Words fail me, so I will write a boring review full of practical information insteadMay 15 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Absolutely, hands down, without a doubt, the best diving I have ever experienced. Drift dives are challenging and spectacular, but not for beginners. Bring a 3mm (or thinner) full-body wetsuit.
Last fall, Dr. kboo and I went on a much anticipated two-week trip to French Polynesia, stopping at Moorea, Bora Bora, and Rangiroa. The focus of our trip was on diving, and we logged a total of 13 dives in 12 days. This review is presented primarily for divers and people who are considering French Polynesia for a vacation that centers on scuba diving; for overviews of resorts and islands, check out my other reviews. All of the dive outfits listed below are excellent and provide full equipment and wetsuits if you need them. Dives range in cost between $50 and $60 USD per dive-- this is per tank, not per boat trip! Moorea: Bathy's Club Diving: 3/5 Skill Level: Easy What we saw: humpback whales (from the boat); sting rays, eagle rays, black tip sharks, lemon sharks. Moorea is a 5-minute flight from Tahiti's Faaa International Airport. Of all of the islands in F.P., it is the least oriented toward diving. Moorea was our first stop, and I was simply amazed by the quality of the diving. However, Moorea pales in comparison to to Bora Bora and Rangiroa. We did all of our dives through Bathy's Club, the only PADI 5-star dive outfit on Moorea. Bathy's Club is located at the Moorea Parkroyal hotel. The only reason why I would recommend staying at the hotel is for proximity to Bathy's Club; although Bathy's will provide shuttle service to and from other hotels, the travel time cuts into the time you have to do other activities. The instructors and dive masters were friendly and knowledgable, and guided us competently. The instructors were fluent in French and English and the boat was fast, clean, and large. The boat rids to most dive sites was about 20 minutes. Sting ray dives are done over a sandy bottom with little coral at about 20 feet; this is an easy beginner dive or a second dive. The coral is somewhat thrashed in some places. (Although if you are used to diving in the Caribbean or Hawaii, it will still seem like an abundance of coral.) It's just that Bora Bora and especially Rangiroa have much, much better coral. Deeper dives (none over 70 feet) over coral have virtually unlimited visibility. For the most part, no noticeable current even though most of the dive sites (with the exception of the sting rays) are just outside of the lagoon. We made a big goof and forgot our wetsuits in our last-minute packing. Wetsuits cost an additional $5-10 per day and the only have shorties. Most of the shorties are faded and ripped (though how you could scrape coral with no current and unlimited visibility is beyond me.) They also didn't have a great size selection, and sometimes I ended up wearing a too-big shorty that didn't do very much for keeping me warm. I found, overall, that a 3mm shorty wasn't enough to keep me warm (though a thicker, well-fitting shorty was fine.) The BCDs and regulators also looked a little worn but worked fine. You will be expected to know how to set up your equipment during the boat trip to the site. Bora Bora: Bora Blue Nui Diving Diving: 4/5 Skill Level: Easy to moderate What we saw: manta rays, manta rays, and more manta rays, one was about 12-14 feet across; more sharks (black tip and lemon); Napoleon fish (large grouper); moray eels Bora Blue Nui Diving is located at the Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort. (Again, we were lazy and just went to the dive shop associated with the resort.) However, this time, I also unequivocally recommend staying at the Pearl Beach resort because it is just lovely. Blue Nui is, without a doubt, one of the best dive operations I have ever seen, anywhere! The equipment is brand new and the "shop" is immaculate. The boat was clean and large, having two platforms for loading and unloading divers, and a maximum of 4 divers per guide. Their shorties were new and they had plenty of sizes, so for a change I was actually warm. (Note: The BCDs' air intake tube is also the "octopus", so you will not have another hose to worry about.) The main attraction at Bora Bora are the manta rays, which you see in the lagoon. There are fewer dive sites outside of the lagoon, since there is only one outlet to the ocean and the boat trips can take up to 20 minutes to get there. The visibility with the manta rays is not as good, "only" around 70-90 feet. The site includes coral walls that bottom out around 90 (and more) feet deep in a sandy bottom; it is important to keep a close eye on your depth since you will be diving several feet above the bottom. Sounds easy, but it's hard to do when you are watching a parade of 15 majestic manta rays gliding by, around, and over you barely 10 feet away! The calmer and quieter you are while diving, the more likely you are to see mantas, and lots of them. We were especially disappointed on our last dive in Bora Bora where we only saw 3 mantas that took off shortly after we heard someone from another dive group yelling into her regulator because she was so excited to see the mantas. (Duh!) The diving in the pass had very mild current that was easy to swim against, and unbelievable coral. Everywhere I looked, there was living