hypersonic
Contributor
Hotel Kia Ora on Rangiroa had been on my bucket list for some time. I followed their progress as they tore the old place down and re-built from ground up. It was convenient for my wife and I to travel to Tahiti in late October though I was a little concerned that the new hotel had not been opened long enough to work out all the bugs. I had been reading SB trip reports on Fakarava which indicated that the diving might be a tad bit better. So I shifted gears and booked a beach front room at the White Sand Beach Resort which included a four day diving package for the two of us.
It was not easy making arrangements with the resort. It took multiple e-mails to get a response and several times I would have to call to get a confirmation for the reservation and the wire transfers. The gals on the other end spoke good enough English but just would not reply to my inquiries.
Had a good flight from LAX to Papeete, spent the night and arrived on Fakarava on the 30th of October. Checked into the resort OK. While the resort's web site shows Fakarava Top Dive office in the resort, it in fact had moved to a different location so we called the first thing Monday morning. Unfortunately we learned the resort had failed to make our reservations with the dive shop and that TD was fully booked for the day.
OK, we still had three more days we could dive so TD said they would pick us up the following morning at the resort. It was raining Tuesday morning but Matias(?) showed up to advise us it was probably not a good thing to dive. I told him I would like a check-out dive in the lagoon before going out on the reef or doing the drift dive. He said they only did check out dives on the reef but if the weather cleared which it did around 2 pm...he would call, except he didn't.
By then we were unhappy with the resort, unhappy with Top Dive so we changed our flight reservations and went back to Papette. While it was not TP's fault the resort failed to communicate our reservation, they did little (actually nothing) to get us into the water. And in our conversation on the drift dive which would have been the ultimate goal, Matias said they entered the water with negative buoyancy...been there, done that...it is not in my comfort zone.
The resort itself reminded me of an old Lake of the Ozarks resort. While it has had a new Swiss owner for over a year, there is not one sign of any renovation. I made a long list of things in need of repair in our room from a leaky roof to light bulbs missing. Even though the eaves were open and there was netting over the bed, we had no problem with bugs however, there was evidence that 4-legged critters were nightly visitors and some of a rather large variety.
We booked full board, the food was good especially the bread, the salads were good as were the french fries. The bar is limited, no bartender and no mixed drinks.
There are a couple of black pearl farms near the resort. We visited the smaller of the two owned by a German guy who spoke good English and was quite informative.
Overall I am not happy with how the trip turned out but I have traveled enough to know that these things can happen and we did return home in one piece.
It was not easy making arrangements with the resort. It took multiple e-mails to get a response and several times I would have to call to get a confirmation for the reservation and the wire transfers. The gals on the other end spoke good enough English but just would not reply to my inquiries.
Had a good flight from LAX to Papeete, spent the night and arrived on Fakarava on the 30th of October. Checked into the resort OK. While the resort's web site shows Fakarava Top Dive office in the resort, it in fact had moved to a different location so we called the first thing Monday morning. Unfortunately we learned the resort had failed to make our reservations with the dive shop and that TD was fully booked for the day.
OK, we still had three more days we could dive so TD said they would pick us up the following morning at the resort. It was raining Tuesday morning but Matias(?) showed up to advise us it was probably not a good thing to dive. I told him I would like a check-out dive in the lagoon before going out on the reef or doing the drift dive. He said they only did check out dives on the reef but if the weather cleared which it did around 2 pm...he would call, except he didn't.
By then we were unhappy with the resort, unhappy with Top Dive so we changed our flight reservations and went back to Papette. While it was not TP's fault the resort failed to communicate our reservation, they did little (actually nothing) to get us into the water. And in our conversation on the drift dive which would have been the ultimate goal, Matias said they entered the water with negative buoyancy...been there, done that...it is not in my comfort zone.
The resort itself reminded me of an old Lake of the Ozarks resort. While it has had a new Swiss owner for over a year, there is not one sign of any renovation. I made a long list of things in need of repair in our room from a leaky roof to light bulbs missing. Even though the eaves were open and there was netting over the bed, we had no problem with bugs however, there was evidence that 4-legged critters were nightly visitors and some of a rather large variety.
We booked full board, the food was good especially the bread, the salads were good as were the french fries. The bar is limited, no bartender and no mixed drinks.
There are a couple of black pearl farms near the resort. We visited the smaller of the two owned by a German guy who spoke good English and was quite informative.
Overall I am not happy with how the trip turned out but I have traveled enough to know that these things can happen and we did return home in one piece.
