Jeff Moir
Guest
DIVE REVIEW
We took the Tahitian Princess cruise from Tahiti to Huahine to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands to Raiatea to Bora bora to Moorea and back to Tahiti at the end of July 2004.
Princess Cruises provides diving opportunities on its shore excursions, but only on Raiatea, Bora Bora and Moorea. We wanted to dive every island on the itinerary, and the dives organized by the ship typically add on 15-20 dollars per dive. So, with that in mind I set out to organize my own itinerary for diving for my son & me. After surfing the web at length, I came up with Dream Travel Tahitis multiple island dive voucher program. Buy a discounted ticket book with 10 dive vouchers in it and use them at any of their participating dive centers on any of the islands. This was good for all except Rarotonga, which belongs to New Zealand, and is not part of the French Society Island chain. We had to make reservations for Rarotonga separately.
Dream Travel Tahiti is co-located with Aquatica Dive Center on Tahiti Island, so taking care of the voucher purchase at the same time as the first dive was no hassle.
The way the cruise works is, you arrive the night before sailing, check in and spend the night on the boat and have all the following day to tour Papeete and Tahiti before departure at 5:00 PM. I made e-mail contact with all of the dive centers before we left home to be sure wed get picked up from wherever the boat landed. The people from Aquatica (http://www.aquatica-dive.com) were on time at the visitor center right next to the wharf in Papeete just as planned. Equipped with our own mask, fins, snorkel and shorty suits (although suits are usually provided), we were set up for a 2 tank dive in the morning, hoping to get in a shark feeding on the reef and then a dive on the wrecks of the Schooner and the PBY Flying Boat. The shark feeding kind of fizzled, as we couldnt get any takers for the big chunk of fish our guide had with him. We made the best of it and just explored the reef and the smaller fish. Visibility was about 100 feet. The second wreck dive was way cool, however. Our guide took us to the Schooner which sits in about 30-40 feet of water. Its been down there a while and is in a beautiful state of decay with ribs and rigging showing and lots of fish swimming throughout. Maybe a 50 yard swim from there lies the Catalina Flying Boat, far enough away to be just out of sight when swimming from the Schooner so it appears as a ghostly form as you swim upon it. Lots of photo ops as you can swim in it and around it, although its a bit tight in the front seat. It would be a challenge to get 2 people up front with gear on. Stephane at Aquatica runs a nice operation. The boat was well suited, the tour was small (4 divers), and the equipment was in good shape. The bar was set high early on for the rest to follow.
The next day we arrived at Huahine at 8:00 AM. The ship anchors in a beautiful bay in lush primitive surroundings. The tender to shore just gets you to the le Trucks and safari vehicles that are provided for transportation to the town of Fare and around the island. In Fare, kind of a quaint and remotely third-worldish hamlet (the biggest town on the island) youll find Theo at Pacific Blue Adventures (http://www.divehuahine.com) at the end of the wharf. A relatively small dive shop, he has the boat and equipment to get it done and provided us with a very nice drift dive to Avapeihi Pass at about 75 feet along the reef. Lots of reef fish, reef sharks and coral formations, with visibility about 75 feet. The second dive was to a place called Faa Miti, and outside-the-reef dive on a descending slope of coral with lots of reef sharks, moray eels and rose coral. Theo is very professional and very personable and I left there with probably the most satisfaction of any of the dives. Unfortunately, no T-shirts to buy. Theo..you need to work on that, Buddy! Hoping to trade shirts, but left him one of mine, anyway.
