Just mentioning the names of Bora Bora, Moorea, and Tahiti evoke a romantic dream world as depicted in paintings by Paul Gaugin. The names bring up images of islands populated by beautiful, intricately tattooed, muscled Polynesian dancers of both genders dancing the hula with flower tiaras, necklaces, and detailed costumes. Then there are the gorgeous sunrises and romantic sunsets, all with a tropical mountain backdrop.  All of these clichés are correct, but French Polynesia offers so much more. In fact, one of the little-mentioned aspects is the amazing underwater life.

Alexis Vincent of Dive Butler International, a leading rendezvous diving provider for the megayacht market, was asked to guide a diving trip in the region last year aboard the sailing yacht Tiara. Here’s the two-week itinerary that Tiara and Dive Butler followed.(All photos courtesy of Dive Butler and Tiara as well.)

Day 1: Papeete, Tahiti

We arrive in Papeete after a long trip, spending the night at the Intercontinental resort and spa. In preparation for the coming days, a little history lesson is helpful. French Polynesia, specifically the Marquesas, was first discovered in 1595 by Spanish Capt. Alvaro de Mendana y Neyra. Thereafter it was annexed by France, and it is today a French Overseas territory (Teritoire d’Outremer). To understand the size of French Polynesia and its five different archipelegos (the Society Islands, the Tuamotus atolls, the Marquesas, the Austral Islands, and Gambier islands), imagine an area equal to Europe. Granted, most of it is water, but a huge area nonetheless for the less than 300,000 inhabitants.

Day 2: Rangiroa

We fly in a privately chartered de Havilland twin otter to Rangiroa, also known as “the Endless lagoon.” The regional capital of the Tuamotus is known for its big-fish diving. The fantastic crew of Tiara (Tiara had left Papeete three days before to cover the 180 nautical miles that separate Papeete from Rangiroa) welcome us at the small Rangiroa airport. After a 15-minute drive, we board the tender to Tiara. We have all been assigned a luxurious cabin with everything one could hope for: super-comfortable bed, beautiful woodwork, marbled head complete with heated towel rack, plus a remote control for mood lights, curtains, and audio-visual entertainment system. Since it’s the first full day and everyone has had long journeys, we opt not to dive and just rest. But Yannis, who’s a fellow Dive Butler instructor, and I review and prepare all the equipment for the coming days (below).

The anticipation of what we’ll see mounts. Rangiroa is a series of islands around a lagoon, making it the largest atoll in the Tuamotus and the second largest in the world.  Contrary to Tahiti, the islands are low-lying and close to the sea, with no hills or mountaintop. Rangiroa’s 393-square-mile lagoon is the main attraction. Marine life of every size and description can be found here: sharks, dolphins, parrot fish, grouper, puffer fish, butterfly fish, trumpet fish, plus large schools of jacks and eels.

Most of the water flowing into and out of the lagoon is carried through two passes called Avatoru and Tiputa Passes. They’re the only access for boats into the inside of the atoll.  The extraordinarily powerful tidal current through the passes can sometimes reach 9 knots and allows for exceptional scuba diving and snorkeling. Here you’ll find a virtual freeway of marine life flying by! Dolphins swim underwater with sometimes hundreds of sharks. Dolphins also gather at the surface at the mouth of Tiputa Pass in the standing waves and hurl themselves into spectacular jumps. Below, hundreds of sharks gather to feed as the tide rushes out of the lagoon.

Days 3 to 7: Rangiroa

We dive the world-renowned Tiputa and Avatoru Passes repeatedly. Grey reef sharks, silver tips, bottlenose dolphins, and schooling Jacks are the order of the days. Guests enjoy two to three dives per day, starting with easier outer reef dives. But, since there are only two passes, all divers eventually graduate to doing the passes themselves, proper guidance and habit. A Junior PADI scuba diver course is conducted for one of the children. We also visit a pearl farm where they produce the famous Tahitian pearls. Tiara’s chef prepares amazing tantalizing cuisine; it’s going to be hard not to gain weight during this trip.

Tiara cruises for two hours to reach the famous blue lagoon. During our cruise, we go up the 64-meter-high (equivalent to 16 stories high) mast with the small mast elevator. Wow…what a view (below)… from this height one can see the color of the lagoon, which is so blue it almost seems unnatural. It’s pure blue bliss. The lagoon is actually a lagoon within a lagoon, fringed by coconut trees. The water is crystal clear, and you can see small reef sharks, rays, and a multitude of teeming reef fish in just hip-deep water.

Day 8: Apataki Atoll

We cross 80 nautical miles to reach Apataki Atoll. Beautiful sailing weather: strong winds that fill the sails of Tiara, a sight to behold. The atoll is rectangular in shape, approximately 15 miles from east to west and 25 miles from north to south.  Altough Apataki has a small airport, a small black pearl farm and a few palm plantation with less than 400 inhabitants, there are no tourists outside of those coming by private yacht or liveaboards.  Apataki has only one pass that is dived, the Tehere Pass, which I renamed shark funnel due to it narrowing down to less than 20 meters (66 feet) wide just before it opens into the atoll and where juvenile grey reef sharks congregate. Of special note is when the water pushes out from the lagoon into the open ocean due to the tide; the force of the water creates big waves up to two meters (6’6”) in height. The waves can be created for up to two miles into the lagoon by the force of the water entering through the pass.  As you can imagine, a few billion tons of water trying to squeeze through a narrow gap moves pretty fast indeed, and this creates some incredible currents, sometimes reaching up to 9 knots.

Day 9: Apataki Atoll

We dive in the morning and the afternoon. The best way to dive the pass is when the current is incoming. You start on the outer reef, where the current isn’t too strong, then slowly make your way toward the mouth of the pass. This dive is pure adrenalin and not for the fainthearted, as the currents are some of the swiftest that I’ve ever experienced.

On the outer reef we see amazing quantities of schooling fish, from the biggest school of jack fish I ever saw (must have been 10,000 of them!) to schools of surgeon fish, then butterfly fish, then big eyes, all before reaching the mouth of the pass.  As we arrive at the mouth of the pass and go over the reach, we slowly angle to less than 20 meters, and here the current really starts to pick up. It does so until we are literally flying through the pass. I’ve never experienced such a current and only can only go with the flow, no pun intended. Eventually Yannis signals us to take out our reef hooks and be prepared to hook on, since the current is accelerating as the pass is narrowing. It’s not an easy task, as the current is now going 6 to 8 knots, and if you turn your head, your mask floods or your regulator gets ripped off. But, once we all manage to stabilize, we look around and we are in the midst of several hundred  grey reef sharks.  They come so close that I could touch them if I want.

Day 10: Apataki Atoll

We enjoy further diving at Apataki, repeating some of the above experiences.  Tiara’s chef buys some fresh fish from a local fisherman, and we have an amazing beach barbeque.

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