Having now had long enough to get my photos back, and get seriously itchy feet again, thought I'd take five to let any interested parties know how I found the Tuamotus.
Rangiroa:
KIA ORA Hotel: First things first. While I imagine its possible to do FP on a budget, this was my honeymoon so all potential thoughts of value for money were quickly quashed. The region as a whole is not famed for being inexpensive, but our room bill at the Kia Ora (modest bar activity, usually no more than two meals a day, and 10 air dives each) came in at over 100GBP (each) per day! Adding the substantial nightly rate of the overwater bungalow itself to this makes for some fairly scary credit card bills.
But forget about that for the minute, if you are looking for big fish action in a place as close to paradise as you can imagine, this IS a great place to go.
The bungalow was just perfect. Fantastic view of the most beautiful azure blue lagoon, steps down to snorkel, the obligatory glass coffee table with removable lid for fish feeding, effective AC, etc. All very romatic.
The resort restaurant isn't bad, especially if you like fish. Breakfast probably the best meal of the day, although timed to make it difficult to fit in with the morning diving.
Diving with the in house dive-shop Blue Dolphins was well run, although the gear (always included in the dive price so you save no money by bringing your own!) was looking a little tired. Divemasters were all French or SE Asian, although perfectly good english spoken by all.
Unusually there was no requirement for a "check dive" (normal sting in resorts), no checking log books, a cursory look at C-cards, and amazingly no disclaimer to sign!
Strangely, no night diving is offered. There are three dives each day, although realistically you would push it to make both morning dives.
All dives from inflatables which are well suited to entry and exit in the sometimes choppy passes, but on occasion were a little cosy with ten divers.
Dive profiles were essentially follow the guides depth, profile and time. Not all divers were using computers. We did no dives beyond 40m, with 30m being far more common.
What was the diving like? You've got to want to see sharks to dive here. There are a lot!
All the diving is in or around the two passes into the lagoon. Currents at the right time are pretty swift and these bring in a lot of large animals.
Apart from the grey reef sharks (I have a photograph that you can count 30 in!), there are some beautiful big Silver tips at Avoratu pass who expect to be fed and smile nicely in return. We also saw manta rays (two together on one occasion), a blue marlin and plenty of dolphins. Big photogenic schools of jacks and Barracuda were also commonly encountered.
The coral around the passes isn't too hot although this is more due to the exposure than anything else I suspect. Mind you who had time to look at the coral?
There are not a great numer of dive sites here, so I would doubt the wisdom of staying here too long. Most people were only there for a couple of days. Our stay of six nights seemed to be rather longer than most, mind you I'll happilly do the same dive every day if there are sharks in the water.
Manihi:
PEARL BEACH Resort: Manihi has a very different feel to Rangiroa. There is certainly less accomodation here to choose from. The airpost is an eye-opener as it is just a small "hut" with a palm thatched roof and no walls. The transfer to the hotel is done by golf cart!
The resort is smaller than Kia Ora, less slick, slightly cheaper, but still quite luxurous and friendly. Nice swimming pool, but couldn't really see the point. I also suspect that the staff have more than their quota of "persons of confussed gender"!
Overwater bungalow again was excellent, although no AC here (not that we needed it), good mini bar though. Unexpected CD system and TV. Glass/fish viewing coffee table idea extended to include bedside tables and bathroom sink surround!!! Snorkelling off bungalow better than Rangiroa as water deeper. Black tip sharks seen swimming by quite regularly.
Diving with Blue Nui. Fast dive boat of the "non inflatable variety" wisks you to one of a couple (counted 5 max) of dive sites. Coral better, sharks only common at the one site where they are regularly fed, but numerous Manta Rays. One site inside the lagoon is a known cleaning station, and although the viz is obviously less than outside the lagoon encounters are reliable. I was surprised to have significantly better Manta dives here than I had in Yap which I understood to be THE place to see them.
With hind-sight I would say that if you come here for the diving three days in your itinery should be enough unless you have a real thing for the Rays.
The trip was taken in early to late September and we had fantastic weather through out. Some days windier than others, but never so much to make diving particuary difficult.
I've yet to post my photograhic attempts on my web site, but will do so in due course.
Hope some of you find this of interest.
DD
-Oh and in case you are wondering who I booked this through, SCUBA JIM's your man. Thanks Jim.