The 3rd day we were at sea, steaming toward Rarotonga. When we arrived the morning of the 4th day, we were met at the dock by the Lucy from Pacific Divers. (http://www.pacificdivers.co.ck) I love it when a plan comes together! We were driven off to probably the smallest operation we found on the cruise, but divemaster Tom took us to the spots we requested, notably the Mataora wreck and the second spot at his discretion. Weather conditions vary at all the islands, so what you want to dive on may not necessarily be what you get. The Mataora was a vessel they sank on the reef in 1990 as a diving attraction and was subsequently tossed in a tropical storm that made a REAL wreck out of it and pretty well scattered it along 100 yards of reef bottom at about 45 feet. Although the wreck was interesting to dive on, Rarotongas reef is unique with its craggy formations and deep crevasses. Unfortunately, Rarotonga was invaded by the Crown of Thorns Starfish some years back, a nasty little critter that eats an area of coral equivalent to its own size each day. Subsequently, at least in the areas where we dove, the reef is dead, with just a few fish swimming about and coral color coming back slowly. After the dive, we rented scooters and toured the island. If I had it to do over, I think Id do a one tank dive and spend more time seeing the dry land features on a scooter or one of the organized tours. Being in the Cook Islands, the unit of currency is the New Zealand Dollar, and your bang for the buck is excellent by comparison to the Tahitian Islands. One dollar New Zealand is currently the equivalent to about .65 (cents) US on the exchange, but unlike other places Ive been where prices are jacked up to compensate, the buying power and value of items purchased, (especially handmade goods and services like diving) were very good. Our dives cost $35.00 US each tank.
The fourth day found us cruising back to the Society Islands, arriving at Raiatea the morning of the 5th day. I had made arrangements with Hemisphere Sub Diving (http://www.pearl-resorts.com/hawaiki/diving.asp) to take us on a 2 tank dive, one of which was supposed to be the wreck of the Nordby, a three mast cargo vessel lost in 1900. As Hemisphere is also the dive provider for the ship while in this port, they were a little reluctant to take passengers like us from the ship that had not booked onboard for their dives. I think they were worried about a conflict of interest and possibly killing or at least wounding their cash cow. They shuttled us off from the quite beautiful waterfront of Uturoa to their shop where we waited for the arrival of the group from the boat. Using the excuse of unfavorable weather conditions, we were denied a dive on the Nordby, and taken to a location called Miri Pass, where we saw eagle rays, vertical coral walls and abundant reef life. The second dive was at Toa Puna, very pretty, lots of reef fish, but essentially more of the same. Not diving on the Nordby was a disappointment.
The morning of the 6th day the ship departed Raiatea early to arrive at Bora Bora at 12 Noon. I had planned an afternoon dive and a night dive with Bora Bora Blue Nui. (http://www.bluenui.com/Ang/bora_ang.htm) This was the only plan that really didnt come together. They were not waiting for us as arranged via my e-mails, and I had to buy a $17.00 phone card just to call them for a pickup after waiting about an hour. I was a little disappointed that the Visitor Center would not assist by making the call. After a fashion, they showed up, and as it turned out, the boat and equipment was probably the best of any of the dive centers we used. They took us on a very nice dive to Toopua, a beautiful site inside the lagoon at a depth which starts at 10 ft. and drops gradually to about 50 ft. where we saw leopard-spotted eagle rays, trigger fish, and different lagoon fish like butterflies and moorish idols in a coral garden covered with sea anemones.
Gilles was our guide and is very personable and relaxed. He found one of those Crown of Thorns Starfish hiding under a coral shelf and dispatched it with a twist of the dive knife. I figured a reef fish feeding frenzy would ensue, but even they turned their noses up at it. The night dive didnt work out because the tender service from the ship stopped at 4:30, with one final tender to the island at 11:00 PM to pick up the strays who went ashore for dinner. We were scheduled with Blue Nui the morning of the following (7th) day to do a 2 tank dive with my wife and daughter tagging along to snorkel while my son and I dove. Gilles told us he was booked for the morning, unable to take snorkelers and that I hadnt advised him of that request. I showed him in my e-mail where that was mentioned, but it made no difference. We elected to do a one-tank in the afternoon so the snorkelers could go. The dive site was Tapu at a depth of 70 ft. where we saw lemon sharks, black-tipped sharks, turtles, and lionfish. This dive is on the outside of the reef, and the snorkelers were provided a float to paddle around with, so even though being apprehentious of open water (albeit 15-20 feet deep where they were) they had a blast, seeing lots of reef sharks and smaller fish. In Bora, the contractor for the ship is Bora Dive Center, who did not happen to be a participant in the Dream Travel dive voucher program. We could have done a night dive with them, as they pick up directly from the ship while anchored. The dive was a little pricey and they didnt take the Dream Travel vouchers we had already purchased, so we passed on that one.
