thailand

On Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:08:38 -0700, Greg Mossman <mossman@qnet.com> wrote:

>On Oct 8, 4:52 pm, mag3 <zmpmag3-plon...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> >Tahiti is very pretty topside, to be sure. Plenty of things to see
>> >and do. It's similar to Hawaii, except French and a tad less
>> >developed. Like Hawaii, it's lacking in certain fish species and soft
>> >corals because of its remoteness. Like Hawaii, there are sky-high
>> >prices, great sashimi, and Mormons.

And 7th day Adventists. And Jehovah's Witnesses. But there not even the big
guys. The largest church (the one you see on my website in the center of Vaitape,
Bora Bora with the tall steeple) believe it or not is the "Ebenezer Baptist" church.

>>Unlike Hawaii, all the beaches
>> >are topless.
>>
>> Not all of them.... Not Bora Bora.... I saw no topless people whatsoever...
>>
>> Not Moorea either that I could see. And in the Sheraton Moorea resort, females
>> had to wear a saroong everywhere except the pool area itself.
>
>How odd. I went in the off-season and still saw plenty of
>toplessness, though it's supposed to be peak season in July and August
>when all the French arrive en-masse.

Not that many French tourists on Bora Bora. It's too expensive. It's mostly Japanese
and they skew the overall "expense" curve for everyone else as they're willing to pay
a lot more for things and the locals milk it for all they can get, pricing everyone else
out in the process. I usually go in late August - which is, actually, in the middle of
Winter - Temps in the mid 70's as opposed to the low to upper 80's / low 90's in the
"summer" months of Jan/Feb.. There is also less percipitation in August.

>
>> >I don't know of any dedicated dive resorts in Tahiti
>>
>> http://www.topdive.com/
>>
>> It's where I stayed. It's where I got both OW and Rescue.
>
>Hmm. According to the website, "The Bora Bora Dive resort is the one
>and only dive resort in French Polynesia." so I was pretty close.
>
>What makes it a dedicated dive resort other than the name and the fact
>that there's a dive shop on the premises? I didn't even see any
>mention of dive packages on the hotel's rates page.

It's their main source of revenue - the diving operation, (and the restaurant).

The "resort" part of it is small - only 9 units 3 "overwater". And in August, they're
hardly occupied. Only divers stay there. It's cheep enough, relatively speaking (on
the order of $450.00 US per night as opposed to almost tripple that for the more
"established" hotels on the island and motus. But the accomodations are not as
luxurious as the Sheraton or similar class hotels. No individual TV in the rooms.
There is a telephone but no internet. There is A/C. The overwater bungalows
are very spacious though. I usually stay in the middle one.

To compensate for this, the dive shop takes divers from the other hotels that don't
have an affiliated dive shop, and they have dive ops on other islands where they
don't have hotels etc (Moorea, Rangiroa, Fakarava, and Tahiti Island itself). Topdive
is more like a "dive shop" that happens to have a hotel associated with it, not the
reverse. And a PADI 5* dive center at that.

The restaurant is 5* also, and people come to eat there from other hotels as well. It's
expensive, but it's excellent. Dinner Entrees are in the $50-68 range (just the entree).
But it's worth every penny.

They used to have diving rates on the website. IIRC a "10-Pak" (5 days of 2 tank
diving) was around US$100.00 per day. That's cheep for Bora Bora. Dives are
all DM led lasting usually 45 min. each. Nitrox is free. The morning boat trip is the
2 tank trip. There is an "afternoon" trip but it's one tank usually to Toopua, the
"entry level" lagoon area (20-30fsw at most) where they take tourists and people
going for their OW. Last I was there, I got both a private PADI "Rescue Diver" course
and a 10-Pak, for just about $900.00.

The ops may be slightly different on the other islands, but I've only done Bora Bora.

____________________________________________
Regards,

Arnold


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