Diving in Fakarava

We were told the diving in Fakarava was some of the best in French Polynesia.  I was still ill so couldn't dive the first day - so we extended our stay by a day to make the most of our time here and get some more dives in.

I've added some more photos in the Diving in French Polynesia set on Flickr taken diving on the northern part of the atoll at Ohotu.

Underwater ML

Not sure I look all that well still.

Beach Bungalow on Fakarava

Left Rangiroa at noon today and flew 35 mins to another atoll in the Tuamotus - Fakarava.

The Havaiki Pearl Guest House, where we are staying, has bungalows on the beach - a proper wood, coconut palm and bamboo construction right on the sand.

Giving myself another day in the hope I get fit to dive again, we settled down for a relaxing afternoon on the beach and in the sea.  Snorkelling out over the clumps of coral looking at shrimp gobies, Picasso trigger fish and goat fish.

Then sat and watched the sunset across the lagoon from the bungalow's verandah.

Have booked half board as there didn't seem to be an option but have already found the food to be better than lots of places where we've eaten so far in French Polynesia.

Diving in Rangiroa

Our diving in Rangiroa was cut short a little sooner than we'd hoped after I got a cough and the start of a cold.  So we had only been out with the camera for a couple of dives so didn't get to many pictures.  But I've posted a few on Flickr.

Didn't have the camera at all when I was hand feeding the turtle and it was trying to eat my BC and then the current was so strong when the manta ray swam over our heads in a small canyon, that Nick couldn't let go of the rock to take a picture.  So here is one from the dive club's website - might even be the same manta.

It was pretty magical to watch as it passed over, turned back towards us, then was off in the current.

Sundown over the Lagoon

After three nights in Tahiti, (we thought it was going to be two but got confused with the International Dateline), we have arrived in the Tuamotus - a series of atolls to the north and east of Tahiti.  The one hour flight on a smallish (a couple of buses long) plane with propellers had Nick closing his eyes a little on take off and landing.  Which was a shame as he missed the spectacular views of Rangiroa as we came in to land.

We were met at the airport by Alain, the owner of the pension where we are staying (Pension Bounty).  He is a diver himself so asked if we wanted to get a dive in today - so he took us straight round to the dive centre where he dives, The Six Passengers.  Though very busy, it is Easter, they had space for us to join a group on their 2pm dive.

Alan took us to the Pension where we had time for a snack and to unpack our luggage and sort out our dive gear in time for the pick up from the dive centre.

So this afternoon, we've been out on the ocean side of the atoll, swimming in the blue then along the reef, watching the huge amounts of fish swim by, as well as a turtle (which I hand-fed), a few reef sharks and a mother and baby dolphin - very lovely.  The corals are not a colourful as Fiji but the fish are much more plenteous.

Then back to the pension and a stroll down to the beach to watch the sun going down over the lagoon!

Last Day in NZ

We wanted to go on a Maori cultural experience today.  Last chance as our last day here.  We'd not booked in advance but set off across the road from the hotel to the i-site office, hoping we'd be able to get on.  However, the guide had unfortunately been taken ill so they weren't running the tours.

So we went up the SkyCity Tower instead - the entrance was right next door to the information office.  Great views of the city and also the people mad enough to sign up for the "jump" off the tower.  Not able to persuade Nick he wanted to do this...it was hard enough to get him to stand on the glass floor on the observation deck.

Then spent the afternoon sorting out our internal flights in Tahiti.  Should have done this before really but had too many other things to organise.  Just need to book rooms and hope the Easter holiday doesn't mean everywhere is fully booked.

Diving in Fiji

We are back in Auckland after spending a week in Fiji diving the Vatu-I-Ra Passage.  Some fantastic dives in crystal clear blue water with 30m viz with time to chill on some beautiful dive sites like Mellow Yellow and Black Magic Mount.

Volivoli Beach Resort at Rakiraki was also a great place to stay, even if the food left something to be desired (an issue the owners are working on), but the accommodation in the Studio Vale was excellent.

Have now posted some of our pictures on Flickr.

Relaxing in Fiji

Enjoyed the views from our terrace in the late afternoon at Volivoli Beach Resort, after a couple of great dives earlier in the day.

Diving the Poor Knights

[updated: homophone corrected - NK]

We enjoyed a day's diving out of Tutukaka at the Poor Knights on Friday. It was a bit colder than we've been used to so far this year at a mere 20 degrees. So we hired 7mm wetsuits from the dive company - Dive Tutukaka - which saved drying our own suits for our flight to Fiji tomorrow. It took a bit of getting used to the extra buoyancy again.

The water was crystal clear blue - again we were lucky with the weather and a sunny day. The diving reminded me very much of the diving we did in Northern Island Ireland - only slightly warmer.

I've put a few of the pictures up on Flickr.