Diving in French Polynesia

[divadiver]

My daughter and I are going to be cruising Bora Bora, Moorea, Raiatea, Huahine, and Rarotonga in April. Has anyone done the diving associated with Tahitian Princess, or do you have suggestions for dive operators on any of these islands? Also, if we choose to dive on only one or two of these islands, which ones would offer the best diving? I've never been diving on that side of the world, so I am very excited and want to get the best diving and service possible.

[Mescubamom]

My Husband and I did the Paul Gauguin this past October. In Raiatea we dove with Hemisphere Sub. They were really a great group. Very small boat but no cattle calls. It was one of the best dives we have ever had. Not only was it the first time we dove with losts of Black reef tips but on our way up there was a mom and baby humback whale. Our entire safety plus 15 or 20 minutes was just hanging and watching them. We both exited the water with about 100psi. Pictures are great. We were so close I even have some with her eyes open. She never moved and the baby swam around us and her. WOW does not even do the whole seen justice.

The rest of our dives where off the Zodiacs from the ship and the ship crew.

We dove Moorea, Bora Bora really nice dives and the sharks were great. Bora Bora is where I took some really nice shots of Lemon Sharks.

I am a coral person and found a huge difference from the Caribean which is where most of our dives have been.

I hope you have a great time I know we did and will never forget our time their.

Oh Yeah make sure you come home with some Black Pearls. I bought from Tahia Collins on Moorea

Alice

[10X]

I dove with TopDive in Bora Bora and loved it. We'll be going back next year and I'm already planning on diving with them again. They are available at several of the islands now.

 

In Moorea I did a ship's excursion and they used Bathy's. Before I ever use them again I'll snorkel rather than dive.

[budaman]

We used Top Dive also in Bora Bora & Moorea....split the 10 dive pkg & did 3 dives in Bora & 2 in Moorea each. All of those dives were excellent. We used the TP excursion in Raiatea and they used Hemisphere Sub also and both of those dives were excellent too. In Rarotonga, we used Pacific Divers and the operation was great, but I felt the diving there was not as good as the other islands if you have to eliminate one. It is so much cheaper there if you arrange your own dives...about half the cost of the other islands or the ship excursions. We also did not have to pay upfront there...which was a concern since it is missed sometimes. We passed on Huahine, but I heard the diving was very good....we couldn't find an independent there we felt comfortable booking with, so we just rented a boat and cruised & snorkeled around the lagoon by ourselves. We plan on going back next Oct. when bookings open up...hopefully we will be able to catch the whales then since we missed them going in Nov. Pics & video in the link below.

 

Mike

 

http://web.mac.com/csealove/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html

 

www.homepage.mac.com/csealove/

[thllride]

Hi,

 

When we went on the Tahitian Princess in '03, the best excursion we did by far was on Huahine with Huahine Nautique. We went drift snorkeling - lots of fish and coral in clear warm water, had a wonderful motu lunch, visited a pearl farm. They have a website that has great information and the prices were really reasonable. I had heard a rumor that they were going to be part of the Princess excursion options - not sure if it happened or not. Marc the owner of Huahine Nautique was wonderful to deal with before we arrived and during the tour.

[Number 6w]

Hubby & I were on the Tahitian Princess last July.

 

Diving in Bora Bora was the thrill of a lifetime and the absolute best dive we've ever done!

 

We used independent companies for Tahiti and Huahine, but used the Princess excursion in Bora Bora as they are the only ones on the island and would only book us through Princess.

 

Huahine: http://www.mahanadive.com

 

Bora Bora: www.boradive.com

Good Luck!