Trip report for Rangiroa and Fakarava in French Polynesia

[Wingy]

Difference between Indonesia and FP - sheer biomass of big fish. BIG - yes you get your bumpheads and napoleans every now and then in Raja etc but they're almost a given to have multiples on each dive and the bara's are bigger in bigger schools than say Sipidan, but mainly - the sharks - a deep dive through the pass will show you how many there are and how big they are.

 

[qwimjim]

Difference between Indonesia and FP - sheer biomass of big fish. BIG - yes you get your bumpheads and napoleans every now and then in Raja etc but they're almost a given to have multiples on each dive and the bara's are bigger in bigger schools than say Sipidan, but mainly - the sharks - a deep dive through the pass will show you how many there are and how big they are.

So then why does Indonesia and Palau always get the highest praise? There's probably 50 times more threads and trip reports about Palau/Komodo/Raja Ampat than Rangiroa/Fakarava.. and they're always at the top of everyone's "best of" lists. Tahiti is no more expensive to get to than Palau, and the big draw to Palau is sharks but from videos I've seen Palau has dozens of sharks while South Pass looks like it has hundreds. Visibility looks amazing.

What is it that those dive destinations have that FP doesn't have? Or is it simply that most people don't have FP on their radar?

 

[Wingy]

My highest praise goes the other way around. Id say the cause is cost - it will cost you a lot more to dive in FP than it will anywhere in Asia. It will probably cost you a lot more to get there - $600 - $700 airfares return get me to Sorong to meet a raja liveaboard while the cost of airfare to Tahiti was $2400 plus another $800 for the Tuomotos (I bought an inter island air pass) plus each meal will cost you triple and each taxi fair is quadruple that of Asia. Its a long way to get to from anywhere and really there is not a lot to do other than dive in the entirety of French Polynesia let alone the Tuomotos where you have a strip of beach around a strip of coral in the middle of a big ocean with a small village or a supply store thats open for a few hours a day. From where I live there are 16 flights a day to Indo, to Tahiti there are two flights a week with easy connection and only a few hours layover.

Land based diving in Asia you are never too far away from a city with shopping, attractions, temples, markets etc - in French Polynesia there are the Marae's and a few other cultural based things to do but unless you want resort style activities offered by the resorts like paddleboarding you can basically see most islands in a day.

In Asia, massages and wandering up and down streets deciding where to eat is affordable between dives, in French Polynesia...not affordable and you need to go to a hotel spa and be ok with prices like $180 for a massage.

Asia to me now is about diving to find critters more than anything, French Polynesia is all about the big stuff and those big current drift dives.

Id say the simple answer to your question is more people have dived Indonesia and Palau therefore more threads.

 

[qwimjim]

My highest praise goes the other way around. Id say the cause is cost - it will cost you a lot more to dive in FP than it will anywhere in Asia. It will probably cost you a lot more to get there - $600 - $700 airfares return get me to Sorong to meet a raja liveaboard while the cost of airfare to Tahiti was $2400 plus another $800 for the Tuomotos (I bought an inter island air pass) plus each meal will cost you triple and each taxi fair is quadruple that of Asia. Its a long way to get to from anywhere and really there is not a lot to do other than dive in the entirety of French Polynesia let alone the Tuomotos where you have a strip of beach around a strip of coral in the middle of a big ocean with a small village or a supply store thats open for a few hours a day. From where I live there are 16 flights a day to Indo, to Tahiti there are two flights a week with easy connection and only a few hours layover.

Land based diving in Asia you are never too far away from a city with shopping, attractions, temples, markets etc - in French Polynesia there are the Marae's and a few other cultural based things to do but unless you want resort style activities offered by the resorts like paddleboarding you can basically see most islands in a day.

In Asia, massages and wandering up and down streets deciding where to eat is affordable between dives, in French Polynesia...not affordable and you need to go to a hotel spa and be ok with prices like $180 for a massage.

Asia to me now is about diving to find critters more than anything, French Polynesia is all about the big stuff and those big current drift dives.

Id say the simple answer to your question is more people have dived Indonesia and Palau therefore more threads.

