Tahiti Diving
Tahiti offers exceptional diving and snorkeling for all levels. Shallow dive areas in the warm lagoons provide a bounty of fish and beautiful coral reefs to explore. Outside the lagoons are deeper ocean dives, drift diving, wall diving, wrecks, and some larger species including manta rays and migratory whales.
Scuba diving is available on all the islands in French Polynesia that offer resort stays:
- Tahiti
- Moorea
- Bora Bora
- Rangiroa
- Huahine
- Raiatea/Taha’a
- Tikehau
- Tetiaroa (The Brando Resort)
- Marquesas Islands
And while we don’t offer any resorts on the island of Fakarava, it IS on the 10 day cruise itinerary with Paul Gauguin.
Our favorite dive operator in French Polynesia is TopDive, which runs 12 PADI 5-Star centers on 7 islands. They can arrange standard (shared) and private dives for all levels including intro dives/certifications. All centers offer nitrox, too (no additional charge) and have top quality equipment and boats.
Shark Dives and Swims – Top Dive features a specialty course called the Polynesian Shark Diver on the islands of Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora and Rangiroa. You must be PADI certified with at least 10 prior open water dives. And in Rangiroa you can experience the Shark Caves.
In Moorea and Bora Bora, the shark and ray swims are very popular, and can be pre-booked as part of your travel package. These are snorkel experiences (rather than diving), and gives you the chance to get close to the quick and curious black tipped reef sharks in the lagoons. Lemon and nurse sharks might also be spotted during your feeding swims, but are generally a bit more shy.
Whale Watching – humpback whale watching is available seasonally between August and October out of Tahiti (Papeete). This is an observation experience on a covered boat. If you are going during this time, you might want to consider staying a 2nd night in Papeete so that you can whale watch on your full day there. Whale watching is also available in Bora Bora as a private tour through Top Dive.
Drift Dives – Rangiroa’s drift diving is world famous, especially at Tiputa Pass where you can see all varieties of fish, hammerheads, other sharks, and manta rays. This can be experienced scuba diving, snorkeling, and even in a glass bottom boat. You can also “shoot the pass” at Rangiroa’s Avatoru Pass. The islands of Raiatea and Taha’a share one lagoon with two great drift diving locations (Miri Miri Pass and Teavapiti Pass).
Manta Ray Dives – available in Bora Bora.
Dolphin Watching – available as an observation experience from a boat on the islands of Tahiti and Moorea.
Dolphin Swim – available in Moorea (Intercontinental Moorea Resort).
Lagoonarium – beautiful atoll location in Bora Bora where you can swim or snorkel with sharks, rays, sea turtles and fish in cordoned pen areas. This is a great option for the first time snorkeler or if someone in the group is a bit apprehensive about swimming with the sea critters in the open lagoon.