Trip report Tikehau & Manihi ------- long

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Hoppy

Guest
Messages
361
Reaction score
1
Location
Midlands UK
Hi all,

Well we just got back from what has to be the most amazing trip.

We had a good excuse to go somewhere exotic with this being our honeymoon, our
expectations were exceeded all the way.

Flights from London to Papeete via LAX with Air New Zealand were great although
obviously a little long.

Arrived in Tahiti to be greeted with the most gorgeous scent of flowers, large numbers
of which were duly wrapped around our necks. A short stop at the Sheraton for a few
hours before boarding the Air Tahiti flight to Tikehau.

Arriving at Tikehau we were met by our host Henri of Aito Motel Pension Collette our
home for the next 10 days, taken to our Beach Bungalow, and right on the beach it is ! 30 feet to the oh so warm water of the lagoon. The bungalows are handbuilt by Henri and of a good standard, "warm" water shower is a relative term though, as the water is sun heated. Mosquito nets and coils provided, and you need them ! Even at this time of year they are fairly hungry little devils (ask my new wife).

The food cooked by Henris wife Collette is fabulous, I have to say here that I'm not a
great seafood fan but everything was delicious. Especially the local dish of "Poisson
Cru" which is fish marinated in coconut milk and spices. With fresh baked baguettes and served with a variety of salads absolutely gorgeous.

As for the diving well what can I say !

This was Mandys first time sea diving, so we opted to try a checkout dive in the Lagoon,

the choice of operator was the one nearest to the bungalow, about 200 yards away. Raie Manta club is unfortunately the only bad experience we had on the whole trip. The bit that spoilt it was the boat, an ordinary fishing type speedboat with a knotted rope on the back to help you get in. This didnt go down to well to be honest, given what they charge for a dive !

So having chatted to a German couple who were diving with Blue Nui (based in the Pearl Beach resort) we decided to give them a shot. Boy are we glad we did, they operate a
purpose built boat with ladders, tank racks etc etc. Frank the DM/ Instructor was
superb. At no extra cost to us he arranged it so that Mandy and I were paired up with
him only for her first Ocean dive. This added to her confidence greatly.

Picked up at the Village quay and the trip out across the lagoon to the pass, as all the
dive sites on Tikehau are outside the lagoon, this does mean a trip of about 25 mins to
the dive sites.

As we rolled in off the boat into water as clear as vodka we were astounded by the
variety of fish, parrotfish, trigger fish, butterflys of all types, soldierfish,
squirrelfish just to name the ones seen in the first couple of minutes. It is truly
amazing the quantity and variety of fish to be seen on the Tikehau reef. All too soon
our time in this underwater paradise was over.

Dive time 36 mins, max depth 17m (Air gone all too soon due to exitement)

Back on the boat we were greeted with tea and biscuits! A truly first class dive
operator. A surface interval spent discussing all the things we had seen and trying to
get the stupid grins off our faces and we move to the other side of the pass for dive
two. The dive site is Tuheiava on the right of the pass as you exit the lagoon.
Again the same stunning variety and volumes of fish, poring about in the reef we came
across clownfish playing in anenomes, Mandy saw her first shark, a 4ft Silvertip. A
positively huge Moray eel. The site is a gently sloping wall with a drop off to the
centre of earth. Did the safety stop in open water under Franks SMB, a first for Mandy
which she handled beautifully.

Dive time 32mins, max depth 17m.

25 minute ride back to the village quay, and already we are discussing the next dive !
Looks like my wife is well and truly hooked.

Day off sunbathing.

Dive 3 was a repeat of dive 1. Just as stunning as the first time.

Dive 4 Shark Hole

The site is named for the arch at 50 meters (165ft) where Grey Sharks congregate. They do however come up to inspect the divers as you enter the water. Nice descent down the mooring line to 18 metres, we are immediatley circled by 3 grey sharks, never seen Mandys eyes so big. But they lost interest in us fairly quickly and dropped out of sight. Nice gentle dive along the reef with a nice close up visit from the resident Napoleon Wrasse. Again a fabulous variety of reef fish.