So it's not the quality of the diving. But yet if we consider costs, from North America the difference in cost of flights is not significant. To get to Sorong would cost me $1800. To get to Fakarava would cost me $2500. To get to Palau would be $2,000. Half board pension $150-200/night and diving is $150/day. It would pretty much cost the same for anyone in north america to take a one week trip to Palau or FP.

People go to Palau for sharks and manta's, etc.. I've seen several youtube videos of Blue Corner and Ulong Channel with maybe a dozen sharks out in the blue.. every video I've seen of south pass from Fakarava is what looks to be hundreds of sharks.

And if land based diving on a budget, I could stay in a hotel in Koror with no pool, no beach, etc.. and Koror doesn't strike me as a particularly charming town. Or I could relax after a day of diving on a paradise beach. I must be missing something because it doesn't make sense that more people don't know about or don't dive the Tuomotos?

 

[Wingy]

Sorry if I didnt make my answer clear enough on the diving quality viewpoint...its not just cost. French Polynesia - particularly the tuomoto's has the clearest and cleanest water Ive ever seen in my life. The species are different, the topography is different - the type of diving is different. Those hundreds of sharks and the masses of parrot fish and wrasses are something you dont find in Indonesia. That to me puts it in the worth the cost.

Its not just the sharks. The different species of wrasses could keep you entertained all day - from the delicate ones to the beautiful grand blu parakeet and the napoleans. Also Rays - I had eagle and mantas on each dive at Rangiroa, no mantas at Raja Ampat last trip. The topography is different, you are diving in lagoons and passes - the lagoons at Fakarava give you the soft corals, the passes - particularly at Rangi - are a thrill a minute when the current is ripping.

Overall...the waters of French Polynesia are far less polluted and far less overfished than the waters of Asia.

 

[qwimjim]

Sorry if I didnt make my answer clear enough on the diving quality viewpoint...its not just cost. French Polynesia - particularly the tuomoto's has the clearest and cleanest water Ive ever seen in my life. The species are different, the topography is different - the type of diving is different. Those hundreds of sharks and the masses of parrot fish and wrasses are something you dont find in Indonesia. That to me puts it in the worth the cost.

Its not just the sharks. The different species of wrasses could keep you entertained all day - from the delicate ones to the beautiful grand blu parakeet and the napoleans. Also Rays - I had eagle and mantas on each dive at Rangiroa, no mantas at Raja Ampat last trip. The topography is different, you are diving in lagoons and passes - the lagoons at Fakarava give you the soft corals, the passes - particularly at Rangi - are a thrill a minute when the current is ripping.

Overall...the waters of French Polynesia are far less polluted and far less overfished than the waters of Asia.

Ok gotcha, so you would say the diving is superior to Indonesia or Palau for someone who isn't looking for macro/muck/critter diving? If so, I do find it strange how Palau gets mentioned SO often and French Polynesia seems to barely be on anyone's radar, they're both expensive destinations.

 

[charlier]

Sorry if I didnt make my answer clear enough on the diving quality viewpoint...its not just cost. French Polynesia - particularly the tuomoto's has the clearest and cleanest water Ive ever seen in my life. The species are different, the topography is different - the type of diving is different. Those hundreds of sharks and the masses of parrot fish and wrasses are something you dont find in Indonesia. That to me puts it in the worth the cost.

Its not just the sharks. The different species of wrasses could keep you entertained all day - from the delicate ones to the beautiful grand blu parakeet and the napoleans. Also Rays - I had eagle and mantas on each dive at Rangiroa, no mantas at Raja Ampat last trip. The topography is different, you are diving in lagoons and passes - the lagoons at Fakarava give you the soft corals, the passes - particularly at Rangi - are a thrill a minute when the current is ripping.

Overall...the waters of French Polynesia are far less polluted and far less overfished than the waters of Asia.

I am a bit late to the thread... Due to ease of access, Komodo Islands, Alor, Banda Sea, and Raja Ampat are great for pristine coral, clear water, lack of bubbles, and a healthy abundance of small to moderate size fish. Unfortunately, Indonesia lacks a high apex predator biomass. Wingy is on the mark here.

