btscott
Contributor
Recently spent 25 days in French Polynesia. It was a good trip, not a great trip. Not great mostly due to Covid, island closures and French tourists not taking Covid seriously. I think the latter is due to several factors including the lack of need to test negative to return to France if they are not passing through the US to return home. This trip was a last minute scramble as our trip to the Solomon's on the Bilikiki was postponed to 2023 due to Covid.
We spent our 25 days divided between 3 nights on Tahiti, 5 nights on Rurutu, 4 nights on Moorea, 5 nights on Rangiroa, 3 nights in Fakarava South and 3 nights Fakarava North.
We flew non-stop from SFO to Tahiti and got in just as a total lockdown was being called. Covid rates had risen to over 2400 per 100,000. We had 1 day to drive around Tahiti and Tahiti-Iti before the lockdown went into place. So, we rented a car and drove around the island. We had planned on doing some hiking on the inside of the island, but due to the lockdown, that didn't happen. We stayed at the Intercontinental and while it is supposed to be the best that Tahiti has to offer, we weren't impressed. Suggest getting an Airbnb. I had wanted to do some diving with Tiger Sharks, but that is no longer happening as you can no longer feed to get the Tiger Sharks to show up. So, slim chance that you would see a Tiger Shark. Once the lockdown hit, we stayed at the Intercontinental and snorkeled. The snorkeling wasn't particularly exciting.
Next we made our way to Rurutu, to swim with humpbacks. Rurutu was not in lockdown when we went. We stayed at the Manotel, which I cannot recommend. While a nice pension, we did not feel safe with Covid as there was a French woman and her daughter quarantined while we were there. The daughter would make her way around the grounds and not wear a mask. When we called her on it, she stated her mom had Covid, she did not. She either gave her mom Covid or now had Covid, we were pretty sure. The French woman was taken away in an ambulance on our 3rd day there. Another French couple was there and one of them seemed to have a cold, so we asked if we could eat outside and were told by the owners that it was not possible. We asked if we could stagger the eating times so we were not eating at the same time as the person with the cold and again, not possible. Yves, one of the owners, never wore a mask. We gave the other owner, Helene an N95 as she was wearing a surgical mask when interacting with the quarantined family. She never wore it.
Regardless, we were there for the whales. We spent 3 days with Tareparepa Baleines and swam with whales every day. One day I had 5 whales, including a calf to myself. The whales were just at the break as they swim close to shore to protect the calf. It was an amazing encounter. Everytime we swam with the whales, the whale song in the water was incredible. I got some amazing photos and my wife took some great video with the Gopro. The water was a little chilly, but not too bad. Everyone wore a wetsuits. I wore just a rashy so I could free dive as they didn't have any weights for me to use with a wetsuit. I used my Canon 80D with a Tokina 10-17 and Kenko Teleplus HDpro with ambient lighting. The little extra reach with the Kenko was perfect. Wife had a Gopro 9.
Next we went to Moorea, which was in total lockdown. So, we spent our time at the Sofitel snorkeling the house reef. Much better snorkeling than Tahiti. We had no opportunity to explore the island or dive because of the lockdown. If you stay at the Sofitel, get a garden bungalow set one back from the beach bungalows. Best bang for the buck as you still have easy beach access and can see the water from your front deck. Overall this was our best accommodation in terms of service and bungalow. Very nice resort.
Next we went off to Rangiroa. Rangiroa was on weekend lockdown. So, as we traveled there on Sunday, we had the week days to dive. We stayed at the Maitai and dove with 6 Passengers. The Maitai is a nice place. We had a Lagoon Bungalow on the water and recommend you get one of those as a lot of the other bungalows were a duplex with a shared wall. We dove 3 days, 6 dives with 6 Passengers. Sadly, the night before, I setup my camera rig, blew it up to check for leaks and found I had a leak somewhere. I changed the o-rings, tested the housing in the pool, but could not find where the leak was. So, for the remainder of the trip I shot with my Gopro. 6 Passengers picked us up each day and took us the short 5 minute drive to their ops. They have a nice setup. We had our own gear and wetsuits. The gear they had seemed fairly new (combo Scubapro and Aqualung), though some of the wetsuits I saw people wearing were pretty beat up. Groups were around 6 people. They had a couple of boats, one with 6 people and another with 12. Dives were always at Tiputa Pass. You either dove the reef or the pass with current, depending on the tide. Each dive started with a dolphin encounter. Definitely the highlight of Rangiroa. Dolphins come straight up to you for 5-10 minutes to get a good belly scratch. While I am a proponent of not touching the reef and fish, there was no way around giving the dolphins what they wanted. The reef had decent fish life, but the reef itself was in decline. Diving the pass was a straight shot down the channel with a decent amount of current, but nothing like Nusa Lembongan. Divemasters were pretty good, though the last day I wasn't impressed with the one we had. He took us for half the dive, 20-30 feet on a completely dead reef. He seemed a little less experienced than the divemasters we had the previous 2 days. For our last day, I did ask if we could dive Avatoru pass and was told no, this was not possible. Seemed to be a standard French answer... So, if you would like to do something other than Tiputa, you might want to check out another dive center and make arrangements in advance. I heard good things about Y AKA. Every evening, we would take our gin and tonic mixings and head down to the little park next to Tiputa Pass and watch the dolphins swim in the surf. Nice way to end the day.
