Dive Review of Dive Rarotonga/Crown Beach Resort in
Cook Islands/Rarotonga

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Dive Rarotonga/Crown Beach Resort, Oct, 2009, by Larry Schnabel, CA, San Luis Obispo ( Contributor 15 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 5233 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food	N/A
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Diveroratonga is next door to the Crown Beach Resort. Karen- head divemaster from Scotland- an experienced, helpful and cheerful group leader, and boat driver Jason too quite helpful and skilled. Gear is loaded into an open trailer at the Diverarotonga dive shop and then towed behind a minvan in which the divers are driven the 15 minute ride to the boat ramp where the approximately 20 foot open boat is moored. You assemble your gear on the dock, then walk it on your back down the boat ramp into the water and alongside the boat. Jason then pulls your BC/Tank off you and hoists this grear onto the boat . You climb onto the boat by shimmying onto a ledge at the boat's stern ( boat had no ladder). Room very tight when the full complement of 6 divers plus divemaster is in the boat.Dive sites are 10-15 minutes from the mooring point.You backroll into the water.We all used air ( not Nitrox)and save for one dive where We went to 106 ft., all dives were shallower than 100 ft. The corals are healthy and colorful. Saw a Giant Green Moray ( named Marisa) out of her hole- enormous girth , biggest in diameter I have ever seen. Saw one Green Turtle, one 3 ft. White tip.Lots of colorful tropical fish-Blue Triggerfish, green Napolean Wrasse,Sunset Wrasse, Leaf Scorpion fish, many varieties of butterfly fish. Dives lasted 45-55 minutes. Dive Rarotonga has full store of rental gear, although my group had all their own equipment save tanks ( 80 cu. ft. alum. provided) and weights. Outside of some difficulty loading the BC/tank on to my back and making it down the slippery boat ramp to the moored dive boat, I found the diving very enjoyable. I dove with a 3/2 mil long Henderson wetsuit plus a 3 mil vest/hood combo and yet by the second dive of the day ( I dove 3 days, 2 dives per day) I found myself getting chilled at the dive's end. I recommend a 5 mil or 7/5 if you happen to get cold fairly easily in 73-75 F. water. Crown Beach Resort was clean, comfortable, food good , right on beach with good snorkling when the tide is in. Black pearls a good buy here.
Websites	Dive Rarotonga
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	all over Caribbean and Mexico, So. Calif., Fiji, Hawaii, Yap, Palau, Thailand, Burma, PNG, Solomon Islands, Great Barrier Reef, Cocos, Galapagos, No. Carolina, Greece, Italy, Viet-Nam, Bermuda
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	73-75°F / 23-24°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	70-100 Ft/ 21-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	none other than to surface with somewhere around 500 psi. Group I dove with all experienced divers, so divemaster allowed us to dive our own profiles.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Dive Rarotonga/Crown Beach Resort in Cook Islands/Rarotonga

Dive Rarotonga/Crown Beach Resort, Oct, 2009,

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 Dive Rarotonga/Crown Beach Resort in
Cook Islands/Rarotonga