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Blue Velvet / The 6 Passenger/Kia Ora Resort: "Incredible, Respectful Diving", Oct, 2022,by William J Marlow, FL, US ( Reviewer 3 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 12218 has 1 Helpful vote.
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Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best): |
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| Accommodations |  |
Food |  |
| Service and Attitude | |
Environmental Sensitivity | |
| Dive Operation | |
Shore Diving | N/A |
| Snorkeling | N/A | ||
Overall Rating |
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| Value for $$ | |
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| Beginners | |
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| Advanced | |
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| Comments |
We were diving with Blue Velvet / The 6 Passenger Diving! Great people who were astonished at our experience and ease in the water. We were hooked up with their most experienced dive masters and they took us for 4 incredible days of diving! We were NOT subjected to diving with the once a year divers or beginners. We did two decompression dives – 158 ft and 142 ft, We planned our dive, dove our plan and did our safety stops!!! It was well worth the extra time. The diving was great! VERY healthy coral, unbelievable number of fish. I thought my wife was going to document every “pretty” fish she saw. We saw a school of red snappers that was more than a quarter of a mile long, 300 fish tall and 400 fish deep! Sharks… primarily Gray Reef and White Tip but we caught a glimpses of a Hammerheads and a massive Tiger Shark but they were way too deep and difficult to video. BUT the real stars were the incredible wild dolphins! We saw them on just about every dive and on several they came right up to us and brushed against us as they played in our bubbles. It was so much cooler than the “swim with the dolphin” experiences because they chose to be with us. French Polynesia prohibits touching or interacting with them, but no one informed the Dolphins! AND then there were the canyon/pass dives, we thought the canyon dive on Fakarava was awesome, here they were incredible, ripping through the canyons at 20 mph with absolutely NO WAY to stop or get out until the current slackened!!! OH YES!!! We were really lucky to have conditions where we could do dives on both sides of the canyon/pass AND a dive operator who recognized that we were experienced divers and allowed us to have an incredible experience. So that’s all the pros, now on the cons: every dive trip is a one tank dive although it is with 100 CF tanks. On the reef dives we got 2 hours of bottom time. The boats are all zodiac, so backward roll into the pool is the only way in. They do have ladders to help get you out. You remove your BC and weight belt in the water and they pull it up into the boat so you do not have to climb the ladder with gear. Take a small drybag, have your own water and any essentials (extra batteries) but not much else. It takes 10 minutes to the dive sites and 10 minutes back so not a big deal. The surge / waves going through the pass on the boat can be rough – if you are prone to sea sickness – take something. [None] |
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| Websites | Blue Velvet / The 6 Passenger Kia Ora Resort | ||
Reporter and Travel |
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| Dive Experience | Over 1000 dives | ||
| Where else diving | Caribbean, Florida Keys, Mexico, Bonaire, Hawaii, Aruba, French Polynesia etc. | ||
| Closest Airport | Getting There | ||
Dive Conditions |
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| Weather | sunny, dry | Seas | surge, currents |
| Water Temp | 79-81°F / 26-27°C | Wetsuit Thickness | 3 |
| Water Visibility | 100-200 Ft/ 30-61 M | ||
Dive Policy |
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| Dive own profile | ? | ||
| Enforced diving restrictions | Our Dive Operator took the time to get to know us and separated us from the "Once a Year" divers and worked closely with us to plan incredible dives that fit our experience and abilities | ||
| Liveaboard? | no | Nitrox Available? | no |
What I Saw |
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| Sharks | Lots | Mantas | None |
| Dolphins | Schools | Whale Sharks | None |
| Turtles | 1 or 2 | Whales | None |
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best): |
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| Corals | |
Tropical Fish | |
| Small Critters | |
Large Fish | |
| Large Pelagics | |
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Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best): |
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| Subject Matter | |
Boat Facilities |  |
| Overall rating for UWP's | |
Shore Facilities | |
| UW Photo Comments | The staff are ALL UWPs and are very knowledgeable. There are NO facilities on the boat for UWP, But they more than made up for this by planning dives based on what we wanted to photograph. | ||
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above. |
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