mweitz
Contributor
Just got back from a couple of weeks in French Polynesia. Spent most of the time in Moorea in a modest bungalow on the beach. Turns out our bungalow was next door to ScubaPiti, a great small dive outfit that seems to cater to mostly "local" tourists (I think I was the only American on all 11 dives I did with them). In any case, I had a GREAT time. The guides (Eric, Henri and Dominique) were all great. Highly recommend them!
Now, about the dives. WOW. My first dive was "The Aquarium" in Tahiti. This was also my first dive since my cert. We did a back flip entry, which surprised me. More on that later. Dove to about 40'. There is a Cessna and a boat down there. Pretty fun for a newbie diver.
So, all the dives were drift dives, and you do the flip entry for them. I was pretty unaware of this. Escorted drift dives are VERY cool. In some places we got to "swim" through narrow "channels". Reminded me of the pod races in Star Wars.
Off to Moorea. I did 11 dives from 62' to 94'. There were about 5 main dive sites. Each one was cool, even on repeat visits. The water temp ranged from 77 to 79 (even at 94'). The vis was amazing. I saw so much I can't even remember half of it. Here are a couple of highlights.
- Turtles, friendly enough to pet
- Stingrays (3 - 5' across)
- Eagle Ray (while snorkeling)
- Lots of Moreys
- Lemon Shark, about 10 - 11'
- Black Tip Reef Sharks, boring after a couple of dives
- Clownfish / Anemone
- Huge coral growths.
- The Rose. If you go, and can get your rescue diver cert beforehand it is recommended. At 90' it is an amazing dive, but is supposed to be spectacular at 130 or so.
- Huge amounts of fish
If you know what you are doing, you can do a few things pretty cheaply. Like, if you know where to find the rays, you can go out on a rental kayak and feed them / pet them yourself. We snorkeled with them in a Motu across from our bungalow and pet and fed them at 1' near the shore.
I hired the ScubaPiti photographer for one of my dives. Well worth it. She took photos of the dive, and included her "Best of Moorea" photos (flowers and stuff) and "Best of Ocean" folder with most of the fish I saw while there.
All in all, a GREAT way to get introduced to diving. Just so you all know, I returned Sunday night at 7:00 PM and drive to Monterey at 6:30 monday am to get some local diving in. Just wanted to get right back into it. FYI, it isn't that cold here!
If anyone is interested in going, let me know. Our bungalow was about 1,000.00 per week I think (with a small kayak included). It is small, but on the beach, has a showerhead outside and hose and was perfect for diving. In any case I can direct you to the Motu with the rays.
I have a lot of photos, if I post them somewhere I'll let you know.
Mark
Now, about the dives. WOW. My first dive was "The Aquarium" in Tahiti. This was also my first dive since my cert. We did a back flip entry, which surprised me. More on that later. Dove to about 40'. There is a Cessna and a boat down there. Pretty fun for a newbie diver.
So, all the dives were drift dives, and you do the flip entry for them. I was pretty unaware of this. Escorted drift dives are VERY cool. In some places we got to "swim" through narrow "channels". Reminded me of the pod races in Star Wars.
Off to Moorea. I did 11 dives from 62' to 94'. There were about 5 main dive sites. Each one was cool, even on repeat visits. The water temp ranged from 77 to 79 (even at 94'). The vis was amazing. I saw so much I can't even remember half of it. Here are a couple of highlights.
- Turtles, friendly enough to pet
- Stingrays (3 - 5' across)
- Eagle Ray (while snorkeling)
- Lots of Moreys
- Lemon Shark, about 10 - 11'
- Black Tip Reef Sharks, boring after a couple of dives
- Clownfish / Anemone
- Huge coral growths.
- The Rose. If you go, and can get your rescue diver cert beforehand it is recommended. At 90' it is an amazing dive, but is supposed to be spectacular at 130 or so.
- Huge amounts of fish
If you know what you are doing, you can do a few things pretty cheaply. Like, if you know where to find the rays, you can go out on a rental kayak and feed them / pet them yourself. We snorkeled with them in a Motu across from our bungalow and pet and fed them at 1' near the shore.
I hired the ScubaPiti photographer for one of my dives. Well worth it. She took photos of the dive, and included her "Best of Moorea" photos (flowers and stuff) and "Best of Ocean" folder with most of the fish I saw while there.
All in all, a GREAT way to get introduced to diving. Just so you all know, I returned Sunday night at 7:00 PM and drive to Monterey at 6:30 monday am to get some local diving in. Just wanted to get right back into it. FYI, it isn't that cold here!
If anyone is interested in going, let me know. Our bungalow was about 1,000.00 per week I think (with a small kayak included). It is small, but on the beach, has a showerhead outside and hose and was perfect for diving. In any case I can direct you to the Motu with the rays.
I have a lot of photos, if I post them somewhere I'll let you know.
Mark