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Wind Spirit snorkel excursions - advice needed


dmac
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We will be on the Wind Spirit the end of November. The ship offers a snorkel at Pufuna in Fakarava and a drift snorkel in Tiputa Pass in Rangiroa. Windstar states these are "strenuous" tours. Has anyone done these tours? Can you comment on them. Can an average swimmer who is comfortable snorkeling have fun on these tours. Any comment on which one would offer the best underwater scenary? Any input greatly appreciated.

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Think we're on the same cruise! November 26- 17 days? If so would you happen to be interested in the all day trip to Il Aux Recife with Leon and Paati in Rangiroa? It sounds like it will be exceptional. Also the infamous Ato Lissant does an all day tour in Fakarava. I've heard a day spent snorkeling with him is incomparable.

Let me know if you might be interested in either petuniafish@gmail.com

 

 

Have yet to drift snorkel Fakarava and will in November. But have drift snorkeled Tiputa Pass in Rangiroa. Depending on the tide the current can be quite strong. But you are watched very carefully by your guide and given explicit instructions. If you have snorkeled a fair amount and are a moderately good swimmer you should be fine. We saw absolutely nothing though on our snorkel last May- we really zipped through the water. It was a thrill but read a bit on Tripadvisor about other's experiences maybe to get a better feel.

Hope to connect if we're on the same cruise.

Nancy

Edited by Petoonya
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One other thing...if we and the other couple who are on hold for the day excursion to Ile Aux Recife don't find one other couple to join, us we'll probably tour independently with Y Aka Plongee who we used last May. We did the Aquarium and drift snorkel together. They were wonderful. The water clarity and numbers of fish at the Aquarium was amazing. Best snorkeling we did in FP.

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One other thing...if we and the other couple who are on hold for the day excursion to Ile Aux Recife don't find one other couple to join, us we'll probably tour independently with Y Aka Plongee who we used last May. We did the Aquarium and drift snorkel together. They were wonderful. The water clarity and numbers of fish at the Aquarium was amazing. Best snorkeling we did in FP.

 

I agree that the Rangiroa aquarium snorkel excursion is spectacular. We've done it twice. The second time our boat let us off in a nice, but unspectacular spot. So, be sure to swim around a little bit til you find the spectacular spot (it's all very close). You'll know when you're there because the bottom is green, and the variety & number of fish are amazing. Some of the people on our excursion never made it over to that spot which was a shame.

 

We also did the Fakarava Blue Lagoon tour with Ato Lissant. He stops at two spectacular snorkeling spots on the way to (or from, can't remember) the Blue Lagoon.

 

I always run a little scared of drift snorkels as they can be tough if the current is strong.

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Thanks Avalong.

Your Ato review just kills me! Part of the reason I took the cruise I did is to see Fakarava with Ato. My ship is Wind Spirit and with only 148 passengers few come here to find others to book tours. Ato needs at least 8 people to confirm- don't think it's in the cards for me sadly. If anyone sees this and is on 11/26 Wind Spirit please email petuniafish@gmail.com

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I should add a couple things about drift snorkeling. The current at Tiputa pass was moving fairly swiftly when we were there last year. But you jump in the water next to a 2x2 floating raft that's connected to a long line of rafts that everyone is holding on to. The instructor tells you exactly when to jump from the boat to catch your raft. Husband and I are 71 and 65 respectively and we're good swimmers and many years snorkeling, but we're old people! I still felt perfectly safe. It was exciting and a lot of fun.

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