Australia & The South Pacific

THE SOCIETY ISLANDS, FRENCH POLYNESIA

Diving in Paradise

The islands of French Polynesia, which provided the inspiration for the artist Paul Gauguin’s vivid and passionate images of the South Seas, must be everyone’s dream of the South Pacific. Australia lies to the west, South America to the east and directly north lies Hawaii. Towering mountains clad in dense vegetation, atolls and lagoons formed by strings of idyllic low-lying coral islands – little wonder that the crew of the Bounty defied Captain Bligh in order to stay on in these beautiful islands with their beautiful inhabitants! Add to this some of the most stunning pelagic encounters and pristine hard coral reefs and it is clear why divers are happy to make the long journey to the South Pacific.

The Society Islands run in a line directly north-west from Tahiti, with Raiatea lying some 200 kilometres away. A shallow channel of only three kilometres separates the islands of Raiatea and Tahaa and dives around these sister islands are characterised by some fine shark diving and some superb pelagic encounters, including some minibus-sized tunas well as a great variety of reef fish. Indeed it is the variety of habitats in this area which form the basis for the sheer variety of fish life, with seamounts, caves, grottos, drop offs and even a wreck.

Take a trip on Tahiti Aggressor to experience fantastic diving in this South Pacific paradise.