Dive Review of The Six Passengers/Hotel Kia Ora in
French Polynesia/Rangiroa

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The Six Passengers/Hotel Kia Ora, Sep, 2006, by Vicky Polashock, GA, US ( Reviewer 6 reports). Report 3005.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The Six Passengers was a short walk down the beach from our hotel. Most of the staff spoke little English, but enough to provide briefings. Because of the currents, you drift dive, so you stay together and dive a similar profile. The staff don't believe in wasting air, and kept us down until the heaviest breather was down to only 10 bar! Their goal is to maximize bottom time, and see the biggest fish - no complaints here. We played with a school of dolphins on two of the five dives we went on in Rangiroa, and saw tons of sharks. Most of our diving was in and around Tiputa Pass, and diving through the pass on an inward current was incredible. We were swept along with large schools of barracuda, butterflyfish, and mating pufferfish. We saw mantas at the surface on one dive. The coral was in much better shape than on Bora Bora, due to both the lack of crowds, and probably that the divers that make it here are more serious conscientious divers. The boats are all zodiacs, and the ship tries to limit them to a captain and six passengers, though we had eight on one trip. You have to wade out to the boats with your gear, though the staff will carry dressed tanks out for the ladies. There is a dive operation affiliated with our hotel, but our agent told us ahead of time that it was more expensive and geared toward resort divers, which other guests at the hotel confirmed. The Kia Ora was beautiful. We had a "deluxe beach bungalow with pool", which had its own infinity-edged pool, and a garden tub outside surrounded by a coral wall for privacy. The garden bungalows were smaller and a bit cramped but nice as well. The overwater bungalows were also a little small, but most of them were spread out and appeared to have more privacy than some of the resorts on Bora Bora where the overwater units were packed tightly together. The hotel made reservations for us at other restaurants on the island but charged us $1 to do so, which was not explained in advance, but it's about the cheapest thing you can pay for in French Polynesia! For the lack of crowds, we liked Rangiroa much more than Bora Bora.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, Atlantic, Red Sea
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, choppy, surge, currents
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	100-150 Ft/ 30-46 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	No place at all for cameras on the boats - you had to hold your camera throughout the trip

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Dive Review of The Six Passengers/Hotel Kia Ora in French Polynesia/Rangiroa

The Six Passengers/Hotel Kia Ora, Sep, 2006,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of The Six Passengers/Hotel Kia Ora in
French Polynesia/Rangiroa