Trip report for Rangiroa and Fakarava in French Polynesia

[WetPup]

We've also covered travel time, it's the same amount of airtime and the same number of connections to get to Koror or Rangiroa. Like travelling anywhere you line up your international flight so it works with your domestic flight or vice versa. This is not unique to French Polynesia. Anyone diving Bali, Komodo, or Raja Ampat has to coordinate international and domestic flights so time is not wasted. And their travel time is even longer.

It's easy to forget that not everyone in the world lives in North America, isn't it?

Getting to Indonesia is actually very easy and convenient from Australia - not to mention cheap. Direct flights to Bali, easy connections to Sorong and Manado...Getting to the remote islands in FP is considerably more complicated and expensive for many of us, which is what makes it incredibly offputting.

 

[Wingy]

And then you have a one hour flight to Rangiroa... you would settle for inferior diving just to avoid a one hour domestic flight? I'm assuming then that you would forgo diving anywhere in Indonesia or the Philippines as they all require a domestic flight (or two), as well. This makes zero sense. Indeed it does, because I said I rate FP HIGHER than Indonesia.

Show you the numbers - No. I am not handing over my bank statements to you.

We've also covered travel time -From YOUR HOUSE!!! As wet pup said above, people - ie - you - forget that people here are not all located in North America. Wetpup and I are both in Australia, grab a map, I live on the west she lives on the east coast. I have another 5,000km to get to the east coast to even get half way to FP - my first stop is NZ.

it's the same amount of airtime and the same number of connections to get to Koror or Rangiroa. If you want it to be for you. For me, Perth > NZ > Tahiti > Tuomotos. To Koror, Perth > Hong Kong > Taiwan > Koror. Raja Ampat - Perth > Bali > Makassar > Sorong. Not ALL days of the week are that convenient - I cannot fly that route to Rangiroa every day of the week, there are only two flights with that route per week. 16 to Bali and onwards to Raja Ampat a day.

---------- Post added May 4th, 2015 at 04:46 PM --If --------



The thread is about Rangiroa and Fakarava, at no point were any other islands mentioned. I'm sorry I used "French Polynesia" 3 times out of 70, I assumed we were all on the same page and that the two were interchangeable.

So now you're saying the reason is because Rangiroa is remote.. and Palau isn't? Raja Ampat isn't? Or that there's not much to do, but what is there to do when you're on a liveaboard? Dive!!

You can't even go for a walk, there's certainly no church or market to visit.. and there's no shortage of people on liveaboards. And ultimately who cares if there's nothing to do besides diving, isn't that the point? Most of us fly to these faraway expensive places to dive and sleep no? Again, your personal opinion - I have no need for markets or churches - that is not why I travel anywhere and especially not why I travel to dive.

So it's not more expensive. Fact.
It's not more travel time. Fact.
It's remote but less remote than a liveaboard. Fact.

Whats fact and reality for you is not for me. Please dont assume I would forego diving in Indonesia or the Philippines because of flights - I have done both up to 4 times a year some years. In 2013 I did Rangiroa, Sumatra and Thailand and North Sulawesi - so from that you can assume I like to hang around airports given your logic. I dont care how long it takes me, how many flights or how much money - I dive where I want to dive for what I want to see.

IF I want big pelagic action I go to Rangiroa. If I want macro I go to Sulawesi or the Philippines. If I want a mixed bag, I go to Raja Ampat. That simple. I dont sit there and calculate cost and air time to the minute and cent, I go where I want to go.

As mmmbelows has posted - We obviously don't have the answer you want, since you've rejected and argued every facet of the answers provided. Everyone would probably be better off if you just tell us the answer you want to hear.

 

[qwimjim]

Whats fact and reality for you is not for me. Please dont assume I would forego diving in Indonesia or the Philippines because of flights - I have done both up to 4 times a year some years. In 2013 I did Rangiroa, Sumatra and Thailand and North Sulawesi - so from that you can assume I like to hang around airports given your logic. I dont care how long it takes me, how many flights or how much money - I dive where I want to dive for what I want to see.

IF I want big pelagic action I go to Rangiroa. If I want macro I go to Sulawesi or the Philippines. If I want a mixed bag, I go to Raja Ampat. That simple. I dont sit there and calculate cost and air time to the minute and cent, I go where I want to go.

As mmmbelows has posted - We obviously don't have the answer you want, since you've rejected and argued every facet of the answers provided. Everyone would probably be better off if you just tell us the answer you want to hear.

Read my first post about cost: "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 ... It would pretty much cost the same for anyone in north america to take a one week trip to Palau or FP."

And this is when mmmbelows started telling me i was wrong despite it being quite easy to look up the cost of flights and see that i was indeed right. And it's easy to look up flight times and minimum connections. And it's easy to look up what ops charge for a 2 tank dive. And it's easy to look up accommodation prices. And when you do all that you realize that a trip to Palau costs no less than a trip to Rangiroa & Fakarava FROM NORTH AMERICA where 54.5% of scubaboard visitors reside. With Hong Kong in a distant second place with 3.8% of users.

And yes I argued every answer she gave because her answers are wrong. It's that simple. Perhaps people skip over FP because they THINK it costs more than a trip to Palau or Raja Ampat because they read posts like yours and mmmbelows telling them it's more expensive when in reality it isn't. You're not doing anyone any favours by spewing misinformation.

 

[mmmbelows]

where 54.5% of scubaboard visitors reside...distant second place with 3.8% of users.

Stat fight!

 

[diver 85]

If I want macro I go to the Philippines.

I love it---macro in the Philippians, ......glad I had & shot with my INON UCL-165M67 Close-up Lens that particular day ....Those 6 whalesharks musta been all of 3 inches long........

