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Scuba Forum / Scuba Locations / June 2007Dive Tahiti
Any recommendations for diving in Tahiti for 2008. We're considering a Star Clipper ship instead of a liveaboard or ground based dive shop. > Any recommendations for diving in Tahiti for 2008. We're considering a Star > Clipper ship instead of a liveaboard or ground based dive shop. It's good you're not considering a liveaboard since the only one I've ever heard of, the Tahiti Aggressor, pulled out of there. Ground- based is expensive and usually doesn't provide much diving since it's on the European plan, i.e. one morning and one afternoon dive, each charged separately. There are exceptions. Get out to Rangiroa if you can. > Get out to Rangiroa if you can. Any particular hotel / dive op there to recommend, Greg? -hh > > Get out to Rangiroa if you can. > > Any particular hotel / dive op there to recommend, Greg? We were on a liveaboard, but as a fam trip, we did check out two regional hotels (one on Rangiroa and one on Fakarava, another divable atoll of the Tuamotus). The Kia Ora Hotel, on Rangiroa, had a nice on-site dive shop, much more dive-oriented then your average hotel-based operation. At the time (going on 5 years ago) they even had support (and training and rentals) for Draeger and Inspiration rebreathers and the shop manager sounded competent. The over-water bungalow rooms there (and the hotel bar as well) have a see-through portion of the floor that can be opened to feed the fish. Fakarava, and I suppose just about any of the Tuamotu atolls that likewise bear hotels now, would be another nice option. It's more remote than Rangiroa, and offers the same big-animal filled "pass" diving through cuts in the atoll ring. We walked through the Maitai Dream Hotel there. It was a hot day, and I recall that the rooms didn't have a/c (not all that uncommon in sweaty French-inhabited Tahiti). One of the hotels, I forget which, had individual hot tubs right in front of the rooms, a nice touch, but completely lacking of any privacy (again, not all that uncommon in bare-breasted Tahiti). > The Kia Ora Hotel, on Rangiroa... > The over-water bungalow rooms there (and the hotel bar as well) have a > see-through portion of the floor that can be opened to feed the fish. >From the limited pricing I've done to date on rooms in that region, the over-the-water rooms apparently are on the high-end price side. What would you say are the typical room price ranges? > Fakarava, and I suppose just about any of the Tuamotu atolls that > likewise bear hotels now, would be another nice option. It's more [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > didn't have a/c (not all that uncommon in sweaty French-inhabited > Tahiti). So long as there's a nice breeze... -hh > the over-the-water rooms apparently are on the high-end price side. > What would you say are the typical room price ranges? Since it was five years ago that I was there, with plenty of currency fluctuations in the meantime, I would have no idea. This link didn't work for me: http://hotelkiaora.com/rack_rates_2007_uk.pdf but it does have more info about the hotel. The link to their dive op, Blue Dolphins, doesn't work as linked from the hotel website, but it does work on its own: http://www.bluedolphinsdiving.com Again, nothing happens when you click on rates. A typical Tahiti-specialist travel agency website lists rack rates at $346-900/night which sounds about right for a luxury hotel in that part of the world. Of course the agency claims to have lower rates. I'd expect it to be easy enough to cut those numbers by 1/3 to 1/2. > So long as there's a nice breeze... We were there in February, Tahitian summer. The place was practically deserted. Expect the opposite when the entire population of France travels there in August, but I bet it's also a lot cooler. It's too bad they took the Tahiti Aggressor out of Rangiroa (and now out of Tahiti altogether and on to the Maldives, I believe). I don't think there's any way now to dive some of the remote atolls we experienced, short of chartering your own dive boat, but I could be wrong. > > So long as there's a nice breeze... > > We were there in February, Tahitian summer. The place was practically > deserted. Expect the opposite when the entire population of France > travels there in August, but I bet it's also a lot cooler. Not really! The Society Islands are always humid to the point of discomfort (suiting up is a trial) unlike Fiji in August where it is far less humid and you have cooling breezes -- and the diving, u/w flora and fauna ...far better! Tahiti always seems to suffer from the lack of "repeat" visitors...people might want to visit there because it is such a name-recognition kind of place...they've read the books of Nordoff & Hall when they grew up, seen the movies, heard the stories...but once they've been there...and done that ...they never go back and travel statistics bear that out! That is why several airlines have dropped service there over time, including Qantas for a while-- they just can't sustain it. A number of dive operations have tried to set up shop there...but again, cannot sustain it over time and move on elsewhere! > Not really! The Society Islands are always humid to the point of discomfort (suiting > up is a trial) unlike Fiji in August where it is far less humid and you have cooling > breezes -- and the diving, u/w flora and