In my quest to experience the healthiest apex predator populations, I just returned from a week diving at Tubbataha Reef, Philippines and I was struck by the absolute lack of fish biomass. Even at 3 meters with relatively healthy coral, I did not see a great abundance of even small fish. Perhaps it was due to the lack of currents, we did not see numerous large pelagic fish. Since the northern and southern Line Islands are not accessible by dive tourists, our next extended dive trip will be to French Polynesia.

 

[mmmbelows]

Ok gotcha, so you would say the diving is superior to Indonesia or Palau for someone who isn't looking for macro/muck/critter diving? If so, I do find it strange how Palau gets mentioned SO often and French Polynesia seems to barely be on anyone's radar, they're both expensive destinations.

I tend to differ, FP is mentioned over and over again as a OIAL trip - "once in a lifetime" trip due to how expensive it is, I know when we went we spent over $15,000 doing so, while you can do it for far less you can also do it for $15,000 routinely, I also tend to think that FP has grown up as a vacation destination not a dive destination. I consider Palau to be a dive destination, seems to be more variety of diving in a smaller geographic area in Palau where Palau is basically a one small island group and FP is a huge geographic region consisting of 5 island groups spread out over 2000 square miles.

 

[qwimjim]

I tend to differ, FP is mentioned over and over again as a OIAL trip - "once in a lifetime" trip due to how expensive it is, I know when we went we spent over $15,000 doing so, while you can do it for far less you can also do it for $15,000 routinely, I also tend to think that FP has grown up as a vacation destination not a dive destination. I consider Palau to be a dive destination, seems to be more variety of diving in a smaller geographic area in Palau where Palau is basically a one small island group and FP is a huge geographic region consisting of 5 island groups spread out over 2000 square miles.

I just discovered that you can get a return ticket to PPT for $700 on Hawaiin Airlines from HNL. Tickets to HNL are routinely $500 return from anywhere in North America. So if you buy the tickets separately you can get to Tahiti for as little as $1,200! No matter what Koror seems to be $2,000+. Going rate seems to be $150 per day for 2 tank dive in Rangoria and Fakarava, it's $175 in Palau. For land based diving the boat rides are long in Palau, they're short in Rangiroa/Fakarava. And I looked at all the pensions and the average price per night for a couple is $250/night but you can stay for as little as $125/night for a couple at a Relais Marama Bungalow. Or you can even camp for $25/night per person if you bring your own tent So cost of lodging is comparable to Palau.

So all that to say that Rangiroa and Fakarava are definitely not more expensive than Palau. So as far as diving is concerned the only advantage I can see to Palau is perhaps more variety in dive sites? Since Rangiroa and Fakarava are all tidal pass dives, maybe that gets boring/repetitive despite the huge numbers of fish and sharks?

 

[mmmbelows]

When they move Bora Bora to Palau, I think you're theory will have some merit. Comparing the low end doesn't shed much light on the issues. While there are the odd few who would sleep in a sleeping bag on the beach because they could do it for free in FP, most aren't interested. Same thing as saying NYC isn't an expensive city , if you qualify your statement by saying the NYC YMCA only charges $12 a night. And I think you're missing point number one that flying to Tahiti is only half way, you've got another leg still to pay for and point number two the cost of travel isn't just the ticket price, true costs are the entire costs of travel including wear and tear and total hours invested waiting for connections, missed pre-paid hotel fees due to connections missed due to multiple individual tickets on multiple airlines...I can assure you I wouldn't be playing the multiple airline game on multiple legs to FP, and in reality nobody else wants to either, that's why FP is considered by travel agents to be the 2nd most expensive destination in the world for vacations. I don't know if Palau is considered a honey moon destination but FP certainly is, as I said FP is a vacation destination not a diving destination. The words French Polynesia and "Once in a lifetime" trip are said in the same sentence often because of the cost, I'm not sure Palau is thought of this way.

But this is to your benefit, go see it now while this is still the case and enjoy the unspoiled, wilderness that FP offers divers who invest the time and money to get there.