, look into all-inclusive resorts. We stayed at the Club Med, Its not the big party atmosphere as some club med resorts, and its pretty nice. and with food, drinks and some of your recreation covered, it can save you quite a bit of cheese.

Jeff