Recommendations for Tahiti / Bora Bora

[Kydonia]

I may be blessed with a work-related last minute trip to Tahiti, and although its a quick trip and not a dive trip, there's a good chance I'll be able to do one or two dives.

Any recommendations? I read several of the threads/posts here, and they were helpful.

Any other tips? Must-dives ?
Any recommended dive operators?
Should I bring all my gear? I understand the small inner-island flights have major luggage restrictions...

Sincere thanks in advance...
Eric

 

[edpdiver]

Eric,

I have been to Bora Bora twice. Once I stayed on the island itself, and dove with TopDive, a dive operator that is located on several of the French Polynesian islands. I found them to be fine, but some people on these boards have complaints. Typically, the complaints that I have seen deal with TopDive not following through with unusual requests. (One example I saw was that someone extended their trip for a day, and wanted to do a shark dive, but got scheduled for an afternoon dive in the lagoon which was not what was expected.) For typical arrangements, I did not have any problems with them. On my first trip, I did not bring my dive gear, and I found that their equipment was fine (I am not sure about their dive computers though; I would always bring my own.)

My second trip, I stayed at the Bora Bora Pearl and dove with the on-site dive operator. the Bora Bora Blue Nui Diving Center. (It is on a motu, one of the islands surrounding the main island.) In general I thought that they were a little better. Some of the dive masters were great. Others were just okay. The boats were a little less crowded, and overall, I thought that they were better. They pick up from many of the hotels in the area.

All of the dives I did were great. Probably Muri-Muri was my favorite (near the airport). Tapu was also excellent. But as I said, all of the dives were excellent. The health of the reefs and abundance of fish were first rate, in my opinion. I would definitely do one of the dives where you are likely to see sharks (which includes most of the dive sites).

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

My wife and I stayed at the Bora Bora Dive Resort and dove with Top Dive. We thought everything was outstanding! I would highly recommend both. We flew with our own gear but did have to pay overage as the inter-island flights are strict with luggage allowances. We didn't use it but the rental gear looked fine. I agree with edpdiver that I would at least bring your own computer (and mask).

We also stayed at Kia Ora on Rangiroa which was lovely. The diving there is all tidal in the passes. Top Dive is also located there.

Have a great trip!

 

[Kydonia]

My wife and I stayed at the Bora Bora Dive Resort and dove with Top Dive. We thought everything was outstanding! I would highly recommend both. We flew with our own gear but did have to pay overage as the inter-island flights are strict with luggage allowances. We didn't use it but the rental gear looked fine. I agree with edpdiver that I would at least bring your own computer (and mask).

We also stayed at Kia Ora on Rangiroa which was lovely. The diving there is all tidal in the passes. Top Dive is also located there.

Have a great trip!

Thank you guys so much, I really appreciate your input. Do you have any more info on the luggage restrictions ? is there a gross weight allowance, or a number of bags allowance ? I am thinking about bringing my reg, bc, computer, mask.

How is the water temp (Feb/March) would I need a full suit there ?

 

[mbs]

Here's the link to Air Tahiti's (not the Nui guys, the local airline u will use) baggage info site: Air Tahiti : Polynesian Airline > Information and services Definitely keep your c-card with you and you get extra allowance for your carry-on. You may want to email them on that though since I don't see anything on the site anymore. For us we were over on one bag and we made it without charge to tahiti, to rangiroa, to bora bora to tahiti and on the way out of tahiti back to ny we got dinged on the bag! Lots of folks were repacking bags on the floor. I was lazy and paid the price. At that point what was another $50 bucks afer being in Bora Bora

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

Fromj what I remember fro 2006, the weight restrictions for inter-island flights was 20kg per person (25 kg if you showed them a C-card). That was ALL your luggage, including carry-ons. We were WAY over but simply paid the overage fees and considered it just part of the price of the vacation. We were probably double our allotted weight and for Tahiti to Rangiroa to Bora Boar and back to Tahiti I think it cost us something like $250 or $300. Hope that helps.

Doug

 

[Kydonia]

Thanks everyone. My trip was great.
No issues with baggage, although I guess my carry-on was too heavy for flight from Raitea back to Tahiti and had to be handed to flight attendants, but was still stored in cabin, versus underneath in luggage compartments. Magnificent islands!!

Here are some photos:

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

Glad to hear you had a great time. Thanks for sharing the photos.

 

[edpdiver]

Nice pics. I am glad to hear you had a great time. What islands did you go to, and where did you dive?

 

[alashas]

Great photos, thanks for sharing them!

alashas http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/