Specific dive SITES in French Polynesia?

[psyfi]

We are planning at trip to French Polynesia and hope to dive in Moorea, Bora Bora, Rangiroa and possibly Fakarava and Tahiti. I am looking for recommendations on specific dive sites to request from the shops. Can anyone who has been there comment on which dive sites they thought were the best? Thanks!

[Ladysmith]

If you are a serious diver, the only operator to use in Rangiroa is "Para Dive". He is a master diver who will take you to the best of the best. The 'gap' is for very experienced divers only but there is plenty to see in several other sites. They are professional, very hospitable and well organized IMHO. They have a web site.

Bora Bora was not as good as Rangiroa!

[psyfi]

Thanks! We are pretty good divers, used to diving the Great Lakes in dry suits, ice diving, rescue certified and have done lots of drift diving so I think we would be ok. I will check out Para Dive

[Laurie S.]

I was there in February on a Princess cruise, but we did all our own arrangements. My favorite places to dive, in order, were Bora Bora, Tahiti, Rangiroa, Moorea, Raiatea, and Huahine.

 

On Bora Bora we dove with both Top Dive and Bora Diving Center. I highly recommend both dive shops. My favorite dive spot was Anau, where we dove with the manta rays. The site is restricted to 10 divers a day, and we were lucky enough to dive there on the second day. Another fabulous dive spot is Toopua. We did both a day and night dive there.

 

At Rangiroa, we dove Tiputa Pass and Tipuata Reef. Both were terrific dives, and again, we dove with Top Dive. It's a great operation on Rangiroa and I most certainly would dive with them again.

 

We dove Moorea precruise and during the cruise and both days used Fun Dive. They are terrific people and a great dive shop! My favorite dive spots there were Taotoi and Anemone City. The corals are starting to come back, but they still aren't good. However, the rest of the marine life makes up for it.

 

In Tahiti we dove with Top Dive from the Intercontinental Hotel where we stayed precruise. Again, a great dive operation and great dives. I was surprised, because I had heard bad things about diving in Tahiti. It's not true, it's a great place to dive! My favorite spots there were Temaruata and Shark Alley.

 

If you get both Top Dive's Inter-Island and the pass that the competing dive shops sell (forget the name of the pass), you'll save quite a bit of money. Once you've used up both passes, the shops will add dives to them for the same amount that the individual dives cost using the pass.

[psyfi]

Thank you Laurie--that was just the sort of information I was looking for. I often wonder when people comment about the diving in Tahiti--if their negative views are only in comparison to other spots in Frech Polynesia--since we dive mostly in the Great Lakes--dark, cold and green I can't imagine a bad dive in FP! Thank you for your port ranking as well--I'm impressed that your bottom 2 are also the ones I was not going to dive at and do something different those days instead!

 

What is the procedure for diving Anau in Bora Bora (I did not know they limit the # of divers!)--is it first come, or raffle or luck of the day? I definately want to dive that site if at all possible.

 

How was your night dive? I love to night dive but I was a little worried about all the sharks, which feed at night. Obviously you had no issues? I'm not normally afradi of sharks at all and I even considered picking up a Poly shark diver certification just for fun but diving amist alot of sharks in the dark seems a little different. I love the different sea creature that come out at night, like octopus (my personal favourites). We could night dive in Moorea or Bora Bora. You would recommend it?

 

Again thanks for all the information!

[Laurie S.]

We were lucky because we there were two days in a row. We found out about Anau the first day while diving with Top Dive, and then were able to go with Fun Dive the following day. We met the owner of Fun Dive on the pier while waiting for Top Dive the first day and hit it off with him. It was that connection, I believe, that got us to Anau (and some begging LOL). I would suggest e-mailing Fun Dive before you go and see if you can get a dive there. Top Dive goes one day, and Fun Dive on another, so maybe check with both.

 

We did two night dives, the one at Bora Bora and the other at Raiatea. We didn't see a shark on either night, but a lot during the day. The shop at Tahiti said the sharks feed at night, but they go down to about 200 feet so there is no danger since the divers won't be down that deep.