We took the Tahitian Princess cruise from Tahiti to Huahine to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands to Raiatea to Bora bora to Moorea and back to Tahiti at the end of July 2004.
Princess Cruises provides diving opportunities on its shore excursions, but only on Raiatea, Bora Bora and Moorea. We wanted to dive every island on the itinerary, and the dives organized by the ship typically add on 15-20 dollars per dive. So, with that in mind I set out to organize my own itinerary for diving for my son & me. After surfing the web at length, I came up with Dream Travel Tahitis multiple island dive voucher program. Buy a discounted ticket book with 10 dive vouchers in it and use them at any of their participating dive centers on any of the islands. This was good for all except Rarotonga, which belongs to New Zealand, and is not part of the French Society Island chain. We had to make reservations for Rarotonga separately.
Dream Travel Tahiti is co-located with Aquatica Dive Center on Tahiti Island, so taking care of the voucher purchase at the same time as the first dive was no hassle.
The way the cruise works is, you arrive the night before sailing, check in and spend the night on the boat and have all the following day to tour Papeete and Tahiti before departure at 5:00 PM. I made e-mail contact with all of the dive centers before we left home to be sure wed get picked up from wherever the boat landed. The people from Aquatica (http://www.aquatica-dive.com) were on time at the visitor center right next to the wharf in Papeete just as planned. Equipped with our own mask, fins, snorkel and shorty suits (although suits are usually provided), we were set up for a 2 tank dive in the morning, hoping to get in a shark feeding on the reef and then a dive on the wrecks of the Schooner and the PBY Flying Boat. The shark feeding kind of fizzled, as we couldnt get any takers for the big chunk of fish our guide had with him. We made the best of it and just explored the reef and the smaller fish. Visibility was about 100 feet. The second wreck dive was way cool, however. Our guide took us to the Schooner which sits in about 30-40 feet of water. Its been down there a while and is in a beautiful state of decay with ribs and rigging showing and lots of fish swimming throughout. Maybe a 50 yard swim from there lies the Catalina Flying Boat, far enough away to be just out of sight when swimming from the Schooner so it appears as a ghostly form as you swim upon it. Lots of photo ops as you can swim in it and around it, although its a bit tight in the front seat. It would be a challenge to get 2 people up front with gear on. Stephane at Aquatica runs a nice operation. The boat was well suited, the tour was small (4 divers), and the equipment was in good shape. The bar was set high early on for the rest to follow.
The next day we arrived at Huahine at 8:00 AM. The ship anchors in a beautiful bay in lush primitive surroundings. The tender to shore just gets you to the le Trucks and safari vehicles that are provided for transportation to the town of Fare and around the island. In Fare, kind of a quaint and remotely third-worldish hamlet (the biggest town on the island) youll find Theo at Pacific Blue Adventures (http://www.divehuahine.com) at the end of the wharf. A relatively small dive shop, he has the boat and equipment to get it done and provided us with a very nice drift dive to Avapeihi Pass at about 75 feet along the reef. Lots of reef fish, reef sharks and coral formations, with visibility about 75 feet. The second dive was to a place called Faa Miti, and outside-the-reef dive on a descending slope of coral with lots of reef sharks, moray eels and rose coral. Theo is very professional and very personable and I left there with probably the most satisfaction of any of the dives. Unfortunately, no T-shirts to buy. Theo..you need to work on that, Buddy! Hoping to trade shirts, but left him one of mine, anyway.