Rangiroa:
KIA ORA Hotel: First things first. While I imagine its possible to do FP on a budget, this was my honeymoon so all potential thoughts of value for money were quickly quashed. The region as a whole is not famed for being inexpensive, but our room bill at the Kia Ora (modest bar activity, usually no more than two meals a day, and 10 air dives each) came in at over 100GBP (each) per day! Adding the substantial nightly rate of the overwater bungalow itself to this makes for some fairly scary credit card bills.
But forget about that for the minute, if you are looking for big fish action in a place as close to paradise as you can imagine, this IS a great place to go.
The bungalow was just perfect. Fantastic view of the most beautiful azure blue lagoon, steps down to snorkel, the obligatory glass coffee table with removable lid for fish feeding, effective AC, etc. All very romatic.
The resort restaurant isn't bad, especially if you like fish. Breakfast probably the best meal of the day, although timed to make it difficult to fit in with the morning diving.
Diving with the in house dive-shop Blue Dolphins was well run, although the gear (always included in the dive price so you save no money by bringing your own!) was looking a little tired. Divemasters were all French or SE Asian, although perfectly good english spoken by all.
Unusually there was no requirement for a "check dive" (normal sting in resorts), no checking log books, a cursory look at C-cards, and amazingly no disclaimer to sign!
Strangely, no night diving is offered. There are three dives each day, although realistically you would push it to make both morning dives.
All dives from inflatables which are well suited to entry and exit in the sometimes choppy passes, but on occasion were a little cosy with ten divers.
Dive profiles were essentially follow the guides depth, profile and time. Not all divers were using computers. We did no dives beyond 40m, with 30m being far more common.
What was the diving like? You've got to want to see sharks to dive here. There are a lot!
All the diving is in or around the two passes into the lagoon. Currents at the right time are pretty swift and these bring in a lot of large animals.
Apart from the grey reef sharks (I have a photograph that you can count 30 in!), there are some beautiful big Silver tips at Avoratu pass who expect to be fed and smile nicely in return. We also saw manta rays (two together on one occasion), a blue marlin and plenty of dolphins. Big photogenic schools of jacks and Barracuda were also commonly encountered.
The coral around the passes isn't too hot although this is more due to the exposure than anything else I suspect. Mind you who had time to look at the coral?
There are not a great numer of dive sites here, so I would doubt the wisdom of staying here too long. Most people were only there for a couple of days. Our stay of six nights seemed to be rather longer than most, mind you I'll happilly do the same dive every day if there are sharks in the water.
Manihi:
PEARL BEACH Resort: Manihi has a very different feel to Rangiroa. There is certainly less accomodation here to choose from. The airpost is an eye-opener as it is just a small "hut" with a palm thatched roof and no walls. The transfer to the hotel is done by golf cart!
The resort is smaller than Kia Ora, less slick, slightly cheaper, but still quite luxurous and friendly. Nice swimming pool, but couldn't really see the point. I also suspect that the staff have more than their quota of "persons of confussed gender"!
Overwater bungalow again was excellent, although no AC here (not that we needed it), good mini bar though. Unexpected CD system and TV. Glass/fish viewing coffee table idea extended to include bedside tables and bathroom sink surround!!! Snorkelling off bungalow better than Rangiroa as water deeper. Black tip sharks seen swimming by quite regularly.
Diving with Blue Nui. Fast dive boat of the "non inflatable variety" wisks you to one of a couple (counted 5 max) of dive sites. Coral better, sharks only common at the one site where they are regularly fed, but numerous Manta Rays. One site inside the lagoon is a known cleaning station, and although the viz is obviously less than outside the lagoon encounters are reliable. I was surprised to have significantly better Manta dives here than I had in Yap which I understood to be THE place to see them.
With hind-sight I would say that if you come here for the diving three days in your itinery should be enough unless you have a real thing for the Rays.
The trip was taken in early to late September and we had fantastic weather through out. Some days windier than others, but never so much to make diving particuary difficult.
I've yet to post my photograhic attempts on my web site, but will do so in due course.
Hope some of you find this of interest.
DD
-Oh and in case you are wondering who I booked this through, SCUBA JIM's your man. Thanks Jim.
, left 13th.
.
So I think it needs to go to Papeete and then some way it will get to Blue Nui on Manihi.
