Manihi and Bora Bora.... What can you share with us

[Finesse]

Hi all

Was looking for any and all comments /advice / recommendations ....you name it for traveling to Tahiti ...moreover the Islands mentioned above.

We are going primarily for our belated Honeymoon......As we were married one week after the tragic events of September 11. We were unable to go after the Wedding due to 9/11 and decided to wait a year. We have some ability to play with our travel plans so we are looking for some advice.

At that time I was hesitant at first about diving as my then Fiancée was not a diver.....but soon took the Open water course getting certified only about a week before the wedding. I was somewhat leery of her abilities to dive in Tahiti as this would have been her first real exposure to diving beyond 25 feet. Well this spring we took care of that as she wanted Advanced Training. She’s now an AOW diver.

This being said she is much more confident in her diving skills and now I cannot contain her :yea: So any suggestions for good diving ...Other Islands ... within French Polynesia ... that anyone could recommend... was thinking Tikehau or Tahaa (heard these were very nice......we have heard from a friend that Bora Bora and Manihi are Fantastic places.

We are pretty set with Manihi and Bora Bora ….but if suggested we may stay on one of these other Islands a few night …

I’ll have lots of gear questions including U/W camera questions but for now would like to hear about the Islands…..

Thanks in advance !!!!

Scott

 

[Scott'swife0922]

Hi honey! Thought I would join the boards too....hope we get some good input about other places to visit while we are on our trip!

 

[scuba-sass]

If you love diving, and don't need a lot else - you will adore Manihi. We (my partner - Lydia and I) were there in March for our 20th Anniversary and it was absolutely delightful!

As you probably know, Manihi is a rather remote atoll, with a very small population. If you don't dive or deep-sea fish, there isn't a whole lot else to do, but the diving is stunning. Be sure to visit a black pearl farm while you are there - we planned it for our last day before flying, when we couldn't dive anyway. It was very entertaining & educational, and we got a great deal on a couple of small pearls.

We stayed in one of the Over-Water Bungalows - very special! There's nothing quite like it.

Be ware of what you pack - if you bring your own gear you may very well exceed the weight limits for the inter-island flights. We ended up with a rush job of re-packing in the parking lot of the airport, so we could leave 2 bags in long-term storage.

Happy Belated Honeymooning!

Scuba-sass

 

[Finesse]

scuba-sass
Thank you for the response...Thats exactly the type of info we need and are looking for, as theTravel Agent cant always answer our questions ..... such as the limitations on the inter-islands flights with luggage (we specifically asked just that question and have not received a response as of yet) Do you recall the actual weight/bag limit???

We will be bringing our own gear as we know how it works, we are comfortable with it and confident in its operation.(mask, fins,Regs,BC etc...)
I've also noted that Blue Nui divers (the only operators there??) also operate on the other Islands named in my first post.....and if package dives were purchased they could be used on the other Islands. We have tried contacting them (as well as the travel agent) several times to no avail...any suggestions????

We know of its remoteness and yes we have the over water bungalow....we are really looking forward to that. Even on Bora Bora we are staying at one of the Motu's off the main Island

I'm sure the "Boss" or myself will have other questions!!!

Thanks again!

 

[Cecil]

I was there two years ago as a new diver, still some of the best dives ever. We were on Moorea and Bora Bora, on Bora Bora we did a two tank dive with Top Dive. The first was an outer reef dive with the big boys (sharks), the second was in the lagoon in the Manta channel where we did get to see Mantas, not to be missed. You will love FP, the beauty is unbelievable.

On the camera side, I highly recommend you go digital. Framing a 35mm underwater is a nightmare, I still tell the story of a VW sized Loggerhead Turtle off Belize that passed directly over me and with my Reefmaster camera all I got was a great picture of one fin.

 

[Finesse]

Thanks Cecil

We are hoping to come across some Manta's at some point in the trip . That must be amazing to see those giants glide by!!!

As far as the camera goes, yes we have a Digital. We have had the camera and we are looking to get a housing for it. Sticker shock has me at the moment ..... but what the heck .... what isnt expensive in diving.....Right now we are looking at Ikelite, Olympus and Light and Motion Tetra housings with strobes. Now we are trying to figure out which one is for us. We plan to use several 128mb cards to capture all the images.

Any thoughts on the housings etc.....

Oh yeah the camera is an Olympus 3040

I have heard that the diving on Bora Bora is very good...How about Moorea????

Thanks again for your help!!

 

[scuba-sass]

Have you tried contacting the dive folks by e-mail? Stephane from Manihi Blue Nui was quite responsive that way. And yes, they are the only option on Manihi for diving. We also did a night dive with Blue Nui off Bora Bora - highly recommend them. All the rest of our FP diving was with our cruise ship - the Paul Gaugin.

Have Fun!

Scuba-sass

 

[Cecil]

The diving was great in Moorea also, lots and lots of sharks. Don't go for pretty little fish, go for ugly big fish. I was a major nebbie when I dove FP and was in awe of everything. I really need to get back and see it again. Do you have room in the luggage, I can probably cover the overweight charge.

One other note on FP, don't count on diving by yourself they are not very apt to rent you a tank and weights without an advanced certification and I'm not sure then. No diving freedom, to many lawyers.

On the camera I've heard great things about the Ikelite housing. I'm not much for the extra strobes, they don't seem worth the extra weight and bulk, but I'm a voice in the wilderness on this subject. I love my little Sony with it's internal flash that I stuff under my BC strap, you'll never do that with the Olympus.

 

[Finesse]

Thanks for the response

What kind of gear did you guys bring from home????

Given the luggage restrictions on inter-Island flights we dont want to bring stuff thats just going to end up locked up in Papeete. We are bringing our own Reg's, BC's, Mask and fins and an U/W camera if I figure out which one I want. We will bring a small light but not the big primary light (which I guess can be rented if we did some night dives) Also did you guys find a need for wetsuits/exposure suits and were they easily available to rent if needed.

Cecil…….. I've been watching the U/W photography board and I am leaning towards the Olympus setup.....I like the Ikelite but it looks real big. I like the Tetra but I'm not ready to spend a grand on the housing alone. My issues with the Olympus is that IMO it looks a little delicate and I wish it was rated for a little more depth. Oh yeah …sorry but I think I would get left behind or used for shark bait If the “Boss” found out I had a stowaway with us.

Scuba-sass…….. thank you for the input on who to contact......I think at one point we had tried them .....but we'll try again....Do you have a link that you could recommend for contacting these guys on Manihi????

 

[scuba-sass]

Hi Scott,

You mis-understand - we took all our GEAR to Manihi, it's the extra CLOTHES we left behind! Our 2nd week in FP was aboard the MS Paul Gaugin, so we had extra clothing that we didn't really need for 4 nights on Manihi.

As for suits - we wore just dive skins for the whole 2 weeks, except for our night dive. Then we wore our 3mm full suits, but probably didn't really need them. It depends on how much diving you will be doing, and how water temperature effects you. We were there at the end of their summer, and water temps were low to mid 80's.

As for the person to contact, and it is really only one person, try this link . Be sure and tell Stephane that Susan & Lydia from CT, who dove with him in March, say "hello", and would really like to be there right now!!!

BTW - Stephane is not the American "Stephanie", it's the French version of "Stephen". Probably obvious...

Have Fun!

Scuba-sass