Hello from Papeete

onetime

Hey Lolo,

While this is our first meeting I think I hate you. **looking out the window at 4°C** (which is remarkably mild for us this time of year)

I don't envy you your logistics problems but the temps and diving are another story. Welcome to the fun.

--Paul

Philippe GERIN

Salut Laurent,
La Maréchaussée te laisse circuler à scooter dans cet accoutrement ?
Tu en as de la chance!
Bienvenue sur le forum en tout cas.
Philippe

LoloTahiti

We're in the summer now (southern hemisphere), so it's pretty hot (more than 30°C), but it gets real cold in the winter around August, sometimes down to 25-26°C

These days the water is 30°C at the surface, and drops to about 28°C at 60m. In the winter, it can go down to about 24°C at the bottom.

The water is so clear that you can dive without lamps beyond 100m.

I can understand your feelings, I used to live in the real world too

LoloTahiti

We have them about 3 to 4 months a year, from July to October. They used to be mainly in the south (Australes), where this picture was taken, but they are coming further north every year.

It is now possible to see them even in the Tuamotus.

This year, we saw them and dived with them nearly every day in Tahiti and Moorea. An experience to remember.

We also have other fish as you can see on the pictures

Attached Images

	grey-Sharks.jpg (50.9 KB, 79 views)
	Damssilver.jpg (13.2 KB, 80 views)

onetime

So, how did you make the move from "real" world to "dream" world? Is your plan to run your own dive op for RBs? Or are you independently wealthy? Ok, it could be both.

LoloTahiti

I don't know if there is a market for a rebreather center here in French Polynesia.

A lot of divers come here every year of course, but it's difficult to tell exactly how many of those would be interested.

If anyone has numbers like the percentage of rebreather divers in the diving population, or the number of trained people, I'm interested.

silent running

Hello Lolo, nice to see another CCR diver on Rebreather World who switched for better wildlife interaction. That was my main reason as well. How is the small critter life in your part of the South Pacific? I have been thinking of planning a trip there. Papua New Guinea has been my favorite place for the past 5 years as it has big and small stuff. From what I've read in the Lonely Planet guide to FP, it looks like the most virgin diving is up north. Are there any liveaboards that go up north? Any that would have O2? Thanks, -Andy

LoloTahiti

There are not very many different species of fish here : only about 800 when you can have up to 3 or 4000 in the great barrier reef or Indonesia.

So this is probably not the best place for small critter.

The big attraction in French Polynesia is definitely the big stuff, like very big schools of sharks, the great hammerheads (we're in the middle of the season now), which can easily go beyond 5 m, the mantas, the humpbacks, the dolphins, etc.

Depends what you call up north.

In the Marquises, which is the furthest north you can go, you will find very virgin diving indeed. There is only one dive center on the main island, and the guy goes diving when he wants to, or not, depending on his mood ...

There are places where only the lucky few have been, and you need to organise your own support. Ideally would be to have a boat, but it's a long way from Tahiti (about 900 nautical miles ...).

In the Tuamotus, which is also north is the best compromise. You will find dive centers in many islands (Rangiroa, Fakarave, Tikehau, Manihi), and one liveaboard : the Aggressor, which dives Nitrox.

No one has any pure oxygen, so you would have to organise that from Tahiti and send it by boat to where you want to dive, along with the lime, etc. There are cargos several times a week that go to the islands so this is not so difficult. The difficult part is to have someone to receive the stuff and store it for you ...

silent running

Thanks for the detailed info Lolo. I not sure the Aggressor boats allow CCR divers. I know they don't allow solo CCR divers and definitely no deco, at least they didn't 2 years ago.
I'm used to bringing my own sorb, but do you know what the airline baggage limits are? Any airlines to avoid? Oh and that's a very nice Silver Tip photo. Looks like a grown up. -Andy

LoloTahiti

The Aggressor here has Nitrox compressors so they don't have any pure oxygen, they simply produce the Nitrox directly by osmosis.

I have never heard of a CCR on board, you'd have to ask them if they can accept it.

As for deco, that's not a problem since we are in France, where the law is CMAS, not PADI (which is not even officially recognised, only tolerated). We are used to being allowed to dive to 65 m on air, and to do deco.

Airline luggage limits are the traditional for international flights : 2*32 kg. Not many companies come here, only Air France, Air Tahiti Nui, Air New Zealand and Lan Chile. Coming from Europe you would be on Air France or ATN, which are both good.

Travelling to the islands is a bit more difficult. There is only one airline Air Tahiti, and they can be really stupid with things they don't understand like lime.

You are allowed 10 kg luggage, with an extra 10 kg if you have an international ticket and another 5 kg extra if you can prove you're a diver. That would make it 25 kg in your case.

If you send your extra luggage by Fret, it will cost you around 1$/kg to Rangiroa for ex.