Rangiroa Diving

[champ]

I'm less than 3 weeks away from our trip to French Polynesia. We have a week on the Tahiti Aggressor then 5 nights in Rangiroa.

A few questions about Rangiroa:

What dive shops do you recomend?
What times of the day do they do their dives?
What is the best site for seeing hammer head sharks?
Is one dive shop better than the other for seeing hammer head sharks?
Do all the dive shops do shark feedings?

We are staying at pension Henri ... any recomendations for things to do besides diving?

 

[Mike Veitch]

try top dive or blue dolphins or raie manta. They are all 6 of one, half dozed of the other. All professsional, all know the waters well.

Dives are done depending on the incoming tide if you want to see hammers, ie, it changes by about 45 mins or so everyday to get the optimal tide.
The hammers are found in Tiputa Pass usually around 170ft, this is the best time of year for them. The eagle rays are mating so that is what brings in the hammers. Pretty impressive to see a school of 100 eagle rays.

Shark feeds... the ones in Rangi not that great as the mayor put a stop to them a few years back. So the big silvertip feed was finished. There is a possibility of doing a feed, Blue Dolphin at the Kia Ora probably your best bet for that, but not really sure who is doing what for feeds anymore.

 

[champ]

Are the odds above 50/50 for seeing the hammers at this tiime of year (we'll be diving 4 days, 2 tanks per day)?

How about the silver tips, are these pretty close to 100%?

 

[Mike Veitch]

silvers are at the other pass, Avatoru, but sometimes see them at Tiputa. If you get the chance to do one dive at Avatoru you will most likely see one. BIG SUCKERS!

i would say more along the lines of 60-70% for the great hammer.

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

We stayed at Kia Ora in Rangiroa and dove with Top Dive last June. I would highly recommend both. As Mike said, the hammerheads are pretty deep and are at Tiputa pass which is a pretty short boat ride. Avatoru is a longer ride but has pretty reef and silvertip sharks. Dive times are all based on the tides. There were no shark feedings

Kia Ora is a wonderful resort and I would recommend it highly! By the way Top Dive is located throughout French Polynesia (including Tahiti and Rangiroa) and you can book a 10 dive package and use the dives at any of their locations.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[champ]

We are already booked at pension Henri which is located near Avatoru. Do all the dive boats leave from Tiputa?

 

[mbs]

We were there this past November and dove with Top Dive. Very well run op! They go out 8am, 10am and 2 or 3pm (don't recall - usually dove mornings). No hammerheads, but plenty of the other varieties, dolphins, massive mantas, etc! We hit a bad week weather wise so the vis was not that spectacular. So we only dove Tiputa pass since the DM said the vis would be worse in avatoru pass. We didn't do anything but dive and hang out, but thought about visiting a pearl farm and the winery Diving can be challenging - wacky currents in that pass!

 

[Mike Veitch]

they will pick you up at your hotel, most of the shops are close to Tiputa yes

 

[champ]

So do you just hang out at the dive shop / grab a bite to eat between dives?

 

[Mike Veitch]

So do you just hang out at the dive shop / grab a bite to eat between dives?

dunno, i worked on the Aggressor when it was there... :rofl: