Posted by mike on May 14, 2001 at 11:21:27:
In Reply to: Diving in French Polynesia posted by TerryF on May 14, 2001 at 09:21:44:
be prepared to take care of yourself.
We dove with M.U.S.T. on Moorea in April of '98.
the owner seemed to think nothing of taking newbies out on 19 foot aluminum boats in 6 foot seas to go to 80 fsw in 2.5 knot current.
The last dive of our trip had two OOAs and one panicked diver out of the six paying clients on the boat. Of course, the boat driver dropped us in the wrong spot as well! I aborted that dive after a half hour because my sinuses had sprung a leak and it felt like someone was trying to jackhammer their way out from the inside of my head. Climbing back into that aluminum tub in 6 foot seas was fun too!
the diving itself is OK......nothing spectacular above and beyond the shark feedings (which you can get in the Bahamas and other areas, cheaper anyhow) oh yeah, and on the shark feedings, the DMs made us sit on the coral heads so we wouldn't move around too much when the sharks came in. Yessiree! eight divers sitting on coral heads...gonna have a real healthy reef that-a-way!
also, the locals only seem to want to do two deep, air-sucking-short-bottom-time dives a day, max, and none want to do night dives. Kinda frustrating for us hardcore folks who want 5-6 dives per day at 70 minutes per dive.
if your diving skills are in good shape, and you can handle yourself in So Cal, you will have no prob. in French Polynesia, but it would be a good idea to take a capable buddy, because unless you look really good in a bikini, the hired help will not pay a whole lot of attention to you.