South Pacific Diving?

[ellenh]

DH and I are going to be cruising the South Pacific in October/November and would like to choose the best places to dive. I've searched this forum for information & there are several threads about French Polynesia but I can't find anything on some of the other ports. Can anybody help? I'd appreciate any experiences & recommendations b/c most of this will be totally new turf to me. So here are the ports (bear with me, it's a long cruise! :)):

 

Tonga: Vavu'a and Nukualofa

Cook Islands: Rarotonga

FP: Tahiti, Bora Bora, Moorea and Raiatea

Fiji: Savu Savu, Port Denarau, Suva and Dravuni Island

Samoa: Pago Pago and Apia

New Caledonia: Noumea

 

Also, we'll be in Cairns for a few days before the cruise. Can anyone recommend a day boat or even an overnight trip to the Great Barrier Reef?

 

Finally, We are trying to figure out how much of our equipment to bring. Weight is a pretty big issue since we've got a domestic flight within Australia with $$$ penalties for extra weight. We definitely will bring masks and computers. Definitely won't bring fins. How about BCD and regs? Wetsuit? What kind of rental equipment are we likely to encounter? Do dive shops ever rent out weight-integrated BCDs or is it back to weight belts?

 

Would we be better off snorkling in any of these places?

 

I know this is a lot of questions but I've never been diving outside of Florida/Caribbean so I have no idea what to expect. Thanks for any input!

 

--Ellen

[Chuck and Lorraine]

We were in Raratonga in 2004, and after doing quite a bit of research, I booked a dive tour with a company that I can not remember the name of. What I do remember is that I would never do it again. This was a 5 star PADI certified company. There were three of us, and one guide. The o-ring broke or something happened when my husband who has dived since high school turned on his tank. It sounded like an explosion, his tank ended up at least half empty and my fearless daughter just about fainted when the guide said "at least it did not happen in the water..." The dive guide had no extra o-rings with him, and his tank was leaking air as well, you could hear it. So here we are two faulty tanks, with our guide unprepared and probably unable to assist us very well in any dive emergency, and my daughter, a great diver, unable to continue. She was too scared to go under, with the tank she had for fear it too was faulty. Not willing to leave her alone on the beach, I stayed with her and my husband at most did a 30 minute dive near the shore as this whole situation took up much of our "tour time." Refunds you ask? I had to fight for the refund for the two that did not dive, and could not get a refund at all for my DH who did do a short dive. Stick with the cruise line.

[scubadiver888]

DH and I are going to be cruising the South Pacific in October/November and would like to choose the best places to dive. I've searched this forum for information & there are several threads about French Polynesia but I can't find anything on some of the other ports. Can anybody help? I'd appreciate any experiences & recommendations b/c most of this will be totally new turf to me. So here are the ports (bear with me, it's a long cruise! :)):

 

Tonga: Vavu'a and Nukualofa

Cook Islands: Rarotonga

FP: Tahiti, Bora Bora, Moorea and Raiatea

Fiji: Savu Savu, Port Denarau, Suva and Dravuni Island

Samoa: Pago Pago and Apia

New Caledonia: Noumea

 

Also, we'll be in Cairns for a few days before the cruise. Can anyone recommend a day boat or even an overnight trip to the Great Barrier Reef?

 

Finally, We are trying to figure out how much of our equipment to bring. Weight is a pretty big issue since we've got a domestic flight within Australia with $$$ penalties for extra weight. We definitely will bring masks and computers. Definitely won't bring fins. How about BCD and regs? Wetsuit? What kind of rental equipment are we likely to encounter? Do dive shops ever rent out weight-integrated BCDs or is it back to weight belts?

 

Would we be better off snorkling in any of these places?

 

I know this is a lot of questions but I've never been diving outside of Florida/Caribbean so I have no idea what to expect. Thanks for any input!

 

--Ellen

 

I haven't been to the south pacific yet but you want to post to the roll call for your cruise. I posted to mine and a nice seasoned cruiser was a huge amount of help. She does not scuba dive but she is very helpful and knows a few scuba divers.

 

If you are going with excursions arranged by the cruise line, give the cruise line a call and find out who they are going to be contracting for the dive (they might not know until a few weeks before the cruise). They will want to have you give them all your questions and the rely the information to the dive shops. Convince them that you have a lot of technical questions and would prefer to talk to someone who is a certified scuba dive master or instructor. They will either get you in touch with a DM from the cruise line or directly in touch with the dive shops.

 

If you are going to be booking your own dives, just ask the dive shop what kind of equipment they have, how old is it, etc.

 

I plan on bringing my BCD, regs, fins, etc. The only thing I won't bring is my weights and tank. I like to bring everything and pay any luggage penalty. One, I know my gear is clean. Two, I know my gear works. Three, I know my gear. Four, I don't want to spend time at every port working on my buoyancy before every dive. Remember, if you don't bring your own gear, you will have different gear at every port.

 

Finally, my general impression from talking with other divers is that diving in the south pacific is no different from diving in the caribbean. There MIGHT be some dive operators using DIN connectors on the tanks but most PADI places will be using the same Yoke connector they use in the caribbean. The gauges will most likely be in metric. If you cannot work in metric, bring your own gauges.

 

Don't worry too much. Enjoy your vacation. Don't sweat the small stuff and everything will go great.

[cmdchiefthom]

I can recomend Top Dive in Moorea and Raiatea. I used them for most of the ten days I dove in FP last New Years and they were great. They also offer Nitrox if you book in avance. ;)