Dive Review of Bluewater Travel/Photo/Kavaka Hotel in
French Polynesia/Moorea

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Bluewater Travel/Photo/Kavaka Hotel: "Bucket List- Snorkeling with Humpback whales!", Oct, 2022, by David C Kinney, VA, US ( Reviewer 6 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 12182 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude	N/A	Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation	N/A	Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Hello fellow divers, because i had an ear issue (surgery) I could not SCUBA dive for a while so I decided to go on a Humpback Whale snorkeling trip organized by Bluewater Travel/Photo out of California. I have always wanted to do this but did not want to give up a dive trip to snorkel. I signed up for the Oct 2022 trip and was glad I did. from the very first day the action and whale interactions were non stop! Every day our group of 14-15 guests would go out in nice RIB/ Zodiak boats with sun covers and spend 6-7 hours per day looking for and interacting with the Humpback Whales that transit from Tahiti back to Antartica. There were single males as well as numerous mothers and calfs. Once the very professional dive guides and boat driver would spot the whales, they would determine whether the whales were suitable for us to get into the water or not. Some were just travelling and we would not get any quality time with them. Others were resting with the calfs and we would jump in 100 to 300 meters avay and quietly approach the whales under the direct guidance of the dive guides. The mothers would rest for 20-25 minutes and the calf would surface every 7-10 minutes and sometimes swim around the group. I felt as if I was on a National Geographic photo shoot!!Lunch was served on the skiff and we would look for and/or swim with whales til about 3:00 pm then head back to the hotel Kavaka. The group would either eat at the restaurant at the hotel or a group would walk into town for a variety of restaurants. Food is very expensive in Tahiti. Some of us had light breakfasts in our rooms (yougurt, granola, pastry, etc) With being on the water for 7 hours, we didn't want a large breakfast. The island is beautiful, the people nice, and the snorkeling was fantastic. I would do this again! To be so close to 30-40 foot 30 ton animals was an unbelievable experience! The Bluewater folks and the local dive guides were top knotch and very knowledgable and professional. I would recommend being in good physical condition for this trip as you have to swim 100-300 meters + each time you jump in the water and we jumped 4-7 times per day. We were also in the water for up to 2 hours at a time so the thermal deficit started to make us cold even though the water was 78 degrees (f) Hotel Kavaka was nice but very basic. The setting however was spectacular! Glad I did this trip and will sign up again next year!
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, Costa Rica, Soccoro, Indonesia, Bahamas, Red Sea, Thailand, Galapagos, Cayman, Belize, Cozumel, Roatan Where the Sharks are!
Closest Airport	PPT	Getting There	Easy, IAD to SFO to PPT overnight in Tahiti, 45 minute ferry to Moorea
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy, dry	Seas	calm
Water Temp	78-80°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Snorkling only- No Scuba
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	> 2
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals	N/A	Tropical Fish	N/A
Small Critters	N/A	Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	No rinse tank on the skiffs, many used housed iPhones or GoPro's, I had a housed DSLR- No lights/Strobes permitted

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Bluewater Travel/Photo/Kavaka Hotel in French Polynesia/Moorea

Bluewater Travel/Photo/Kavaka Hotel: "Bucket List- Snorkeling with Humpback whales!", Oct, 2022,

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 Bluewater Travel/Photo/Kavaka Hotel in
French Polynesia/Moorea