Polynesia - Which dive sites?

[Ayisha]

That's a relief, thank you.

There are 2 dive ops in Huahine right now. I believe the first one was Pacific Blue Divers, and there is one called Mahana Dive.

I have 2-tank dives set up with Top Dive in Moorea and Bora Bora, Pacific Blue in Huahine, and through the ship in Raiatea and a night dive in Bora Bora.

 

[Ayisha]

We had an awesome time on our 10 day Tahitian Princess cruise to Tahiti, Bora Bora, Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea, and Rarotonga.

I dove in Bora Bora, Moorea, Huahine, and Raiatea. I did a 2-tank dive on each island plus a night dive in Bora Bora. I used Top Dive on Bora Bora and Moorea; Pacific Blue on Huahine; and the ship's choice (Hemisphere Sub) on Raiatea and for the Bora Bora night dive (Bora Dive).

At almost every dive site, before we even stopped, the sharks were circling our boat - so we jumped in. We saw 5 species of sharks: Hammerheads, Black tip, Grey, Lemon, and Nurse sharks. Unfortunately, we only saw the hammerheads from the boat. We also saw dolphins from the boat, but never while diving. The black tip sharks were quite small, only 3 - 4 feet long. The grey sharks were huge, some of them had to be about 9 feet long and very wide, and could have easily had me for lunch. The lemon sharks were quite large and moved extremely fast - they were really a challenge to photograph. They would dart and then slow down repeatedly for no apparent reason. We saw one apparently pregnant huge long nurse shark sleeping under a ledge and several medium-sized ones.

I had heard that Tahiti and her Islands had very "friendly" sharks and I didn't really know what it meant until I experienced it, particularly with the black tips. They would make a bee line for me or other divers constantly and somewhat threateningly, and then just whiz right by. Of course, the warm welcome to our dive boats at almost every dive site was a dead giveaway. Most of the sharks escorted us throughout our dives from beginning to end, staying beside us wherever we went. There was some rice released from a bottle for the fish only on one dive, and the sharks didn't seem to be interested in it. I'm not used to sharks being so interested in me and am much more used to sharks being aloof and uninterested, but, at least they're friendly.

We did one shark feeding dive in Moorea, where a divemaster placed a fish head under a bunch of rocks/coral. We all laid in wait while two huge grey sharks came over, made 2 passes, and then quickly and effortlessly swiped the fish head. Dang that shutter lag. The divemaster picked up a shark tooth and gave it to me, and it's still in my BC pocket.

I found little Nemo at many of the dive sites. I found that Clown Fish could reliably be found playing in the beautiful anemone, hiding and weaving through it. Each second, the scenery and it's inhabitants changed and it was hard to leave the anemone.

I saw a family of 4 Spotted Eagle Rays, 3 medium ones and a baby, all swimming together. There were also a few other eagle rays and Sting Rays here and there. I did not see any Manta Rays on my dives, but many people did on other dives. Even the snorkellers were seeing the Manta Rays coming right up to the beach, but I somehow didn't get to see any. Hopefully some other dive...

The Society Islands in the South Pacific have mainly hard corals, very little soft corals. Therefore, they are not as vibrantly colourful as other places but they are very abundant and healthy.

Night diving in Bora Bora was amazing. We saw healthy reef with scorpionfish, bright red sea stars, lion fish, crabs, tonnes of triggerfish, moray eels, trumpetfish, and puffer fish.

If I could, I would love to visit Fakarava, Rangiroa, Marquesas, and the Tuamotus, as well as other parts of the South Pacific. I would like to go to Fakarava, Rangiroa and the others is that they have really amazing diving through Passes, which is where the ocean flows rapidly into the lagoon through a break in the coral. The current is ripping and they are challenging advanced dives, but this is where the big stuff hangs out - you fly through with tonnes of sharks, manta and other rays, etc. They are supposed to be incredible. We attempted to do a pass in Huahine, but one of the divers was having issues and the current was particularly strong, and the divemaster ended up switching to a nearby reef instead.

These islands were all beautiful, but of course, Bora Bora, Tahiti, Moorea, and Huahine were even more incredibly beautiful and lush. Moorea has majestic dramatic mountains and like the others, exotic flowers are everywhere. Bora Bora had the most incredible white sand beaches and multiple shades of blues in the lagoon. Raiataea smells like it's vanilla plantations, mixed with the sweet smell of flowers everywhere. Rarotonga is owned by New Zealand and the locals had an adorable Kiwi accent. Highly recommended islands!

I am having issues adding a new page to my website right now, but once it gets sorted out, I will upload my pictures to my website at http://www.ayisha.web1000.com

 

[BurBunny]

How did the dives with Hemisphere Sub go on Raiatea? I've avoided diving there in the past as they're the only "major" op and there have been some problems with them. How did they compare to your other ops, particularly Pacific Blue whom they probably more closely resemble in size and type than TopDive?

 

[Ayisha]

Hi there. Hemisphere Sub seemed fine to me. I didn't see any issues during the two dives I did with them. I brought all my own equipment except tank and weights, but I didn't see anyone having issues with their equipment. Staff were friendly and guided the dives well.

They seemed to be a bigger operation than Pacific Blue on Huahine. Hemisphere Sub used 2 boats simultaneously, one for people doing 2 dives, and the other for a 1-tank dive. Pacific Blue seemed to be the smallest operation, with a small storefront, and I only saw the small boat that we were on in operation. Pacific Blue may have had an issue with blown o-rings, it seemed. Top Dive was the largest operation with larger boats and more staff.

They all appeared competent to me and there were no issues that I was aware of. Some other people on the cruise, however, had major issues with Bora Dive (ship's choice) on Bora Bora. They put together the gear incorrectly, with the air on the left for some people. When the divers told them, they said, no, it was fine. Then the divers showed them that it was opposite of the other divers, then they said, oh yeah, and changed it. They had blown o-rings or other problems with their kits, and half the tank valves were freeflowing badly at depth - not just a slow drybleed, but they said a major leak. Then the DM got lost, so everyone had to ascend and do a surface swim back to the boat against the current. Some divers were very upset and refused to dive with them the next day (1 1/2 days in Bora Bora). Princess would not issue a refund and they forfeited the dives. Very disappointing. Those were the only issues I was aware of and they were with Bora Dive.