Recommendations for French Polynesia Late April, earlyMay

[DreamsOfBlue]

Hi,

I have a trip planned with non-diving friends in late April for a few weeks. Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, Maupiti (and any other island for diving). I am looking for recommendations for where to dive (which part of which island), diving ops, and dive guides. Any tip on diving this area (actual diving, as well as diving culture).

Also, anything you think stand out, even non-diving related, food, cultural activities, history, nature on sea and land, etc.

Thanks in advance !

 

[Kris Triplett]

Hi,

I have a trip planned with non-diving friends in late April for a few weeks. Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, Maupiti (and any other island for diving). I am looking for recommendations for where to dive (which part of which island), diving ops, and dive guides. Any tip on diving this area (actual diving, as well as diving culture).

Also, anything you think stand out, even non-diving related, food, cultural activities, history, nature on sea and land, etc.

Thanks in advance !

Hoping to get a bump on this one. I have a similar trip planned for late March and am looking for recommendations on dive operators. We're sailing the islands for seven days so I'm trying to figure out the itinerary and get some dives in. I've found a few dive operators but haven't been able to find much information from other divers.

 

[mbs]

We used TopDive on Rangiroa and Bora Bora. Several years back now! They were fine. Nice thing they offer is an inter-island dive package which may be good for you.

 

[btscott]

I didn't find the diving on Tahiti or Moorea particularly interesting. Never went to Bora Bora. Had great dives in Rangiroa, Fakarava North and South. I used 6 Passengers on Rangiroa and they were okay. They dive same place each time. When I tried to talk about going somewhere else as alternative, got the typical "tides aren't right". Dolphin encounters every dive on Rangiroa. I've heard good things about Y AKA on Rangiroa. If you go to Fakarava, I would stay in the North and do a day trip to the South. I enjoyed my time at Tetamanu, but dive masters were not to my liking. One day in the South for me would have been fine. Nice social aspect to Tetamanu though. Rustic setting. In the North I used O2 and they were by far the best I used in FP. I also preferred the diving in the North to the South and thought it was better than Rangiroa.

 

[LynnOnTheWeb]

I just finished up the last of 10 dives (5 days of two-take diving) in the French Polynesia. The diving was absolutely spectacular. The variety of reef fish was impressive. We dove with TopDive for most of them but used Nemo’s in Raiatea. The dive masters were incredibly good in Moorea, Raiatea, and Tetiaroa. Bora Bora’s DM was a little less impressive, but good still.

We brought our own masks/fins/computers/regulators but ended up using the operator’s regulators and BCDs as they were in great shape and it was easier. The water was nice and warm, around 84º F

The reefs are full of life, tons and tons of different fish and critters. It’s impossible to tell you everything we saw, so I’ll give you some highlights.

• Moorea - turtles (green turtles and the hawksbill turtles), puffer fish, eels
• Raiatea - black tip reef sharks, juvenile white tip sharks, eagle rays, napoleon fish, school of red snapper, Christmas trees, eels
• Bora Bora - eagle rays, giant clams, anemone (with clown fish, of course!), black tip reef shark, eels. The reef here was absolutely spectacular.
• Tetiaroa - lemon shark, black-tip reef shark, eagle rays, giant clams, dog tooth tuna, school of jacks, puffer fish, nudibranch, leaf fish, lion fish, starfish, turtles, spotted leapord cucumber, eels.

Generally the weather is nice, it’s hottest between 3-5 so land activities are best earlier in the day, or after 5, when it starts cooling down before sunset. For exploring the islands, if you can rent a car or motorbike, it’s a great way to explore. In every single experience, we found the locals to be incredibly friendly and helpful.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[WeRtheOcean]

For those of us not certified, how's the snorkeling situation? Specifically, Raiatea, Bora Bora, Tahaa, and Huahine?