Next we were off to Fakarava. We spent 3 nights in the south at Tetamanu and then 3 nights in the north and stayed at the Havaiki and dove with O2 Fakarava. To get to Tetamanu, we took a 1/2 hour ride in a truck and then a 1 1/2 hour ride in a boat. Tetamanu is on its own little island and you truly feel like you're in the middle of nowhere. Accommodations are rustic with water front bungalows, soft mattresses that sink into hard wood underneath and a shower with cold brackish water spilling out of a pipe above your head. Diving is right out in front of Tetamanu, either straight off the dive deck or a 1-2 minute boat ride. Diving here is all about the sharks. The pass is fairly narrow, not much current and you move along as the "wall of sharks" hangs out in the channel. Personally I wouldn't spend more than a couple of days, but other people had a different perspective. I read mixed reviews of Tetamanu, but we enjoyed our time there and didn't mind the rustic aspect. We did have a negative encounter with the divemaster Helmer. Our first dive went without incident, as far as we were concerned. But when we got out of the water Helmer went at my wife about not caring about what the divemaster wants. She wasn't sure what he was talking about and asked him what he would have liked to be different and instead of answering, he just stormed off. Some of this may be due to culture/language. However, we no longer dove with Helmer and went only with Dominika from that point forward. I think Helmer is inexperienced and better suited to new divers that he can have at less than an arm's length away.
We spent our 25 days divided between 3 nights on Tahiti, 5 nights on Rurutu, 4 nights on Moorea, 5 nights on Rangiroa, 3 nights in Fakarava South and 3 nights Fakarava North.
We flew non-stop from SFO to Tahiti and got in just as a total lockdown was being called. Covid rates had risen to over 2400 per 100,000. We had 1 day to drive around Tahiti and Tahiti-Iti before the lockdown went into place. So, we rented a car and drove around the island. We had planned on doing some hiking on the inside of the island, but due to the lockdown, that didn't happen. We stayed at the Intercontinental and while it is supposed to be the best that Tahiti has to offer, we weren't impressed. Suggest getting an Airbnb. I had wanted to do some diving with Tiger Sharks, but that is no longer happening as you can no longer feed to get the Tiger Sharks to show up. So, slim chance that you would see a Tiger Shark. Once the lockdown hit, we stayed at the Intercontinental and snorkeled. The snorkeling wasn't particularly exciting.
Next we made our way to Rurutu, to swim with humpbacks. Rurutu was not in lockdown when we went. We stayed at the Manotel, which I cannot recommend. While a nice pension, we did not feel safe with Covid as there was a French woman and her daughter quarantined while we were there. The daughter would make her way around the grounds and not wear a mask. When we called her on it, she stated her mom had Covid, she did not. She either gave her mom Covid or now had Covid, we were pretty sure. The French woman was taken away in an ambulance on our 3rd day there. Another French couple was there and one of them seemed to have a cold, so we asked if we could eat outside and were told by the owners that it was not possible. We asked if we could stagger the eating times so we were not eating at the same time as the person with the cold and again, not possible. Yves, one of the owners, never wore a mask. We gave the other owner, Helene an N95 as she was wearing a surgical mask when interacting with the quarantined family. She never wore it.
