Paul Gauguin Diving Questions

[scotlady]

Hi! We will be going on our first cruise ever next May :D

We are taking the 10 day PG cruise, (Huahine, Raiatea, Rangiroa, Bora

Bora, Moorea). We will be OW certified two weeks from now, and hope to

get in 4-5 dive weekends before the trip in May. (These will mostly be lake dives).

We want to go on 3 dives during the cruise.

 

So - to finally get to the questions - which dives would be recommended for two certified, but fairly “beginning" divers?

 

In Rangiroa, I would love to dive Tiputa pass, but assume this is out of the question at our experience level. Is the Motu Nuhi Nuhi dive pretty good? Or should we just snorkel the pass? (We are both very experienced snorkelers).

Lastly, would you recommend the ship’s dives or other operators? Oh - and how was the scuba equipment on the PG?

Thanks for any and all help. Very, very excited about this trip – don’t know how I’m going to wait seven months! :o

[egret]

There is alot of discussion on this board about the scuba program on the PG. I have done the dives with the dive crew on the PG and find them to be great. I have only done the 7 day cruise(4 times) so I can't comment on Rangiroa.

My advice to you is to talk to them when you get on board and let them guide you. Equipment provided was fine for me and the excusions leave right from the water sports platform at the aft of the ship by zodiac.

[scotlady]

Thanks for the info on the dives - but I'm wondering - if we just wait to book our dives until we're on the ship, won't there be a risk that some of them are sold out?

[drifting_away]

Most likely they won't let you do the pass. I had a similar experience level and they would not let me. The outer reef is really nice, our other group actually got to experience dolphin up close and personal. Dive on Rangiroa for sure! Not much else to do...

 

Bora Bora Tapu is another great dive. This was our favorite!!!

 

Moorea Shark Gallery was good. Ledges was not that exciting.

 

The dive crew is awesome! Their equipment was in working order and they took care of everything. Highly recommend them and would definetly book in advance.

[tombo]

You should try to book the dives before you go as you can cancel later without having to pay. You also should look into the local operators in the ports of call you'll be visiting. With the local guys you can usually get a 2-tank dive while the Zodiac dives from PG are one-tankers. Local ops will also be cheaper than PG but not as convenient. We were onboard PG on a cruise when J.M. Cousteau was aboard, so there were many divers, too many to all dive from the mother ship, and Dominique (the head DM) was very helpful in setting us up with outside operators. I don't know if they'd be as helpful if the Zodiacs had spare capacity.

 

The equipment on PG was fine although I never used it. I did use rental BCs with all of the outside operators and they were fine too. All of the operators we used (in Fiji, Tonga, Raiatea, Moorea and Boba Bora) provided steel 80 tanks, so if you haven't used these before, you might want to try them before you go so you can experiment with your buoyancy needs and see how much weight to take off your usual weight belt.

 

We used Top Dive at some of the FP ports. They were OK. They are French and have different rules than the usual PADI/NAUI systems. You cannot stray from the DM during the dive nor remain submerged after he ascends. If you rent regulators, the gauges will read in BAR, not PSI.

[gazuccio]

WOW what an experience. Let me give you my version on the dive experience of a lifetime. PG to ius was like a live aboard. We dove almost every day and the dive crew took VERY VERY good care of all our gear. We never had to clean it, set it up or anything. We just showed up! We obviously took care of them as well but the crew was amazing! So don't miss out on any of the dives.

 

I enjoyed the dive crew outings better than the port crews. However we did have a great experience during our night dive in Bora Bora (WOW) from topdive, as well as our pre stay at the Intercontinental hotel on Tahiti. the local dive shop at the hotel was AMAZING!!! I did not care for the Huahine dive as the operator was rude and their gear was old and warn ouot. I was VERY thankful to have our own gear! It was worth lugging it all that way!

 

Another amazing thing happened and that were the divers on board. for our particular 10 day crruise we met some absolutley fantastic people!!!! All I can say is WOW!!! Drifiting away was one of the couples and we had a blas with them! I have never experienced anything like it before and probably never will again. the ship so intimate and everyone got to know one another very well! I miss diving and cruising with everyone and I guess thats why I probably will never go back because those memories will never be matched again. I hear the PG is being bought out and who knows what will happen to her. But for us, our honeymoon, we had an amazing time! I just wish we didn't have to leave.

 

As for the Tiputa pass we never got to go, as the current was going the wrong way (out instead of in), nonetheless the diving was amazing. Oh and byt the way, if you have a real expensive camera DO NOT flip backwards off the boat into the water holding your camera and housing!! I did and I got to watch my camera (came out of the housing) float to the bottom of the ocean! Hand it to a crew member and they will hand it back to you!

 

You are going to have a wonderful wonderful time and the dives are worth everypenny. We did every one but one (and that was because we were flying out that night)!!! If you never plan to go back to Tahiti then do everything you can, and you will NOT be disappointed.

 

I hope that helps...

[drifting_away]

Rudy,

 

If you still have my contact info, email me! I want to send the video but I cant find any of my contact info (including your card). I hope you check back!:D

 

Diana

[gazuccio]

Send me an email at

 

gazuccio@verizon.net

[hrprof]

I can't add too much to what has been said - we did a 3 week B2B - Society and Marquesas combo. We took all offered dives and really enjoyed the experience except Rangiroa! We were looking forward to Tiputa and were excited to learn that the currents were favorable for the ride. Got up really early to go to the land based operator used by PG for the dive. They diddled around endlessly so by the time we reached the site, the tide had ebbed. We had a nothing blue water swim. My wife and I have been diving for 35 years and have 1000+ dives logged - we are competent divers, but age is taking its toll. The PG dive crew is very helpful and conscious of skill level and physical needs. You'll have a great time!

[sita3]

Recommend outer reef on Rangiroa, due to water flow causing pass to be not dive-able -- we did this dive twice and it was the best dive we've ever done -- gigantic schools of pike (like silver clouds) and large pelagics coming up 'out of the blue' to check us out -- fantastic. Snokeling not permitted in pass (main thoroughfare for ships). Book your dives in advance -- 120 days out -- there are often people who were closed out of some of the diving with the ship due to waiting to book on board. The diving from the ship is really too good not to do every dive.... nothing beats walking down the hall, zooming off in a zodiac and having your tank put on for you and taken from you before you climb back on the zodiac, then walking down the hall to breakfast and to gush about the diving. Dominique is a true gem and the rest of the dive crew is top notch. If you are going to limit yourself, dive Tapu in BoraBora and either Ledges or Shark gallery in Moorea. We have also used the outside operators offered by the ship in Raaitea (Hemisphere Sub -- great out and terrific dive at Miri Miri) and Huahine -- least favorite dive taken in Polynesia. Also done the night dive at Tabletop (now called Tooupa) in BoraBora -- night diving isn't for me but it was an interesting experience.

 

You are in for a treat and diving that you will talk about (and pine for) for a long, long time.