Activities · Country Guide
Atoll passes, shark sanctuaries, whale season, and lagoon days across the South Pacific
Updated Apr 26, 2026 • 28 sources
Pick an activity mode to compare signature sites, skill fit, and gear planning notes before you lock your trip.
French Polynesia works best when scuba divers choose by region. Tahiti and Moorea give easy reefs, wrecks, shark dives, and whale-season surface days near the main airport. Bora Bora, Huahine, Raiatea, and Taha'a add lagoon scenery, pass life, mantas, and cultural travel. Rangiroa, Fakarava, and Tikehau are the serious Tuamotu draw, with tide-driven passes, blue water, shark walls, dolphins, and remote atoll logistics.
Fakarava
Fakarava brings Garuae, Tumakohua, the southpass shark wall, and the annual grouperspawning window in a UNESCOlisted biosphere reserve setting.
Moorea
Moorea combines short transfers, reef sharks, turtles, lagoon days, and seasonal whale watching with good nondiver infrastructure.
Bora Bora
Bora Bora is the premium lagoon pick for manta rays, scenic boat days, and softentry diving rather than hardcore pass logistics.
Rangiroa
Rangiroa is the classic bigatoll option, with Tiputa and Avatoru passes, dolphins, sharks, barracuda, jacks, mantas, and advanced drift profiles.
Tahiti
Tahiti is the most practical base for training dives, airportclose reefs, wrecks, shark sites, and recompression access.
Raiatea and Taha'a
Raiatea and Taha'a pair pass sites, a wreck option, the Taha'a Coral Garden, Taputapuatea culture, and sailinglagoon scenery.
Operator Checklist
For a first French Polynesia dive trip, build around Tahiti plus Moorea, then add either Bora Bora for lagoon luxury or Rangiroa/Fakarava for advanced pass diving. For a diver-first route, use Tahiti as the staging point and split time between Rangiroa and Fakarava, keeping buffer nights before international flights. Do not expect daily domestic redundancy on atolls, and do not plan deep-current dives on your last pre-flight day. Most dive travel is land-based, with small local boats rather than classic liveaboard itineraries.
Conditions Fallback
Avoid