Tahiti

Use professional guides for Vallee Blanche, deep wrecks, wall dives, and any site with current or blue-water exposure. Carry an SMB, computer, and audible signaling device on boat dives. Keep conservative no-decompression and no-fly margins, especially before late-night international departures from PPT. Beginners should start at Aquarium or other protected lagoon sites. Freedivers should never train alone and should use a trained safety buddy or instructor. Snorkelers should avoid surf zones, respect boat lanes, and use flotation when tired.

Tahiti has the strongest medical infrastructure in French Polynesia, including the French Polynesia Hospital Center and emergency transfer capacity from outer islands. Official dive information notes medical evacuations by helicopter and airplane day and night and modern recompression chambers with hyperbaric-qualified doctors. Carry dive-specific insurance that covers recompression, evacuation, and missed connections. UK EHIC and GHIC cards do not provide visitor health cover in French Polynesia.

French Polynesia's Tainui Atea MPA now spans nearly the whole exclusive economic zone and includes measures such as seabed exploitation restrictions and drifting FAD prohibitions. At traveler level: do not touch coral, do not feed or chase wildlife, keep distance from turtles and sharks, and maintain neutral buoyancy at wrecks. Whale observation is seasonal and guide-controlled. At Pointe Venus aquatic trail, the area is regulated for fishing, so respect posted rules and local guidance.