The 3rd day we were at sea, steaming toward Rarotonga. When we arrived the morning of the 4th day, we were met at the dock by the Lucy from Pacific Divers. (http://www.pacificdivers.co.ck) I love it when a plan comes together! We were driven off to probably the smallest operation we found on the cruise, but divemaster Tom took us to the spots we requested, notably the Mataora wreck and the second spot at his discretion. Weather conditions vary at all the islands, so what you want to dive on may not necessarily be what you get. The Mataora was a vessel they sank on the reef in 1990 as a diving attraction and was subsequently tossed in a tropical storm that made a REAL wreck out of it and pretty well scattered it along 100 yards of reef bottom at about 45 feet. Although the wreck was interesting to dive on, Rarotongas reef is unique with its craggy formations and deep crevasses. Unfortunately, Rarotonga was invaded by the Crown of Thorns Starfish some years back, a nasty little critter that eats an area of coral equivalent to its own size each day. Subsequently, at least in the areas where we dove, the reef is dead, with just a few fish swimming about and coral color coming back slowly. After the dive, we rented scooters and toured the island. If I had it to do over, I think Id do a one tank dive and spend more time seeing the dry land features on a scooter or one of the organized tours. Being in the Cook Islands, the unit of currency is the New Zealand Dollar, and your bang for the buck is excellent by comparison to the Tahitian Islands. One dollar New Zealand is currently the equivalent to about .65 (cents) US on the exchange, but unlike other places Ive been where prices are jacked up to compensate, the buying power and value of items purchased, (especially handmade goods and services like diving) were very good. Our dives cost $35.00 US each tank.
The fourth day found us cruising back to the Society Islands, arriving at Raiatea the morning of the 5th day. I had made arrangements with Hemisphere Sub Diving (http://www.pearl-resorts.com/hawaiki/diving.asp) to take us on a 2 tank dive, one of which was supposed to be the wreck of the Nordby, a three mast cargo vessel lost in 1900. As Hemisphere is also the dive provider for the ship while in this port, they were a little reluctant to take passengers like us from the ship that had not booked onboard for their dives. I think they were worried about a conflict of interest and possibly killing or at least wounding their cash cow. They shuttled us off from the quite beautiful waterfront of Uturoa to their shop where we waited for the arrival of the group from the boat. Using the excuse of unfavorable weather conditions, we were denied a dive on the Nordby, and taken to a location called Miri Pass, where we saw eagle rays, vertical coral walls and abundant reef life. The second dive was at Toa Puna, very pretty, lots of reef fish, but essentially more of the same. Not diving on the Nordby was a disappointment.
The morning of the 6th day the ship departed Raiatea early to arrive at Bora Bora at 12 Noon. I had planned an afternoon dive and a night dive with Bora Bora Blue Nui. (http://www.bluenui.com/Ang/bora_ang.htm) This was the only plan that really didnt come together. They were not waiting for us as arranged via my e-mails, and I had to buy a $17.00 phone card just to call them for a pickup after waiting about an hour. I was a little disappointed that the Visitor Center would not assist by making the call. After a fashion, they showed up, and as it turned out, the boat and equipment was probably the best of any of the dive centers we used. They took us on a very nice dive to Toopua, a beautiful site inside the lagoon at a depth which starts at 10 ft. and drops gradually to about 50 ft. where we saw leopard-spotted eagle rays, trigger fish, and different lagoon fish like butterflies and moorish idols in a coral garden covered with sea anemones.
Gilles was our guide and is very personable and relaxed. He found one of those Crown of Thorns Starfish hiding under a coral shelf and dispatched it with a twist of the dive knife. I figured a reef fish feeding frenzy would ensue, but even they turned their noses up at it. The night dive didnt work out because the tender service from the ship stopped at 4:30, with one final tender to the island at 11:00 PM to pick up the strays who went ashore for dinner. We were scheduled with Blue Nui the morning of the following (7th) day to do a 2 tank dive with my wife and daughter tagging along to snorkel while my son and I dove. Gilles told us he was booked for the morning, unable to take snorkelers and that I hadnt advised him of that request. I showed him in my e-mail where that was mentioned, but it made no difference. We elected to do a one-tank in the afternoon so the snorkelers could go. The dive site was Tapu at a depth of 70 ft. where we saw lemon sharks, black-tipped sharks, turtles, and lionfish. This dive is on the outside of the reef, and the snorkelers were provided a float to paddle around with, so even though being apprehentious of open water (albeit 15-20 feet deep where they were) they had a blast, seeing lots of reef sharks and smaller fish. In Bora, the contractor for the ship is Bora Dive Center, who did not happen to be a participant in the Dream Travel dive voucher program. We could have done a night dive with them, as they pick up directly from the ship while anchored. The dive was a little pricey and they didnt take the Dream Travel vouchers we had already purchased, so we passed on that one.
