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Taha'a drift snorkel. Which provider?


Petoonya
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Looking for a guide for the Taha'a drift snorkel. Would like to find a provider that doesn't do all kinds of things like the pearl farm or vanilla farm- just want to snorkel. Also be great to find a tour that will drift more than once over the Coral Garden. Anybody?

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Looking for a guide for the Taha'a drift snorkel. Would like to find a provider that doesn't do all kinds of things like the pearl farm or vanilla farm- just want to snorkel. Also be great to find a tour that will drift more than once over the Coral Garden. Anybody?

 

 

 

Been there twice. Once on a Princess excursion and once with Bruno. The ship excursion only went to the drift snorkel area. Plenty of time either way to do the snorkel more than once. I am sure whatever ship you are in has the excursion.

 

 

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Thanks Twin. Once you've done the vanilla farm and pearl farm tour on any island they become annoying and a waste of valuable time. I guess I'll just go with Windstar's 3 hour coral garden drift snorkel excursion. Maybe we'll rent a kayak from one of the hotels in the afternoon which sounds pretty easy to arrange, and make our own way for that half of the day.

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Thanks Twin. Once you've done the vanilla farm and pearl farm tour on any island they become annoying and a waste of valuable time. I guess I'll just go with Windstar's 3 hour coral garden drift snorkel excursion. Maybe we'll rent a kayak from one of the hotels in the afternoon which sounds pretty easy to arrange, and make our own way for that half of the day.

 

 

 

That’s a good amount of time for sure. Wonderful surroundings. My first time there we saw Tom Cruise lounging on his balcony at Le Taha’a!

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

To jump in here, we are going to Raiatea on Regent in Nov. They offer a couple of different excursions to Tahaa. One includes drift snorkeling over the Coral Garden. The other is a 4X4 over from the shore over the island to a vanilla farm then some beach time. Of course there are other options around Raiatea including snorkeling, pearl farms, Faara river, etc. Any thoughts from anyone who's been there? Thanks

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  • 1 month later...

I just returned from FP. We had a day in Raiatea and opted for Bruno's tour. Out of all of the tours that we took across the islands, Bruno's was the most crowded and most underwhelming. This is just my option. I am sure that others have a much different perspective.

The first snorkel stop on the tour was great but the second was a complete bust. There were limited fish and coral and such a strong current that many folks couldn't get in. The motu we went to for lunch was stunning and swimming/snorkeling around the motu was nice. The pearl farm and vanilla plantations were ok...just not my thing so I would probably pick a tour on future visits that had me in the water 100%.

I didn't take a count, but there were probably 35-40 people on Bruno's tour on a single boat. All of our other tours had 8-16 people max.

There were tour providers at every port around the tender pier....even in Nuku Hiva.

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Thanks so much Delee,

Appreciate your input. If you see this again, could you tell me what ship you were on? Bruno says max 12 for Wind Spirit, 144 passengers, and wonder if you too were on a smaller ship? He said he takes on more when there is more demand because larger ships. What ship were you on?

Sorry the trip was not so good for you. I'm not pearl and vanilla person either and would much rather keep my tush in the water. Eager to hear what your thoughts are. Thanks.

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Hi, We booked Bruno for 2019 and I had a discussion with him about the boat size after seeing other posts on Trip Advisor. He is struggling to meet demand so he is working with someone who has a larger boat. We will be on the Marina which is larger so there may be demand. We discussed this and he assured me that the group of 12 that we have will have the trip as planned(we eliminated the pearl farm) on his smaller boat. I also indicated that I did not want lunch at the larger site that he takes more people to and he agreed to do lunch at the family site that he uses. I would recommend having a discussion with him if you can if you want a smaller group. He was defensive but accommodating. All I can do is hope that he will keep his word. I did let him know that all he needs to do is to be up front about exactly what people are signing up for.

 

Its a hard place to book from. There was 1 other tour listed on trip advisor but I did not get a response although they have good reviews. Other operators will take you to Tahaa but not from the port. Hope this helps.

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We were on the Oceania Marina, so definitely a huge influx of passengers! We waited on Bruno's boat for about 45 mins while they tried to get more passengers to join. Definitely don't want to discourage folks from using the company - they delivered what they promised. However, in comparison to similar tours on Fakarava, Huahine, and Bora Bora, Bruno's tour was so crowded and you waited longer to get in and out of the water. I am not sure what boat Bruno used for us. If that was supposed to fit 144, then it wouldn't have had a single open space to even stand. Every seat was taken and several of us had to stand. Not a huge deal, just not as nice as the experience from providers on the other islands.

 

Definitely agree that Raiatea doesn't have an abundance of options. There were tour providers at the dock. Not sure about their reviews.

I believe that we were supposed to have a provide tour of 12. They put us on the big boat and we ate lunch with everyone else. The queue was quite long. Again, no huge deal, it was paradise!

 

If Bruno is willing to make arrangements for a smaller group using his smaller boat, then I would try it! Ask him to eliminate the land portions and focus on Taha'a snorkeling. The motu lunch is nice and absolutely stunningly beautiful! Not the best snorkeling in the that area, but it is still nice enough the go through that coral before and after the picnic lunch.

 

Let me know if you have any further questions! Happy to help...

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To add a bit about Bruno's tour... We will be in Raiatea on the Wind Spirit July 7, 2018. I booked Bruno's excursion months ago based on the reviews. In the past few days I have been reading some of these negative reviews about a larger boat. I emailed Bruno yesterday about my concerns. They replied right away and said that on that date they plan to use the 12 passenger boat as advertised. I hope that's the case. I really think if he needs to occasionally use a bigger boat that he should add that info to the website or inform clients ahead of time.

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Kathi,

There is a website that lists what ship or ships will be in port by month http://www.crew-center.com

It lists ships in port in every area of the world and what ships will be in port by date. Through the month of July in Raiatea only Wind Spirit will be in port. That should be a good thing for numbers of passengers that might drive Bruno's big vs. little boat. Maybe.

 

Anyone know if there is a difference between taking Bruno's tour from Raiatea vs. Tahaa?

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Thanks for that info. I am pretty confident now that our tour with Bruno at Raiatea will be on the 12 passenger boat. He said specifically if just the Windstar ship is in port that will be the case. I am thinking of adding the drift snorkel through the ship on our day in Tahaa as it sounds like you cannot get enough of that. Then afterwards they drop you off at the motu where the picnic lunch will be served. Anyone thinking of doing that morning snorkel through the ship at Tahaa?

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  • 1 year later...

 

On 2/5/2018 at 1:25 PM, Petoonya said:

Thanks Twin. Once you've done the vanilla farm and pearl farm tour on any island they become annoying and a waste of valuable time. I guess I'll just go with Windstar's 3 hour coral garden drift snorkel excursion. Maybe we'll rent a kayak from one of the hotels in the afternoon which sounds pretty easy to arrange, and make our own way for that half of the day.

 

Petoonya, I know this is an older post, but I'm curious. I thought Windstar provided kayaks...why would there have been a need to rent one from a hotel?  Also, how did you enjoy the ship's coral garden drift snorkel?

 

We'll be sailing Windstar with stops in both Taha'a and Raiatea next year.

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12 hours ago, jtmalt said:

 

 

Petoonya, I know this is an older post, but I'm curious. I thought Windstar provided kayaks...why would there have been a need to rent one from a hotel?  Also, how did you enjoy the ship's coral garden drift snorkel?

 

We'll be sailing Windstar with stops in both Taha'a and Raiatea next year.

 

 Ah, never mind, Petoonya.  I just realized that they don't open the water sports center on Windstar in Tahaa or Raiatea, so I answered my own question.

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