mihrl
Guest
We got home Dec. 29 from a 6 week trip to Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, and Tahiti/Moorea. The only diving we'd done previously in the Pacific was Hawaii.
Our first stop was Fiji. We stayed at the First Landing Resort, which we really enjoyed. The food was really good, and quite reasonably priced. We stayed in a garden bure for a few days, then transferred to a beach front bure. Preferred the garden bures--much quieter. I have to admit, the main reason I wanted to dive there was to take pictures of Blue Ribbon Eels. Didn't see any, but had great dives anyway. Saw several lion fish, lots of clown fish, a few sharks, some octopus, green morays, several nudibranchs, lots of fish. Water clarity wasn't great, but maybe we're spoiled with the diving in Bonaire. Spent a week there, which wasn't enough time. Plan to go back. By the way, the dives were with Aquacadabra, owned by Steve and Julie. Great people. The dive shop is on the edge of the resort, next to the harbor.
Then flew to Bisbane and up to Cairns. Spent the night at the Oasis Resort, then the van from Tusa's "Spirit of Freedom" picked us up for transport to the harbor. The boat was very nice. First liveaboard we've been on, although we've done a lot of cruising on sailing ships (Star Clipper line, which has dive masters, etc.) We headed out to the Ribbon Reefs and did a couple of dives. We were a little disappointed in those dives. The water clarity was fair to poor. The next day we were at a different site, and the diving was much better. Saw lots of neat critters: white tip sharks, cuttle fish, lion fish, sweetlips, a huge group of coronet fish, barracuda, puffer fish, giant clams, potato cod, etc. etc. The third day of diving was even better. Headed back to shore that night and disembarked the next morning. The food was good, the staff was superb, the boat was very nice and comfortable. All in all, a great experience. We were very lucky to hit perfect weather. The sea was quite calm, with only small waves.
Another night in Cairns at the Oasis (to offgas), then flew down to Sydney for three days. Nice city, and I don't usually like cities.
We then flew to Auckland, where we met a couple of friends from Seattle. We spent the next three weeks touring New Zealand (one week on the north island, two weeks on the south island). Could have spent 6 weeks there. Beautiful country, and lots to do and see. Didn't do any diving--we only do warm water diving.
Our next stop was Tahiti. Our plane arrived too late to catch the ferry to Moorea, so stayed on Tahiti at Le Meridien, which is nice, but not our style. We much prefer smaller resorts. So . . . as early as possible, we headed to our resort on Moorea. We stayed at Les Tipaniers, which we enjoyed. Very similar to the First Landing Resort in Fiji. The food was quite good in both their restaurants. The dive shop, Scubapiti, was very conveniently located in one corner of the resort. We did several days of dives with them. Saw LOTS of sharks on every dive. Lemon sharks, grey sharks, black tip sharks. They made us a little nervous at first since they would come so close to us, often swimming between divers. After the first couple of dives we got used to all the sharks and started wishing there weren't so many--maybe there would be more fish if there were less sharks (?). The day before we flew home we took the outrigger canoe to an area just off the resort to where they feed Stingrays. We spent about an hour there, which was quite enjoyable. The stingrays are used to people feeding them, and they'll come right up to you and nudge you to see if you have any food. We plan to come back to Moorea again, and will probably spend several weeks moving around to different islands.
I took lots of pictures, but haven't had time to edit them yet.
Our first stop was Fiji. We stayed at the First Landing Resort, which we really enjoyed. The food was really good, and quite reasonably priced. We stayed in a garden bure for a few days, then transferred to a beach front bure. Preferred the garden bures--much quieter. I have to admit, the main reason I wanted to dive there was to take pictures of Blue Ribbon Eels. Didn't see any, but had great dives anyway. Saw several lion fish, lots of clown fish, a few sharks, some octopus, green morays, several nudibranchs, lots of fish. Water clarity wasn't great, but maybe we're spoiled with the diving in Bonaire. Spent a week there, which wasn't enough time. Plan to go back. By the way, the dives were with Aquacadabra, owned by Steve and Julie. Great people. The dive shop is on the edge of the resort, next to the harbor.
Then flew to Bisbane and up to Cairns. Spent the night at the Oasis Resort, then the van from Tusa's "Spirit of Freedom" picked us up for transport to the harbor. The boat was very nice. First liveaboard we've been on, although we've done a lot of cruising on sailing ships (Star Clipper line, which has dive masters, etc.) We headed out to the Ribbon Reefs and did a couple of dives. We were a little disappointed in those dives. The water clarity was fair to poor. The next day we were at a different site, and the diving was much better. Saw lots of neat critters: white tip sharks, cuttle fish, lion fish, sweetlips, a huge group of coronet fish, barracuda, puffer fish, giant clams, potato cod, etc. etc. The third day of diving was even better. Headed back to shore that night and disembarked the next morning. The food was good, the staff was superb, the boat was very nice and comfortable. All in all, a great experience. We were very lucky to hit perfect weather. The sea was quite calm, with only small waves.
Another night in Cairns at the Oasis (to offgas), then flew down to Sydney for three days. Nice city, and I don't usually like cities.
We then flew to Auckland, where we met a couple of friends from Seattle. We spent the next three weeks touring New Zealand (one week on the north island, two weeks on the south island). Could have spent 6 weeks there. Beautiful country, and lots to do and see. Didn't do any diving--we only do warm water diving.
Our next stop was Tahiti. Our plane arrived too late to catch the ferry to Moorea, so stayed on Tahiti at Le Meridien, which is nice, but not our style. We much prefer smaller resorts. So . . . as early as possible, we headed to our resort on Moorea. We stayed at Les Tipaniers, which we enjoyed. Very similar to the First Landing Resort in Fiji. The food was quite good in both their restaurants. The dive shop, Scubapiti, was very conveniently located in one corner of the resort. We did several days of dives with them. Saw LOTS of sharks on every dive. Lemon sharks, grey sharks, black tip sharks. They made us a little nervous at first since they would come so close to us, often swimming between divers. After the first couple of dives we got used to all the sharks and started wishing there weren't so many--maybe there would be more fish if there were less sharks (?). The day before we flew home we took the outrigger canoe to an area just off the resort to where they feed Stingrays. We spent about an hour there, which was quite enjoyable. The stingrays are used to people feeding them, and they'll come right up to you and nudge you to see if you have any food. We plan to come back to Moorea again, and will probably spend several weeks moving around to different islands.
I took lots of pictures, but haven't had time to edit them yet.
