Diving Tahiti and need help...

[Freewillow]

@Delmolino. Sounds wonderful. The answer from mmmbelows makes a lot of sense. One problem however is that in the large Rangiroa structures ( 6 passengers and Top Dive ) you may not dive with the same dive master. So to judge your skills after a few days will not be obvious, since, at least with 6 passengers, the DM where assigned a different group, every dive. Like I said: contact them before and tell everybody what the answer was. A lot will profit from the answer. As I said earlier, If I would have only 6 days of Diving, I would take Fakarava over Rangiroa all the time.

 

[Wingy]

Regarding mmmbelows comments - it is a french protectorate therefore the police become involved in any scuba incident or near miss - that is the law there. That is why PADI divers are sometimes asked to do checkout dives depending on the operator and what certification you turn up with - so they can take you to spots they feel are suitable for your diving level. Email first as everyone else has said. Not trying to open up the topic again, its been addressed on this forum, but there are laws which FP Operators must strictly adhere to or they will be dealt with by the police, not the certifying agency or anyone else, the police and then a court of law if found warranted. I know, I was on a dive where someone had a problem and the police interviewed everyone and took our gear to inspect it and took statements. Rangiroa's police were at the island clinic within minutes of the diver arriving there.

 

[shrkdive]

Thank you all for the detailed information!! Having never being there, it is hard to know where to stay, what to do, and where to dive! This is great information!!

We faced your dilemma a few years ago; wanting to see several islands and dive without the hassles of multiple flights. In the end we chose the 10-day itinerary on the Paul Gauguin cruise ship visiting Huahine, Bora Bora, Moorea, Fakarava, Rangiroa and Taha. This is a 6 star cruise ship experience plus they have their own dive crew, zodiacs, etc. and launch from the ship. The diving is certainly better in the Tuamotus but I'm glad we got to see Bora Bora and Moorea as well. The cost didn't end up being much more expensive either than land based resorts. I would certainly recommend you look at this option too,

 

[Big-blue]

Hello Freewillow,
I add a lot of your comments in the forum but this one ….is necessary to give a explication, when you say " they lost one " we can understand that they are not profesional, and this point is not true

I live in French polinesia and I work in the diving industry.Recently I add a new post about french rules and diving.
Like I said in my post I'm not here to talk bad or better about the dives shops. just I want to give my opinion like a profesional in the diving industry in french polinesia.
Let me explain you that after police investigation, was a heart attack the raison of death. The diver was a japanesse lady with more than 150 dives, she did also some dives before to do a drift dive, during the drift dive she did a heart attack under the water, the instructeur bring her to the boat and did the first emergency reponse, but was already too late, even the husband gives thanks to the instructeur because he did as maximum as posible . This kind of situation can happens to everybody. SO they don't lost one persone, they had a diving accident that finish sadly very bad.

---------- Post added April 13th, 2015 at 10:48 PM ----------

Yes, and also more so because you're diving with French jurisdiction and the French agency doesn't recognize or give Padi AOW much credibility, you need the next level (rescue diver) to qualify for French advanced diver recognition, so without Rescue diver cert you will be limited on your dive depth there. Exceptions are made like anywhere for those they recognize have abilities beyond their certification, but I wouldn't count on that as a certainty. French diving doesn't look at depth like PADI does, they dive deeper and deep diving is just part of what to expect. Kind of like drinking wine, they don't look it as a big a deal as we do in the States, not unusual for kids to drink wine at the table at a young age, it's just what they do, same with deeper diving, it's what they do and their training accounts for it earlier, but they look at PADI divers as under trained for it with only AOW. They routinely deco dive the pass too without batting an eye.

Hello mmmbellows, your are not far away to the problem, but is not exactly like you say,(let me invite you to take a look to my post " information about french polinesia"). The french instructeurs that you have in french polinesia are almost all of them also padi instructeurs, in all the dive centers you will have minimum one instructeur that is also OWSI PADI. so they know what Padi teach . Any way, level OPEN water and advance are allowed to go until 29m depth, rescue diver 49m and Dive master and OWSI 60m . That means open water and Advanced Level 1/5, rescue diver LEvel 2/5 dive master and OWSI 3/5 . But why? because the conditions of temperature , visibility of the water are very clear and confortable for the divers. In all the casses this point don't means that every dive will be a these depths!!. ARe you old, young, you dive erally regulary, you already did deep dives………?

Is depense wich destination of diving you choose the profils of diving will be really different also : In rangiroa to see many sharks is necessary many times to go deep, in fakarava is not really necessary because everything is there 20-30 m, tikehau more or less the same.
The most important is not your diving level card , what is important is your real experience in differents situations . What is better a Open water diver with 100 dives or a rescue diver with 30-40 ? For the french levels is the same situation, sometimes a diver have level 2 or 3 but few experience, in this case the guide don't bring the personne in the hard currents. we can dive very well in a dark and cold lake but is not a raison to be a very good diver in currents, and viceversa. What I want to say is that for the french instructeurs the card ( padi or french or other) is just a card that say that you are a diver, you have to show that you are a good diver ( good breathing, boyancy, briefing respect…) and don't worry they will bring you to the best places, if you are not a good diver, beginner, ears problems…. french or not they will bring you to wonderfull place but adpated to your real level

Tell to your dive shop your experience and they will organize the dives, they will begin easy

The most important is the security and the divers have to listen the guides and respect the rules, is nothing about padi or not padi, french or not french, is about the law . If a Guide don't bring you in a dive site is for your safety and for his responsability, because you are in a wild place, far away to the first real hospital, so if the guides are strict is for the safety of everybody.