fauna ...far better! That's interesting. I didn't find it too humid at all. Certainly not as humid as a swampy place like S. Florida or New Orleans. I also doubt that in Fiji you can see dolphins, manta rays, eagle rays, turtles, napoleon wrasses, and three varieties of sharks all on a single dive like I did out in the Tuamotus. > Tahiti always seems to suffer from the lack of "repeat" visitors...people might want > to visit there because it is such a name-recognition kind of place...they've read the > books of Nordoff & Hall when they grew up, seen the movies, heard the stories...but > once they've been there...and done that ...they never go back and travel statistics > bear that out! It's easier to get to than Fiji and it gets loads of "repeat" visitors, mostly the Europeans who can afford the place. > That is why several airlines have dropped service there over time, including Qantas > for a while-- they just can't sustain it. More airlines serve Tahiti than Fiji, and more often. Interesting, since Fiji has a population of 850,000 and all of French Polynesia only 250,000. > A number of dive operations have tried to set up shop there...but again, cannot > sustain it over time and move on elsewhere! There are plenty of dive operations there. Maybe it's too much competition. It's also very expensive, which is why the Aggressor pulled out. They were required to hire some local and/or French crew, who could work no more than 39-hour work weeks, about half the time that an average Aggressor crew member puts in. > > Not really! The Society Islands are always humid to the point of discomfort (suiting > > up is a trial) unlike Fiji in August where it is far less humid and you have cooling > > breezes -- and the diving, u/w flora and fauna ...far better! > > That's interesting. I didn't find it too humid at all. Certainly not > as humid as a swampy place like S. Florida or New Orleans. What's S. Florida and New Orleans got to do with it -- what dive charters are heading to New Orleans & South Florida? > I also > doubt that in Fiji you can see dolphins, manta rays, eagle rays, > turtles, napoleon wrasses, and three varieties of sharks all on a > single dive like I did out in the Tuamotus. Are you kidding? The coral is scant in the locations you mention. I guess you don't like seeing coral in its many varieties. Fiji has all that and more! > It's easier to get to than Fiji and it gets loads of "repeat" > visitors, mostly the Europeans who can afford the place. and the currency is tied to the EURO! Too expensive and not worth the trip! Fiji is a better bargain for the dollar! > > Not really! The Society Islands are always humid to the point of discomfort (suiting > > up is a trial) unlike Fiji in August where it is far less humid and you have cooling > > breezes... > > That's interesting. I didn't find it too humid at all. I'd say that most tropical places surrounded by warm water tend to have overnight conditions roughly a few degrees cooler than the water temperature, tending to high relative humidity. What tends to determine if its okay or not is the degree of breeze or wind (or utter lack thereof). > > Tahiti always seems to suffer from the lack of "repeat" visitors... > > ... been there...and done that ...they never go back and travel statistics > > bear that out! Any comparative numbers? Wondering in part what the "average" repeat rate is. > It's easier to get to than Fiji... >From the eastern US, the distances are "equally long"; pretty much why we've passed on the region until now. > There are plenty of dive operations there. Maybe it's too much > competition. It's also very expensive, which is why the Aggressor > pulled out. They were required to hire some local and/or French crew, > who could work no more than 39-hour work weeks, about half the time > that an average Aggressor crew member puts in. Sounds fairly typical of the damand exceeds supply for some of these aspects, both of customers willing to pay, as well as westerners willing to work at low compensation to be in the famous place, not unlike Little Cayman a decade ago. -hh > > > So long as there's a nice breeze... > > > We were there in February, Tahitian summer. The place was practically > > deserted. Expect the opposite when the entire population of France > > travels there in August, but I bet it's also a lot cooler. The trouble with this discussion is the use of "Tahiti" to mean not just the island of Tahiti in the Society Islands, but the group of islands (Moorea, Huahini, Raiatea, Bora Bora, etc.) called Society Islands, often called by the tourist trade as "Tahiti" for its easy recognition. But Greg and others have included Tahiti to encompass the French Polynesian islands which has at least 6 major island groups of over 1000 islands. That's like calling Podunk, Rhode Island the "United States" and talk as if it IS (or is representative) of the US! That's patently absurd for the lack of knowledge about not only the island of Tahiti, but the entire French Polynesia itself! > Not really! The Society Islands are always humid to the point of discomfort (suiting > up is a trial) unlike Fiji in August where it is far less humid and you have cooling > breezes -- and the diving, u/w flora and fauna ...far better! How many of the Society Islands have you been to? Which ones? And when besides February? > Tahiti always seems to suffer from the lack of "repeat" visitors... How do you know so much