Diving in The Islands of Tahiti
This 25th edition will be an opportunity for diving professionals and enthusiasts to discover, or rediscover, the treasures to be found in the crystal-clear waters of The Islands of Tahiti . The destination is home to more than 1,000 species of fish of unrivalled variety, as well as 20 species of shark, in a natural aquarium covering more than 5 million km².
Tahiti Tourisme will be accompanied by a number of partners, including 16 Polynesian diving centres* representing the entire diving offer in French Polynesia and its 5 archipelagos, the international airline Air Tahiti Nui, and the tour operators E-Tahiti Travel and Oovatu.
The Islands of Tahiti : a diver’s dream come true
In the opinion of divers, there is no other spot that is home to such a variety of marine life and offers such a wealth of seabed riches as The Islands of Tahiti ; whether you dive in the lagoons, in the passes, around the high islands, the low islands or the atolls. Discover colonies of angel or butterfly fish, blue jacks, silver or gold clouds made up of thousands of fish. The whole range of tropical underwater fauna is present: parrotfish, clownfish, butterflyfish, surgeonfish, triggerfish, moray eels, eagle rays, mantas, hammerhead sharks, etc. Some of these islands are also ideal for disabled diving.
What also comes to mind when you think of diving in The Islands of Tahiti is the presence of “big fish”: sharks, rays and cetaceans. French Polynesia has the largest population of reef sharks in the world. There are no fewer than twenty species of shark. There are also rays, particularly manta rays, which can be seen in all the archipelagos.
In 2002, French Polynesia adopted a decree declaring its territorial waters a “sanctuary for whales, sharks and marine mammals”. It’s a forward-thinking decision that has paid off, with dozens of humpback whales migrating to Polynesian waters every year from July to November to give birth. And let’s not forget the dolphins, as in Rangiroa, where a colony of Tursiop bottlenose dolphins, familiar with divers, come to meet them every day. But it would be reductive to limit the description to the presence of these giants of the seas, because the other characteristic of Polynesian waters is the diversity and profusion of life they harbour, both offshore (tuna, barracuda, king mackerel…) and on the reefs (turtles, parrotfish, groupers, angelfish, butterflies, perch, and so many others).
The fifty or so diving centres in Polynesia are on a human scale, allowing you to discover the underwater world of a territory as big as Europe, where each island reveals its own unique identity underwater. The diving on offer in The Islands of Tahiti is accessible to beginners and experienced divers alike.
* Fluid Tahiti, O2 Fakarava, Tahiti Iti Diving, Eleuthera Plongée, Tahiti Sail & Dive, Nuku Dive, Croisières Aqua Tiki, Hémisphère Sub, Bora Diving Center, The Six Passengers, Nemo’z Diving Moorea et Coco Dive Tikehau, Maupiti Diving, Sail Tahiti, E Tahiti Travel, Dive and Sea Tahiti, Top Dive, Raie Manta Diving Tikehau.