[/URL]Betsy whaleshark by GEAUXtiger, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/URL]overhead...in LR by GEAUXtiger, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/URL]4 whalesharks-- by GEAUXtiger, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[WetPup]

Honestly, I priced a trip to Rangiroa from Australia not that long ago. It was cheaper for me to fly from Perth (where I was living until 6 months ago) to Costa Rica and go on a Cocos Island liveaboard for 10 days than it was for me to go diving in FP for just 1 week. I have a flight direct to Guam departing pretty much from my doorstep - getting to and staying in Micronesia is a relatively cheap exercise for me. I have direct flights to Indonesia on my doorstep, that come with simple and cheap domestic connections to get to more remote locations. FP is a complicated and expensive destination in comparison - for me - because of geographic location, and the fact I usually go on dive trips alone. Obviously the finance comparisons would work out considerably differently from North America or if I was travelling with my partner or as a group.

What's better? That's always going to be subjective. I have no doubt that I saw more sharks in Cocos than I ever would have seen in FP. But then that's my marine life of interest. Someone else may not have enjoyed the 36 hour boat trip each way, the constantly strong currents, or the lack of anything colourful. For some people, FP would have been "better", even with the higher price tag attached. And at the end of the day, at least in Australia, FP is heavily marketed as a honeymoon/vacation destination, not as a dive destination. People go to FP on romantic vacations and might go diving for a day while there, very few people go there specifically to dive. It is priced accordingly.

 

[Wingy]

Diver 85 did not go to Phils looking for whalesharks - went to PG looking for lil stuff - no destination is a one size fits all and no diver can dive every single part of any country....would I pay and fly to the Phils to see whalesharks? no, not when I have them here at home. Pay to fly to the Phils for threshers?....perhaps one day.

Wetpup I travel alone too - I think you nailed it when you pointed out the marketing of FP as a honeymoon vacation. Everywhere I walked people asked me where my husband was...musta fallen off the plane

 

[diver 85]

FP is heavily marketed as a honeymoon/vacation destination, not as a dive destination. People go to FP on romantic vacations and might go diving for a day while there, very few people go there specifically to dive. It is priced accordingly.

WetPup.....this all sounds very good----ie fewer divers(less crowded boats???)-----cuz I'll be there for diving AND celebrating our 36 year ongoing honeymoon.....Can't beat all this with a stick......

 

[WetPup]

Diver 85 did not go to Phils looking for whalesharks - went to PG looking for lil stuff - no destination is a one size fits all and no diver can dive every single part of any country....would I pay and fly to the Phils to see whalesharks? no, not when I have them here at home. Pay to fly to the Phils for threshers?....perhaps one day.

Wetpup I travel alone too - I think you nailed it when you pointed out the marketing of FP as a honeymoon vacation. Everywhere I walked people asked me where my husband was...musta fallen off the plane

I get that a lot of places fullstop. My partner rarely comes with me on dive trips because he can't dive due to asthma. Results in really awkward conversations when I get hit on (and the occasional marriage proposal) when travelling.

The whalesharks? Blah. I did that at Ningaloo and it sucked. Overly micromanaged, overly crowded, and just generally not a fun situation. Saw a few at Cocos and that was mindblowing. The threshers at Malapascua are on my to do list, probably next year.

---------- Post added May 5th, 2015 at 11:23 PM ----------

WetPup.....this all sounds very good----ie fewer divers(less crowded boats???)-----cuz I'll be there for diving AND celebrating our 36 year ongoing honeymoon.....Can't beat all this with a stick......

Sure I want to go at the right time of year and check out the surf at Teahupoo as well. One day, perhaps on my own honeymoon...It's just that for now, there's nothing diving wise in FP that I can't see elsewhere for cheaper.

 

[qwimjim]

Honestly, I priced a trip to Rangiroa from Australia not that long ago. It was cheaper for me to fly from Perth (where I was living until 6 months ago) to Costa Rica and go on a Cocos Island liveaboard for 10 days than it was for me to go diving in FP for just 1 week. I have a flight direct to Guam departing pretty much from my doorstep - getting to and staying in Micronesia is a relatively cheap exercise for me. I have direct flights to Indonesia on my doorstep, that come with simple and cheap domestic connections to get to more remote locations. FP is a complicated and expensive destination in comparison - for me - because of geographic location, and the fact I usually go on dive trips alone. Obviously the finance comparisons would work out considerably differently from North America or if I was travelling with my partner or as a group.

What's better? That's always going to be subjective. I have no doubt that I saw more sharks in Cocos than I ever would have seen in FP. But then that's my marine life of interest. Someone else may not have enjoyed the 36 hour boat trip each way, the constantly strong currents, or the lack of anything colourful. For some people, FP would have been "better", even with the higher price tag attached. And at the end of the day, at least in Australia, FP is heavily marketed as a honeymoon/vacation destination, not as a dive destination. People go to FP on romantic vacations and might go diving for a day while there, very few people go there specifically to dive. It is priced accordingly.

I understand, and if I lived in Australia I would probably not go anywhere other than Indonesia just like a lot of North Americans just go to Cozumel because it's close and cheap. But from the beginning of this tangent I started has been about the north american perspective, nothing more. As in why don't all these North Americans spending thousands of dollars to do trips to Palau, Indonesia, and on various liveaboards not seem to have Rangiroa & Fakarava on their radar which have arguably as good or better diving for the same price and inconvenience?

I guess Palau does a better marketing job, but it seems strange to me that more people don't know about the FP option given how amazing the diving looks. Watching youtube clips from Fakarava the only thing I've seen that was more impressive from vacation diver footage was deep blue liveaboard trips like Cocos/Galapogos/Socorros.