Regardless, we were there for the whales. We spent 3 days with Tareparepa Baleines and swam with whales every day. One day I had 5 whales, including a calf to myself. The whales were just at the break as they swim close to shore to protect the calf. It was an amazing encounter. Everytime we swam with the whales, the whale song in the water was incredible. I got some amazing photos and my wife took some great video with the Gopro. The water was a little chilly, but not too bad. Everyone wore a wetsuits. I wore just a rashy so I could free dive as they didn't have any weights for me to use with a wetsuit. I used my Canon 80D with a Tokina 10-17 and Kenko Teleplus HDpro with ambient lighting. The little extra reach with the Kenko was perfect. Wife had a Gopro 9.
Next we went to Moorea, which was in total lockdown. So, we spent our time at the Sofitel snorkeling the house reef. Much better snorkeling than Tahiti. We had no opportunity to explore the island or dive because of the lockdown. If you stay at the Sofitel, get a garden bungalow set one back from the beach bungalows. Best bang for the buck as you still have easy beach access and can see the water from your front deck. Overall this was our best accommodation in terms of service and bungalow. Very nice resort.
Next we went off to Rangiroa. Rangiroa was on weekend lockdown. So, as we traveled there on Sunday, we had the week days to dive. We stayed at the Maitai and dove with 6 Passengers. The Maitai is a nice place. We had a Lagoon Bungalow on the water and recommend you get one of those as a lot of the other bungalows were a duplex with a shared wall. We dove 3 days, 6 dives with 6 Passengers. Sadly, the night before, I setup my camera rig, blew it up to check for leaks and found I had a leak somewhere. I changed the o-rings, tested the housing in the pool, but could not find where the leak was. So, for the remainder of the trip I shot with my Gopro. 6 Passengers picked us up each day and took us the short 5 minute drive to their ops. They have a nice setup. We had our own gear and wetsuits. The gear they had seemed fairly new (combo Scubapro and Aqualung), though some of the wetsuits I saw people wearing were pretty beat up. Groups were around 6 people. They had a couple of boats, one with 6 people and another with 12. Dives were always at Tiputa Pass. You either dove the reef or the pass with current, depending on the tide. Each dive started with a dolphin encounter. Definitely the highlight of Rangiroa. Dolphins come straight up to you for 5-10 minutes to get a good belly scratch. While I am a proponent of not touching the reef and fish, there was no way around giving the dolphins what they wanted. The reef had decent fish life, but the reef itself was in decline. Diving the pass was a straight shot down the channel with a decent amount of current, but nothing like Nusa Lembongan. Divemasters were pretty good, though the last day I wasn't impressed with the one we had. He took us for half the dive, 20-30 feet on a completely dead reef. He seemed a little less experienced than the divemasters we had the previous 2 days. For our last day, I did ask if we could dive Avatoru pass and was told no, this was not possible. Seemed to be a standard French answer... So, if you would like to do something other than Tiputa, you might want to check out another dive center and make arrangements in advance. I heard good things about Y AKA. Every evening, we would take our gin and tonic mixings and head down to the little park next to Tiputa Pass and watch the dolphins swim in the surf. Nice way to end the day.
Next we were off to Fakarava. We spent 3 nights in the south at Tetamanu and then 3 nights in the north and stayed at the Havaiki and dove with O2 Fakarava. To get to Tetamanu, we took a 1/2 hour ride in a truck and then a 1 1/2 hour ride in a boat. Tetamanu is on its own little island and you truly feel like you're in the middle of nowhere. Accommodations are rustic with water front bungalows, soft mattresses that sink into hard wood underneath and a shower with cold brackish water spilling out of a pipe above your head. Diving is right out in front of Tetamanu, either straight off the dive deck or a 1-2 minute boat ride. Diving here is all about the sharks. The pass is fairly narrow, not much current and you move along as the "wall of sharks" hangs out in the channel. Personally I wouldn't spend more than a couple of days, but other people had a different perspective. I read mixed reviews of Tetamanu, but we enjoyed our time there and didn't mind the rustic aspect. We did have a negative encounter with the divemaster Helmer. Our first dive went without incident, as far as we were concerned. But when we got out of the water Helmer went at my wife about not caring about what the divemaster wants. She wasn't sure what he was talking about and asked him what he would have liked to be different and instead of answering, he just stormed off. Some of this may be due to culture/language. However, we no longer dove with Helmer and went only with Dominika from that point forward. I think Helmer is inexperienced and better suited to new divers that he can have at less than an arm's length away.