Diving with sharks and sting rays in Tahiti / Mo’orea
When you visit the island of Tahiti, I highly recommend hopping on a ferry to the island of Mo’orea. It’s just a 45 minute ride and you can bring a car if you like. I’ll blog about logistics later – for now, just know that this is a MUST.
One reason you must go to Mo’orea is for the opportunity to dive with sharks and sting rays. I’ve done this 3 times and each time was as magical as the last! There are several different ways you can dive with the sharks and the rays.
You can hire a private boat. Most expensive, but also most private and you have someone to drive the boat for you. You can bring babies and young children.
You can get a jet ski tour. The one’s I saw took you to the underwater statues as well as the sharks and rays. We didn’t do too much research on this as it seemed too expensive. But, might be a nice splurge if you want to spend the money. You can’t bring young children on this tour.
You can rent a small boat (no captain’s license needed) from in front of the Tipaniers Hotel. 5500fpf for one hour (about $55) or 7000fpf for two hours (about $70). Someone needs to stay with the boat or you need to anchor it before getting out to swim with the sharks and rays. You can take baby with you.
Get on an all-day tour. Usually from about 9 a.m. to 3 or 4 p.m. It includes a visit with the sharks and rays and a stop on the motu for lunch, relaxation and to swim. We booked Alberts Tours for 6000fpf (about $60) but this was low-season. In the booklet it was advertised at 7000fpf. Totally WORTH IT. But, just know that if the boat is full to capacity, you are with 60 other people. We went in the low-season and there were 35 people on the boat. Waipuna wasn’t the only baby and she wasn’t the youngest baby either! There was a 6 month old on this tour as well. Alberts has a little stand across the street from the Intercontinental Hotel. You just have to reserve your spot. No payment needed until the day of. This was nice for us because the weather was iffy so it was nice to know that you didn’t get charged for canceling.
You can get on a short tour. The one in the video below was an hour and a half – 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and cost 4500fpf (about $45). It included visiting the sharks and rays and then the underwater statues. This was a small boat and there were just five of us! Very private and highly recommend. Great for if you have kids with a napping schedule and you can’t do the whole day thing – babies are welcome. We got on this tour from outside the Tipaniers.
You can rent stand up paddle boards from outside the Tipaniers (or probably any resort on that side) and paddle over. The paddle boards rentals were 1500fpf (about $15 / hour) – just keep in mind that there are restrictions on where you can go and you can only put ONE PERSON on a board. Boohooo… that was a bummer for me. I would have loved to take baby on the board with me. Or obviously you can’t take a child that’s not old enough to paddle themselves over there on their own. Then, when you get there you have to figure out a way to anchor your board if you want to swim with the sharks and rays, or have one person hold all of them, or just paddle around, or hold onto the board / stay attached while you swim.
Hopefully, this quick little blog is helpful for you when you go to Mo’orea to try to figure out what your options are and what is the right fit for you and your family. Grab a guide book on the ferry and you can also get more details on what the tour companies on Mo’orea have to offer.
If you have any questions, feel free to write a comment below! Mahalo for checking in with us.
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