Dive Review of TOPdive/Kia Ora in
French Polynesia/Rangiroa

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TOPdive/Kia Ora: "Paradise Found", Jun, 2021, by Martin Klein, NC, US ( Reviewer 3 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 11699 has 1 Helpful vote.
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	N/A
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	TopDive with Yannick was great. First time on a dive trip that we, two adults + two teenagers, rented regs and BCs instead of bringing our own. Equipment was in good shape and they had a good selection of sizes. All diving is on Nitrox. As is always the case in French Polynesia, you are a bit of a second class citizen without a French agency (CMAS I believe) diving certification. With a non-French OW certification you are limited to 60 feet. While that is doable, you really want to go to 80-100ft at Tiputa. If you have an Advanced certification, a decent diving resume and show competency on your first dive you won't be held to 60ft. Diving at Tiputa pass was spectacular. Fish life and reef are stunning. The water clarity is incredible. Coral in excellent shape. The strong current carries you quickly so you mostly notice the larger things. Tons of grey reef sharks along the drop-off. Most are fairly small at 4-6 feet. We did not see other shark species. Huge schools of fish - jacks, barracuda... Good number of big Napoleon wrasses. Also saw a couple of marlin. The highlight were the dolphins. Up to 12 of them would come and accompany us on each dive. There was no feeding but the females would seek the divers' attention, come up to you and hang vertical to get their backs and bellies rubbed. We have dived in many places but this is unique. Everywhere else dolphins would avoid divers and disappear. Here it is the opposite. It was a magical experience that our family of four will never forget! The Kia Ora is a wonderful hotel. The grounds are gorgeous, staff is friendly, the restaurant is very good with a great buffet breakfast that leaves nothing to desire from French pastries, fresh fruit, eggs, bacon and other meats to excellent sashimi. Dinner is a la carte with a good selection. Presentation is beautiful and food is delicious. Expect to pay $25-35 for an entree. Prices include tax and there is generally no tipping. They offer smaller plates for lunch. We stayed in a two level, four person beach bungalow that was spacious including the very large bath with private jacuzzi on the outdoor deck. Everything clean and tastefully decorated. We also had one of the over-water bungalows for a couple of days. They are VERY NICE - lots of space (but they will limit occupancy to 3 people although 4 would fit), beautiful living quarters and bath. Two levels of large outdoor decks with swim ladders. It's heaven but you pay for it. By over-water bungalow standards it's a bargain at $1,000/night when compared to Bora Bora at $2,500+. Snorkeling is good but after the exceptional dives you'd expect better. There is not much coral, mostly sand. There is a good number of fish. You'll see small blacktip sharks from the beach or your terrace but we never encountered one when snorkeling (and we tried hard). They clearly like to stay away from snorkelers. We also saw eagle rays and even an octopus but always from our bungalows or when taking a walk along the shore, not when snorkeling. We really liked the island. A nice, relaxed vibe and the views are stunning. In the afternoon you can go to Tiputa pass to see the dolphins play when the current is running. You'll watch them from land as snorkeling or swimming in the pass is dangerous given the current. It's walkable from the Kia Ora but the hotel also takes you there in a shuttle. We also had fun riding bikes all over the island and exploring the charming settlements. The bottom line is that we loved our time at the Kia Ora diving with TopDive. We have been lucky to have traveled much of the world but we definitely want to return. It's a very special place.
Websites	TOPdive Kia Ora
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, Florida, Indonesia, Thailand, South Africa, Hawaii, Galapagos
Closest Airport	Rangiroa	Getting There	via San Francisco, Papeete, Tahiti
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, currents
Water Temp	83-85°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	100-0 Ft/ 30-0 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	90 ft depth
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters	N/A	Large Fish
Large Pelagics
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

Subscriber's Comments

By Renee Ross in OR, US at Oct 23, 2021 16:44 EST

Did you book your stay & diving with a travel agent? What airline did you fly?

By report author: Martin Klein in NC, US at Oct 23, 2021 17:42 EST

I didn’t use an agent. We flew United to Papeete. The inter-island flights were all on Air Tahiti booked through their website. They offer multi-island packages. I booked the Kia Ora through Booking.com. For the Havaiki on Fakarava I booked directly through their website.

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Dive Review of TOPdive/Kia Ora in French Polynesia/Rangiroa

TOPdive/Kia Ora: "Paradise Found", Jun, 2021,

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):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of TOPdive/Kia Ora in
French Polynesia/Rangiroa