FOr finish , just tell you that they don't look padi divers under trainning, Just Padi trainning is different than French because French make deco dives regulary so this point needs more trainnig and study. Each diver is a different world so every diver is checked, to know his real level and experience, and this is the probleme padi: divers don't know about french rules of diving and procedures and this situation creates a bad understanding about the diving rules. In all the cases you instructeur in FRench polinesia will be a real profesional, so listen to him, he is not crazy! follow his rules and enjoy your dives. ALl the levels of divers will enjoy in french polinesia waters.

I hope that is a little more clear, please if you have questions or doubts..i will be happy to answer you.
have nice bubbles

 

[Freewillow]

@ Big blue: cool down man, you got it totally wrong.

You said " Hello Freewillow,
I add a lot of your comments in the forum but this one ….is necessary to give a explication, when you say " they lost one " we can understand that they are not profesional, and this point is not true"


First of all, I do not understand what you mean with "I add a lot of your comments in the forum but this one". ???????????????? Je ne comprends pas ce que tu veux dire?????????????????


When it comes to 6 passengers: they lost one, I was joking, referring to mmmbelows that named the center ( just above mine ) 7 passengers.

This is why I said that their name was 6 passengers . At this time, nobody was talking about the fatality of the japanese woman. So my joke was very benign and non suspect


FYI, I did not mention the center that had a fatal accident, I felt that it was not necessary. You did

Finally, as a french speaking diver, I followedthe case very closelly on plongeur.com and Ultramarina since I dived with 6 passengers a few months after the accident. On the french forum they are talking ( the director himself) about the accident and a loss of mask and regulator. Nowhere did I see that they were referring to a hearth attack. So if yu have the official post mortem report, I would be interested. I believe that this information should be made available to the french divers of Plongeur.com. Bonnes plongées

 

[Big-blue]

hello freewillow,

Was not my intention disturbe you, in all the casses you see that the comment can be bad understanding ( my case). Sorry if my english is not the best. I didn't inderstand that was a joke of words, and I just read your comment. That's my mistake

For the accident, yes the rapport is more complet than my short resume of course. the first thingking about the raison was panic, because the guide saw her whitout the mask , and without the regulator, and did all that he can. After police investigation the result of the principal raison of death was heart-attack. TO find all the official information JOURNAL OFFICIELLE where the goverment post all the official rapports

have nice dives, and next time I will read better, lol

 

[Freewillow]

Aucun soucis le grand bleu. J'écris parfois des conneries mais pas cette fois-ci

 

[delmolino]

Here is the 6 Passangers reply to my message:

"The Canyons can be seen during the drift dive with incoming current.

This is not a deep dive and can be done by any diver who is ok with his floatability (we never do it as a first dive).

August/September is nor the real season for the Great Hammerhead; however, you may have the chance to see one!"


"Just so you know the max depth in French Polynesia with an advanced certification is 29 meters, and the deep dive certification does not work here.

But don't worry, there is a lot to see at this depth."

 

[Freewillow]

Thank you for sharing. So roughly what I thought . Again with 30m limitation, if you ONLY have 6 days of diving Fakarava North and South is a better choice, to my opinion.

 

[kekomixtle]

I'll second Freewillow. My wife and I just came back from Fakarava, chose it over all others. Did 4 tanks in the South with the Tetamanu Village dive shop and then 10 in the North with Dive Spirit while staying at Havaiki Pearl Lodge. The south is amazing for the number of grey sharks, hundreds of them all together. The coral in the North never ends. You'll see also lots of grey sharks, less than in the south, and lots of fish. We also had the luck to see a lemon shark, great hammerhead, and two mantas.

I asked locals and people travelling to other (easily reachable) islands and they said Fakarava was one of their favourites. They said that Rangiroa is great for big animals and the drift dive, but that shark populations weren't as big as ten years ago.

Regarding dive shops, both were great. We're only PADI AOW so that's CMAS*. We always stayed above 30m but there was never a reason to go lower (well, only with the mantas).

On Dive Spirit they speak perfect English, French and Spanish, and their service is safe and professional. They won't take you to a site that's beyond your experience.

Tetamanu Village is your only option in the South Pass. It's a plain pension, but nice. You'll get ants and mosquitos, but that's in the whole atoll. For honeymoon, I would recommend Havaiki Pearl on the North. It is maybe the only hotel, with nice rooms, clean, air conditioning and elegant.