Gateway to your Polynesian stay, the Society Islands encompass the archipelago of the Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands.

Tahiti, Moorea, Taha’a, Raiatea, Bora Bora, Huahine… The names of each of these islands invoke dreams for divers as well as non-divers! Underwater, it is a true festival of varied corals, sponges, turtles, Napoleon fish, manta rays, trevallies, sharks, triggerfish, moray eels, barracudas, and from July to October, humpback whales join this beautiful company.

Tahiti, a call to exploration

Your first encounter with French Polynesia, Tahiti will charm you upon your arrival in Papeete with its lush landscape, paradise beaches, and turquoise waters. Underwater, you will also enjoy varied dives and colorful reefs.

^{It is not uncommon to encounter bottlenose dolphins. © Vincent Truchet}

You can dive in Tahiti both on the large island of Tahiti Nui in the west and on the small island of Tahiti Iti in the east. You will meet many very approachable turtles, especially on sites like La Source or the Turtle Plateau. The outer reefs offer many opportunities to dive on drop-offs. They have the unique feature of being covered with small yellow and orange gorgonians. Corals are also prominent! Schools of trevallies, barracudas, reef sharks, and moray eels are omnipresent, and you will also encounter dolphins, butterflyfish, parrotfish, moorish idols… around coral heads and above the reefs. On the side of Tahiti Iti, in crystal clear and deep blue water, you will dive on sites full of relief with canyons, chimneys to explore, and harboring triggerfish, Javanese moray eels and other trevallies. Another unique feature of Tahiti, on the west coast, off Faa’a, you can discover three wrecks! A Catalina seaplane, a small Cessna plane, and a former minesweeper called The Schooner offers a nice exploration playground, teeming with fish, between 7 and 22 meters. For non-divers, exploring the lagoon while snorkeling allows for great discoveries! Stingrays, surgeonfish, and butterflyfish frolic joyfully, and even small blacktip sharks join during your snorkeling outings. The west coast of the island is particularly suitable for snorkeling. Outside the lagoon, you can also discover fringing coral reefs sheltering a multitude of small fish, damselfish, octopuses, clownfish in their anemones… If you are accompanied by a guide, head to one of the passes to encounter manta rays. But beware! Currents are strong.

Moorea, the courtyard of lemons

Moorea is renowned for its magnificent mountainous reliefs, for the two sublime bays shaping its northern coast: Cook Bay and Opunohu Bay, but also for hosting impressive lemon sharks.

Lemon sharks, recognizable by their imposing size compared to other species usually encountered in these waters and their light color, join divers on several sites around the island. Most sites are accessible to all levels of divers, and snorkeling enthusiasts can also enjoy the lagoon, particularly the company of numerous stingrays. Moorea has beautiful sites with a coral garden housing swarms of fish, anemones and their clown families, triggerfish, parrotfish, butterflyfish, moorish idols, and turtles. In the blue, leopard rays, tuna, and sharks are never far away. The most famous site is the Tiki, a real aquarium full of life with myriad small tropical fish, blacktip sharks, and sometimes a few lemons in crystal-clear water. For divers who can reach 40 meters deep, a very beautiful site features rose-shaped corals, an always incredible sight, during which some sharks may appear. Diving in Moorea gives you the opportunity to explore canyons, overhangs, caves… Also dive in the Taotoi Pass, where many species pass through its heart and on its reef: leopard rays, lemons, nurse sharks, turtles, moray eels, lionfish.

^{Snorkeling with humpback whales. © Vincent Truchet}

Finally, between August and November, humpback whales choose Moorea’s waters to mate and give birth. You can then get in the water alongside the giants and their calf. Always, of course, respecting the animals and accompanied by a licensed guide.

The two sisters, Raiatea and Taha’a

Raiatea, a sacred island with its imposing Mount Temehani, and Taha’a, from which divine aromas of vanilla escape, are two distinct islands, but the two neighbors are so close that they share the same lagoon. They are often discovered in tandem, with dive centers visiting both islands’ sites without any problem.