 

Our best night dive actually was at Raiatea because we went along a wall and I got some awesome photos. It was a little scary because we were in a small dinghy and the the water was pretty rough. We had a language barrier there, too, but we still had a great time.

 

The visibility at Huahine was the biggest problem. The diving was good but there was a lot of kelp/seaweed and water was turbid in a number of places. That was the only plae where I saw eagle rays, however.

[J&KCruiser]

If you are a serious diver, the only operator to use in Rangiroa is "Para Dive". He is a master diver who will take you to the best of the best. The 'gap' is for very experienced divers only but there is plenty to see in several other sites. They are professional, very hospitable and well organized IMHO. They have a web site.

Bora Bora was not as good as Rangiroa!

 

I would think that all the dive shops in Rangiroa go to same area but I thought is was called Windmill. Used Six Passengers and was very satisfied with there gear, staff & services.

 

Six Passengers pick shuttled to and from. It is a must dive location. My other dives were Te Mara Nui, Raiatea (very small operations) located inside port info centre; Dive Tahiti, Coral Garden (shuttle to/from). Me being new the dives were good. Good Staff at Coral Garden.

 

BTW. I am new Oct 2010 but a lady on our ship thsi past Jan stated it was the best dive she ever made with diving 5 days a week for almost 12 years of diving. Did not remember where she was from or where she does her diving.

[budaman]

We've made two trips to FP & haven't had a bad dive....one of my favorite places.

 

Additional sites not mentioned previously:

 

Bora Bora: Tapu

Moorea: Tiki & the Canyons

Raiatea: Miri & the Norby Wreck...little murky here because of the wrecks location, but still interesting.

 

There are many pics in our gallery....link in signature.

 

Also, several videos I took on the latest trip.

 

Have a great time!

 

Mike

[Laurie S.]

We dove the Nordby during the day and enjoyed it. I love diving wrecks! We were going to dive it again at night, but then the shop suggested the wall and I'm really glad we took them up on it, despite the wild ride out there. It was bad enough that I was thinking we might end up having to swim back in. ;)

[Socref124]

We dove the Nordby during the day and enjoyed it. I love diving wrecks! We were going to dive it again at night, but then the shop suggested the wall and I'm really glad we took them up on it, despite the wild ride out there. It was bad enough that I was thinking we might end up having to swim back in. ;)

 

Hi Laurie, did you dive in Costa Rico or Panama in May? If so, how was the diving and who were the operators? I saw that you were on the Scuba boardds before the cruise. Thanks any info will be appreciated.

[Laurie S.]

No, I went to the Embera villlage in Panama and did ziplining in Costa Rica. It was a 90-minute cab ride to the dive shop in Costa Rica and that was too far. But we had great dive in Cozumel, Costa Maya, and Roatan. :)

[Socref124]

No, I went to the Embera villlage in Panama and did ziplining in Costa Rica. It was a 90-minute cab ride to the dive shop in Costa Rica and that was too far. But we had great dive in Cozumel, Costa Maya, and Roatan. :)

 

Thanks for the info. Who did you dive with in Costa Maya?

[Laurie S.]

We had signed up with Nomad Divers, but the owner had to have an emergency root canal and couldn't dive. So, she arranged for us to dive with GypSea Divers and they were great! They let my friend and I go off on our own and do our own thing and we had a blast. I'd recommend either shop.

[Socref124]

We had signed up with Nomad Divers, but the owner had to have an emergency root canal and couldn't dive. So, she arranged for us to dive with GypSea Divers and they were great! They let my friend and I go off on our own and do our own thing and we had a blast. I'd recommend either shop.

 

Thanks for your help, we appreciate it very much.

[psyfi]

Thanks everyone for Tahitian dive sites. I continue to amass my list of must dive sites! For anyone who likes to dive wrecks--there are none better than in the Great Lakes--no pretty fish or corals but the wrecks are in fantastic condition!