Dive time 44 mins, max depth 17.4 m.

Did another 3 dives in total on Tikehau all of which were superb. Thanks Frank !

Off to Manihi now !

Short flight from Tikehau to Manihi via what must be the worlds smallest Terminal
building at Ahe. All of 30 ft square !

Pearl Beach Resort at Manihi.

5* place, rooms are fabulous, we had a beach bungalow which again was 20 feet to the water. Superbly furnished and HOT water (joy).

Diving again with Blue Nui.

The reason for choosing Manihi was the chance to encounter Mantas, which has been a dream of mine for years. Explained this to the Dive crew and was instantly reassured
that I would see them.

First dive The Drop off.

In off the boat, into more vodka clear water. Another stunning amount of diversity of
reef fish. Within two minutes we are signaled to turn round and there they were ! Two
mantas gracefully flying towards us. I hoovered air for 5 minutes just mesmerised by the sight of these beautiful creatures. Hard to grin like a buffoon with a reg in your mouth but I managed it according to Mandy. Along the reef wall to the Pass and then back to the boat , with Mantas swimming under us at about 30m. Barracudas hanging in the blue water as we made our stops.

Dive time 36 mins, max depth 17m

I could go on and on about the other dive sites here but I'm sure it would bore you all,
so suffice to say they are all superb sites, all but one have a virtual guarantee of
Mantas.

Two Dives however will stick in my mind for ever, so forgive me for rambling a little
more.

Drift dive in the Pass.

Instructions are in off the boat all 4 of us together, drop straight down and ride the
current.

This is a must do dive I'd say, a nice current carries you along into the lagoon at 20-
22m rising after a few hundred yards to 4m, where the inward current meets the lagoon waters and throws you about like you were in a washing machine. Great fun!

Along the way we see sleeping gery sharks, a large Napoleon, unicorn fish, triggers and parrots.

Drop back down to 15m into The Circus to watch a solitary Manta being cleaned.

Dive time 53 mins, max depth 23m.

And the best of all !

Mandy had her birthday while we at Manihi so having decided we were diving that day, I had a quiet word with Thierry and Niko to see if we could make it a bit special. Boy did they !!!!!!!

Dropped in to the reef just the 4 of us. To be greeted with a bed sheet banner "Happy
Birthday Mandy" hanging behind a table and two chairs set up at 5m. We were served
champagne and "treated" to Thierry singing Happy Birthday underwater. Laugh I cried all down my wetsuit legs.

Along the reef until we find a Lionfish asleep in a hole and what's that in front of
him? An Oyster ! Could it be a black pearl oyster ? Indeed it could ! Courtesy of the
Pearl farm shop at the resort who put the pearl I chose back into a shell that morning.
(thanks guys for that).

Back to the boat where Mandy and I "tangoed" across the reef for our stop, crying with laughing again !

Dive time 44 mins, max depth 14m. Memories priceless, thank you Thierry for the madness and thank you Niko for capturing it all on video for us.

Well how do you follow that ? More fabulous reef diving is the only way. So thats what we did, until our time was up again. 9 days of sheer luxury, great food and superb diving.

Back to Papeete for a day at the Sheraton, prior to the 22 hours journey home. Spent the evening relaxing and watching the sunset over Moorea, wondering how soon we could come back.

A lot of thankyous are due for this trip, the main one has to be to Scuba Jim from this
very board for having patiently arranged, re-arranged and re-arranged this whole trip.

THANK YOU Jim.

Thank you to my now wife for being the best dive buddy I ever had.

Wonder how long it will be before we get back to the South Pacific ? Soon I hope.

Pictures at the following

Tikehau Pictures

Manihi Pictures

Info at Blue Nui Tikehau

and Blue Nui Manihi

Thanks for reading if you made it this far, sorry if it bored.

Hoppy and Mrs Hoppy
 
Sounds like you had a Fantastic time :D

Congrats to you and Mrs Hoppy for the Knot tying :wink:
 
I sure wasn't bored, maybe someday I'll get a chance to visit Pearl Beach resort.

Caymaniac
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom