Re: Dive Tahiti

Greg Mossman <moss...@qnet.com> wrote:
>
> Get out to Rangiroa if you can.


Any particular hotel / dive op there to recommend, Greg?


-hh

On Jun 7, 3:23 am, -hh <recscuba_goo...@huntzinger.com> wrote:
> Greg Mossman <moss...@qnet.com> wrote:
>
> > 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).

Greg Mossman <moss...@qnet.com> wrote:
>
> 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
> 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).

So long as there's a nice breeze...

-hh

On Jun 7, 3:03 pm, -hh <recscuba_goo...@huntzinger.com> wrote:

> 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!

On Jun 8, 4:03 am, Daniel Kessler <dkess...@pop.cybernex.net> wrote:

> 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.

On Jun 8, 7:03 am, Daniel Kessler <dkess...@pop.cybernex.net> wrote:
> > > 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.

On Jun 9, 2:47 am, Reef Fish <large_nassua_grou...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Jun 8, 7:03 am, Daniel Kessler <dkess...@pop.cybernex.net> wrote:
>
> > > > 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.
>
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.

Greg Mossman wrote:

> On Jun 8, 4:03 am, Daniel Kessler <dkess...@pop.cybernex.net> wrote:
>
> > 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!

besides your many mispells...sounds to me like you have some vested interest in
travel to the Society Islands...

Reef Fish wrote:

> On Jun 9, 2:47 am, Reef Fish <large_nassua_grou...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > On Jun 8, 7:03 am, Daniel Kessler <dkess...@pop.cybernex.net> wrote:
> >
> > > > > 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.
> >
> 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.