Paul Gauguin Diving Questions

[scotlady]

Hi! We will be going on our first cruise ever next May :D

 

We are taking the 10 day PG cruise, (Huahine, Raiatea, Rangiroa, Bora Bora, Moorea). We will be OW certified two weeks from now, and hope to get in 4-5 dive weekends before the trip in May. (These will mostly be lake dives).

We want to go on 3 dives during the cruise.

 

So - to finally get to the questions - which dives would be recommended for two certified, but fairly "beginning" divers?

 

In Rangiroa - I would love to do Tiputa pass, but assume this is out of the question at our experience level. Is the Motu Nuhi Nuhi dive pretty good? Or should we just snorkel the pass? (We are both very experienced snorkelers)

 

Lastly, would you recommend the ship's dives or other operators?

 

Thanks for any and all help. Very, very excited about this trip & getting into diving - don't know how I'm going to wait 7 months!

[cmdchiefthom]

I'd suggest you contact Top Dive in Tahiti. They have an excellent PADI program, and can tailor dives to your experience level. My wife and I did the pass in Rangiroa and it was fantastic. I wouldn't say it was for advanced divers only, you just have to be very comfortable in the water with good bouyancy control. You simply fly with the current into the lagoon. It really is an awesome experience.;)

[gvre]

cmdchiefthom

We are off to French Polynesia for our 7th cruise on the TP Thursday. We will be in the same cabin again. The small one you were in. LOl.

I agree with the chief. We have all our dives booked with TOP Dive on all the Islands except Raiatea which we are diving with Floranine: http://www.temaranui.pf She is a small OP and speaks little English.

Tiputa pass had a current when we dove it. The main thing is being relaxed and comfortable.

Have a great trip

[gvre]

Live from French Polynesia,

 

We dove airpalne wreck in Tahiti on Friday. It was halloween. DM Eric brought the witches mask and was able to get picture wearing it in the cockpit of the plane. We dive Rangiroa tomorrow and will try to give an update on the dives.

Richard

[cmdchiefthom]

Richard,

 

I can't wait to hear if go dived the pass. Let us know how it went.;)

[gvre]

Thom,

 

Dove Tiputa pass both dives. We spent over 10 minutes with a friendly Manta Ray that was at a cleaning station. Viz and dives excellent. Lots of turtles, and Napolean warses.

Dove Raiatea yesterday with Floraine. When you dive with her you are pretty much on your own. I would not reccomend her for beginner divers. I think her air is bad it tasted weird, maybe her steel tanks are rusty inside. We did the dives anyway, shipwreck just OK and the pass. She doen't speak much english and we dove 98' the first dive and 85' the second, I made sure she didn't dive us into the red on the second dive. We still got 60 minutes bottom time The pass was excellent. It must be Debbie's love for Manta Rays as we saw another one at the end of the dive. Floraine said it was the first one she had seen since April. We were lucky to see a small spotted eagle ray at the beginning of the dive then lots of regular stuff, black,grey, and white tip sharks, Moray eels, clownfish, schools of skipjack, and a huge group of LOG baracudas.

Any way we are pulling into Bora Bora.

By the way they remolded the cabin. All new carpet and furniture. It's hard to leave the cabin other than to dive.