about "Tahiti", not to mention the number of its repeat customers? I am a repeat customer (at least 5 times to ALL of the major islands in the Society Islands group, in addition to being repeat customer to the Cook Islands, the Marquesus groups and the Tuamoto group better known for the island of Rangiroa. The diving is fantastic in nearly all the islands mislabelled as "Tahiti", and the worst diving is in the island of Tahiti itself -- its neighbor Moorea is MUCH better -- Greg dived from the Beachcomber hotel there. BTW, Greg is wrong about the Princess being the only cruise ship in the Polynesian islands, although it is the Princess ship that goes on all of the different itinerary there. Paul Gaugin is the French cruise ship that has been there long before the Renaissance or its new owner Princess has been operatiing there. people might want > to visit there because it is such a name-recognition kind of place...they've read the > books of Nordoff & Hall when they grew up, seen the movies, heard the stories...but > once they've been there...and done that ...they never go back and travel statistics > bear that out! Cite your "travel statistics" which is nothing but the figment of your informed imagination. > That is why several airlines have dropped service there over time, including Qantas > for a while-- they just can't sustain it. Several airlines have dropped service because they can't attract enough passengers because of their INFERIOR survice! Qantas is one of those!! Qantas STINKS anywhere it flies. Tahiti Nui airlines is the winner for going there. New Zealand Air, Korean Air, besides a couple of the American losers still fly there. Not to mention the local (FP) airlines for the island hopping to islands in different island groups! > A number of dive operations have tried to set up shop there...but again, cannot > sustain it over time and move on elsewhere! Which ones? Do you know any of those that have been running VERY successfully in the different islands ever since I've been diving there? Talk about dive location with which you are familiar with stop your idle speculation and FALSE INFORMATION about "Tahiti" which you seem to be blissfully ignorant about but freely dispense your myths! -- Reef Fish Bob. > > > > So long as there's a nice breeze... > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > have included Tahiti to encompass the French Polynesian islands which > has at least 6 major island groups of over 1000 islands. For the nitpickers, you can easily find several misspellings of the names of islands or island groups in this post of mine. For the GEOGRAPHY and introduction to the French Polynesia, see my 2003 post on "Diving and Cruising in the French Polynesia": http://tinyurl.com/37qkn3 a rather lengthy post, even by my "rant" standards. ;-) If you want more details about diving in the various islands and island groups of French Polynesia, just do an Advanced Google groups search with the keywords "French Polynesia" and author "Reef Fish", and you'll find 90 posts on the subject: Results 1 - 10 of 90 for French Polynesia author:reef author:fish -- Reef Fish Bob. besides your many mispells...sounds to me like you have some vested interest in travel to the Society Islands... > > > > > So long as there's a nice breeze... > > [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > > -- Reef Fish Bob. > besides your many mispells...sounds to me like you have some vested interest in > travel to the Society Islands... More likely, just a vested interest in arguements. :-) This one comes partly from when Bob got slapped by Greg over island names in FP. Now that Bob's back for awhile, perhaps he will remember to reply to my conversation with him on Little Cayman and the alternate dive site names he allegedly has for several very well known moored sites there. -hh > > besides your many mispells...sounds to me like you have some vested interest in > > travel to the Society Islands... In diving in as many islands that are divable there. > More likely, just a vested interest in arguements. :-) This one comes > partly from when Bob got slapped by Greg over island names in FP. > > -hh It's idiotic remarks like this that made Hedious Huntzinger (hh) a well established ignoramous and nobody in DIVING since the 1990s. Greg came on the internet scuba scene much later but is much more well travelled, dived, and know infinitely more about diving locations than Hedious Huntzinger ever will. Just go to google advanced search and look up "Supreme Hypocrite and Grudge Holder Huntzinger" to get his profile. -- Reef Fish Bob. > ... Gosh, welcome back to the land of the living, Bob. Have you had a chance yet to find the "alternative" names of moored dive sites in Little Cayman that you claimed to have known? I'll post a bump to bring the thread back up to the top, to make it easy for you to find. -hh I know how we can settle this.... You take the Eastern Pacific with its scant coral and lesser fish life... I'll take the Western Pacific any ole time! By any measure, it has more to offer! > I know how we can settle this.... > > You take the Eastern Pacific with its scant coral and lesser fish life... > > I'll take the Western Pacific any ole time! By any measure, it has more to > offer! More malaria, more dynamite fishing, more poverty, more terrorist bombings and military coups. But what a bargain! |
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