coral. It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, that buoyancy control is very important- not only to avoid a nasty coral cut, but also to preserve the coral. We had unlimited visibility and saw several beautiful black tip and lemon sharks. Rangiroa: Blue Dolphin Diving Diving: 5/5 Skill Level: Moderate to challenging What we saw: dolphins; seven varieties of reef and lagoon sharks; manta rays; sea turtles; napoleon fish; schools of tuna, yellowtail, and red snapper; eels; lion fish and rock fish; giant clams... (sigh! Just another "typical" Rangiroa dive...) I am so glad we went from Moorea, to Bora Bora, to Rangiroa, and not in the other direction, because the diving in Rangiroa is unparalleled. Unlike Moorea and Bora Bora, Rangi is part of the Tuamotus, a series of atolls with large central lagoons. The more advanced dives (and the ones with the most stuff to see) are drift dives done with the changing of the current through the two navigable passes. As a result, there is one dive in the morning (around 7:30 am) and one in the afternoon around 1:30 pm. Luckily, Rangi is a pretty sleepy island otherwise, so you don't miss much even when your day is broken up by two dives. These were by far the most challenging dives we did, taking flexible rubber Zodiacs in 4-6 foot swells to the site. The boat never anchors on anything (in part to preserve the coral and in part because of the current). Entry is done via back roll off the side, and everyone has to go at the same time because the boat is drifting and the current is strongest at the surface. So don't dawdle-- back roll and descend. You will meet at the bottom (about 40 feet) to begin the dive. Visibility is virtually unlimited, and the current can be strong. Never get ahead of your guide because the current will take you away. Once you get used to it, the drift dive is like being on a ride at Disneyworld-- completely effortless and swift. Toward the end of the dive, you will need to do some kicking to make it to a safe spot for the Zodiac pickup-- it will involve drifting a bit, then hard kicking, then resting and drifting, and kicking in a zigzag path. They speak English, French and Japanese at Blue Dolphin Diving. The equipment is on the older side and a little finicky. Regulators can "blow" at the slightest off touch, so be aware. Also, it's a bit of a challenge getting all your stuff on and putting together your unit during the 3-5 minute ride to the site. Pascal, the dive master, is a bit of a daredevil in the sense that he likes to maximize your bottom time. What that means, especially for you large, athletic guys, is that air conservation is especially important. Since it is essential to be out of the boat channel when the Zodiac picks you up, there is an absolute amount of distance that must be covered before you come to the surface, and the guys in our group were always down to zero bars of air when we got to the surface. (Oh well, always a good time to practice buddy breathing...) Reloading onto the boat is a bit of a challenge, too. Picture clamering over a big fat rubber tube (the side of the Zodiac) that is bobbing up and down, while you are wearing 40-50 pounds of gear, and, well... I sense a picture forming in your head, and you're right. It ain't pretty. On the other hand, the variety of sea life you will see in Rangi is just awesome. We had heard about hammerhead sightings recently (we were just in the beginning of hammerhead season in late October), and also stories of whale sharks swimming with dolphins. We'll just have to come back to look for them. Final tips I enthusiastically recommend French Polynesia, especially Rangiroa, for the quality of its diving. All of the dive companies listed above also do classes, certification, and check out dives. Needless to say, air is measured in bars, not PSI. Unlike some dive outfits in the U.S., they all expect you to be competent at putting together and taking apart your equipment. Moreover, they all expect you to dive with a nearly empty BCD. What this means is that they will give you just enough weight on your belt to keep you neutral-- you need to be proficient enough at buoyancy control to be able to adjust so that you angle up and down with each breath. Bring a wetsuit that covers your legs! Underwater videos of your dive cost around $100-$120 USD. However, most of the time the underwater camera is broken (this happened to us at Moorea and Rangi), so if you are offered the opportunity to have a video taken it may be your only chance. Final notes about snorkeling: You can snorkel from the resort at any of the resorts here, but the best is by far in Rangiroa. There is a site called the Aquarium where you can snorkel but it is not tremendously better than snorkeling near the resort. Although we saw mostly small fish while snorkeling in Bora Bora, another guest at the Pearl Beach saw a small (4 ft.) black tip shark and also a small manta ray while snorkeling. Your best bet is to snorkel off the beach to the far right of the beach bungalows, away from the boat dock. At the Parkroyal in Moorea, the snorkeling is best at the coral heads under the walkways. You'll only see small fish here. It is NOT recommended to snorkel outside the lagoons or in the channels between the lagoon and the ocean, as there can be strong and unpredictable currents and large boats (including cruise ships) coming through.  |
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