Rangiroa

[Ralph Capeling]

Four of us are planning a dive trip to somewhere in the world in October. In addition to diving, we are interested in doing some inland cultural or adventure stuff. Someone recommended Rangiroa which is in the area of Tahiti as a great spot for diving.
Can anyone comment on land adventures there are in and around Rangiroa?
Regards
Ralph

 

[TSandM]

I don't think there is much -- Rangiroa is an atoll that's about a quarter mile wide at the widest. There isn't even a whole lot of lodging there.

Note that the yellow areas are land . . .

But the diving in Rangiroa is some of the best I've done anywhere in the world. If you want to see reefs that look as they should -- healthy, vibrant, colorful and heavily populated -- it's an incredible place to go.

 

[t-mac]

There's not really much around Rangiroa and as pointed out on the map, the land that is there is pretty limited. I was there a few years ago and I believe the main bit of land is something like 12 km long and 2 wide, but that may be an exaggeration. I biked up and down it a number of times. There are some excursions you can do around the logoon to different motus, but the main focus is diving. I dove with Raie Manta club and thought they were great. They're a small outfit, buty completely top-notch. Go to their website and email Freddie, she'll hook you up. There are two resorts on the island and beyond that you can stay a smaller places (Raie Manta has a bunkhouse). There's a pearl farm with good prices if you want that. Okay, so it sounds boring outside of diving, but it wasn't. We had some of the best local interactions there -- the Polynesians are great but you don't see it everywhere. I highly recommend you go. Plan for low key. Do Tiputa pass and other good dives. Do some outings to the motus, etc. As soon as you leave you will be ready to go back. The local airline is pretty good and it's easy to island hop. There's more land stuff to do on the volcanic islands like Moorea, Bora Bora and Tahiti.

 

[Ralph Capeling]

Thank you for the insights. Your comments are very helpful.
Regards
Ralph

 

[t-mac]

Ralph, Feel free to PM me if you want more information. We actually spent a week sailing and diving around Raiatea, Tahaa and Bora Bora and then another week between Rangiroa and Moorea doing land things and diving. Tahiti was just for the airport, but that might be unfair. It truly is a great trip and you won't regret going. Tom

 

[Mossman]

Rangiroa and other Tuamotus offer excellent diving, but not much in the way of land adventure besides sitting on the beach and sipping mai tais. There is a pearl farm on Rangiroa and even a winery, but you'll find much more to do on land in the lush mountainous Society Islands.

t-mac, that is a bit unfair. Tahiti is a large island with a couple decent museums and a bustling little city with a great central market. There are plenty of nice resorts (the Radisson has an amazing black sand beach, for instance). The diving isn't so hot near the airport (we dove out of the Intercontinental), but even so we managed to see a leaf scorpionfish and an oscillated scorpionfish on one dive. I'd imagine the diving is far better away from town.

 

[TSandM]

We did two days of diving out of Papeete. The first day was shark feeding, and I really didn't think much of it. We were in areas of dead coral, and the only reef fish we saw were following the bait.

But when we came back, we asked the dive op not to take us there again, and instead, we did a lovely wall dive with some healthy coral and a lot of color, and two wrecks, an airplane and a barge. We saw quite a few interesting critters on the barge, including a fabulous stonefish.

We also did a LOT of very fun snorkeling in the lagoon outside the place where we stayed (which was a private home).

I wouldn't fly all the way to Tahiti for the diving, but there is very pleasant diving to be had there, if you tell them you don't want to do shark feeding dives.

 

[Cali_diver]

I have been twice. It was the first place I saw a manta ray!! Beautiful area and lots of fish. Tiputa pass is amazing. Dolphins will swim with the RIB and they actually approached my friends group while they were diving! Incredible pictures! There is the pink sand beach and the blue lagoon, but beyond that it would probably be relaxation. We dove with top dive and had a horrible DM. Check your gear cause one of the ladies diving in our group had her tank drop out at about 90 feet. DM (Marco) had no idea.... her buddy and I put her back together again and another DM from a different op came over and checked on us. Our DM never looked back. We also dove with 6 guys ??? and Yann was fantastic.

 

[Mossman]

I have been twice. It was the first place I saw a manta ray!! Beautiful area and lots of fish. Tiputa pass is amazing. Dolphins will swim with the RIB and they actually approached my friends group while they were diving! Incredible pictures! There is the pink sand beach and the blue lagoon, but beyond that it would probably be relaxation. We dove with top dive and had a horrible DM. Check your gear cause one of the ladies diving in our group had her tank drop out at about 90 feet. DM (Marco) had no idea.... her buddy and I put her back together again and another DM from a different op came over and checked on us. Our DM never looked back. We also dove with 6 guys ??? and Yann was fantastic.

I'm pretty sure it was Top Dive that the Paul Gauguin used for our Rangiroa dives. I was patiently waiting at 8' or so while others boarded the ladder after our second dive since the swells were rather big. Without warning, DM swam down and pulled me to the surface. I ripped into him back on the boat and he certainly didn't get any other tips from me besides a warning that suddently yanking divers to the surface can cause embolism and death and is probably not such a good idea unless it's an emergency. (He defended himself by claiming it was an emergency because the swells were so big. I think that's the angriest I've ever been on a dive boat.) Apologies if it wasn't Top Dive, but the name Marco sounds awfully familiar...