Tahiti Paul Gauguin Cruise

[diverken374]

I will be on the Paul Gauigan Cruise at the end of January January 2013. I will definately be diving on this trip. Does anybody have any experience either diving from the ship or in the islands that we are visiting with independent operators? Specifically looking at diving in Rangiroa and Fakarava and Moorea.
Thanks
Ken

 

[jake11]

We did the Paul Gauguin cruise a few years ago. Their dive operation was top notch. We used their gear as it came with the price of the dive and it was in great shape. We loved our cruise and did most of the dives offered. You have to get on the boat and go and sign up for the dives right away as they used to sell out. I am not sure if they still do it this way or if you can book in advance. The dives used to be VERY expensive !! We plan on going back for another cruise but the next time we will most likely book with independent operators due to the prices. Have a great time! It is awesome!

 

[Peter Guy]

My wife and I were on the P.G. several years ago and had a wonderful time. It was in the "Regent" line at the time so I don't know what, if anything has changed in how they run the cruise.

We did most of our diving with the "ship approved" dive ops and found them to be OK -- especially if you wanted to see sharks since there were several "shark feeding" dives. Rangiroa was the absolute best diving we had -- Moorea perhaps the worst (and it didn't help that I got into a "discussion" with the dive guide over doing gear checks before getting into the water -- we did them, he was not amused by it).

 

[TSandM]

As Peter said, we did the cruise a few years ago. We had a wonderful time. The boat can't be beat, with wonderful food and a fantastic crew. If they still run it the same way, it was delightful to have virtually everything included, so one could call room service to bring morning tea and not worry about the kching.

We had Jean-Michel Cousteau as a guest speaker on our trip, so there were more divers than the boat had ever tried to handle before. We did not dive off the boat at all or with the crew; we dove with the shore-based operators. Except for Moorea, we had no complaints. By far and away the best diving was Rangiroa (we didn't go to Fakarava, but I've heard it's similar). Those actually were some of the best dives of the last seven years. Most of the rest of the diving was shark feeding dives, which I don't find compelling, and a lot of dead coral. We did do a couple of very nice dives off Papeete at the end of the trip, when we asked the dive operator NOT to do a shark feeding dive. They took us to a lovely little wall, and a barge and airplane wreck. There was a lot of life on both.

You will enjoy the trip. Be aware that you CAN arrange diving at places the boat doesn't offer it, if you contact the dive ops in advance. Diving is much cheaper done that way.

 

[diverken374]

Thanks to all for your input. I will look into shore based operations. Given the distance and it being a cruise would rather not take all my dive equipment so will look at renting equipment.Ken

 

[jake11]

Maybe you can rent the boat's gear even if you are diving with shore based operators??? Check it out! Also, maybe you could spring for one dive from the boat. This way you will be invited to the "diver's party." It was a lot of fun! Have a great time! I am jealous!

Thanks to all for your input. I will look into shore based operations. Given the distance and it being a cruise would rather not take all my dive equipment so will look at renting equipment.Ken

 

[Cali_diver]

We are going on a family trip in June on the PG. I have been on her twice before and loved the diving. although they do not dive often enough. I am really interested in hearing what you do for Fakarava. That is where I am the most interested in diving. I looked into outside ops but it is a little iffy cause if ship changes schedule or is not running on time you might miss diving altogether. I also noticed that you could not sign up for Fakarava until you get on the ship. That makes me nervous as well. Please give us a report on what you wind up doing.

You will love the ship!! So much fun.... Great food and drinks....So beautiful! I would bring my own regulator and Computer.

 

[diverken374]

We are going on a family trip in June on the PG. I have been on her twice before and loved the diving. although they do not dive often enough. I am really interested in hearing what you do for Fakarava. That is where I am the most interested in diving. I looked into outside ops but it is a little iffy cause if ship changes schedule or is not running on time you might miss diving altogether. I also noticed that you could not sign up for Fakarava until you get on the ship. That makes me nervous as well. Please give us a report on what you wind up doing.

You will love the ship!! So much fun.... Great food and drinks....So beautiful! I would bring my own regulator and Computer.

I just received a list of the shore excursions and it included a sign up for a two tank dive in Fakarava with an outside dive op. I wonder if that will be Top Dive? Signed up for two dives in Rangiroa as well. I will bring my dive computer but not my reg as I have an integrated BC inflator/Octo. Camera and housing as well as fins, mask and snorkel.

 

[LittleNat]

We were on the PG in October of this year. We did 1 dive thru them on Raiatai (it was a night dive on a wreck, and it was fantastic!) There were only 4 of us and 2 DM, which was great. They did use an outside operator, but one of the guys from the ship came with us. We also did a few dives with TopDive in Moorea (we did the pre-cruise hotel stay,) and bought a package so that when we were in Bora Bora we went with them instead of the ship. Laurent (head of the dive dept., very knowledgable and quite funny) was sort of bummed that we weren't going with them. We spoke with people who did day dives with the ship, and they liked the convenience of going off the marine platform in a Zodiac, instead of having to go to shore to meet the other dive operators. We didn't find it to be much of an inconvenience, as we wanted to go to shore anyway.

Doing an early dive with the ship would be a great idea if possible, because then you meet the other scuba folks. We ended up meeting some great people, and are doing our first live aboard in August, with a couple we met on the PG.

We brought our own wetsuits, masks & dive computers. Rest of the gear was from the dive operators, and it was fine. They were great at switching our dive computers on & off for us.

Have fun!

 

[jake11]

Wow! Laurent was a DM on our cruise many years ago!