^{Impressive Napoleon fish in the shallow waters of the lagoon.} ^{© Vincent Truchet}

Like many Polynesian islands, Raiatea features beyond 40 meters deep beautiful clusters of coral roses, its passes (Miri Miri and Te Ava Piti) host gray sharks, blacktip and whitetip sharks, rays, Napoleon fish, grunts, schools of trevallies, schools of batfish, large groupers, and dogtooth tuna. The drop-offs are covered in places with very beautiful yellow corals and purple corals. Raiatea’s dive attraction is one of the largest wrecks in Polynesia, the Nordby ! This imposing Danish ship over 50 meters long lies on its port side between 19 and 30 meters deep. Its considerable size allows for easy entry inside and all the usual marine life has taken it over: surgeonfish, stonefish, lionfish, large-headed trevallies, angelfish, shrimp, leaf fish as well as beautiful encrusting sponges with vibrant colors. This wreck is also a must for night diving where you can observe beautiful black corals and a myriad of nudibranchs.

Taha’a is surrounded by many motu (islets) and its lagoon is covered with lively coral gardens serving as nurseries for juveniles of all the zone’s fish species. Its passes are also rendezvous points for many large species, particularly the Ceran Pass, with its two large rocky peaks around which you can circle before settling down to admire the display the pass offers: gray sharks, schools of trevallies, Napoleon fish, parrotfish, and squirrelfish. For very experienced divers accustomed to cave and deep diving, the octopus hole site is a privileged experience giving access to three rooms located between 20 and 58 meters, featuring beautiful stalactites.

Bora Bora, the enchanting

The rays reign as true mistresses over Bora Bora’s waters. Leopard rays, stingrays, but primarily, the Manta bistrosis, which can reach 5 meters in wingspan, dance, particularly at the Anau site, a popular cleaning station for these graceful giants. The site’s popularity is such that the number of boats present has been limited. In the lagoon, you will see a great quantity of beautiful anemones and their clownish inhabitants and, by approaching very discreetly, discover a colony of garden eels ready to return under the sand at any moment. Around the motu Tipu, sharks, notably beautiful lemon shark specimens, can be seen. They are also present along the outer reef. Finally, Bora Bora’s only pass offers a beautiful drift dive over several layers appreciated by dogtooth tuna, schools of trevallies, sharks, barracudas, and sometimes a manta ray leaving the lagoon.

Huahine, authentic and wild

Away from the main tourist routes, Huahine island boasts a wild and preserved nature both on land and beneath the surface. Like Tahiti, the island is made up of Huahine Nui in the north and Huahine Iti in the south.

^{Gray reef shark (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) and a school of Barracuda (Sphyraena sp). © Vincent Truchet}

The main dive sites are located on the northwest coast, a part of which lacks a lagoon and thus provides direct access to a fringing reef housing beautiful lionfish as well as numerous species of butterflyfish, moorish idols, and paddle-tailed snappers. Several passes offer beautiful dives, the most famous being Avapehi Pass, which regularly witnesses the passage of large compact schools of bigeye trevallies, dozens of gray sharks, schools of barracudas but also turtles, leopard rays and some mantas, batfish, napoleon fish as well as dogtooth tuna. The southern part of the island is not left out with the presence in places of large varieties of corals: elk horn corals, fire corals, porites… Some shallow sites with exceptional visibility are accessible to both divers and snorkeling enthusiasts, namely the aptly named Aquarium, also a delight for macro photographers.

For experienced divers whose level allows it, Huahine hosts, between 45 and 55 meters deep, a field of coral roses that magnificently spreads as far as the eye can see, certainly the most imposing in French Polynesia. A breathtaking spectacle of great beauty.

Maupiti, the beloved of mantas

You embark here for a true immersion in the purest Tahitian tradition. On the small island of Maupiti, you stay in a family guesthouse and discover the warm hospitality of the locals before setting off to discover motu wild and preserved.

^{Manta ray ballet in the blue.} ^{© Vincent Truchet}

The crystal-clear turquoise waters of the lagoon are a true invitation to immersion, whether snorkeling or diving. The manta rays have made these waters their favorite playground among the different Society Islands! They come to be de-parasitized at depths of less than 10 meters in a majestic ballet. Some sharks can also be seen but do not steal the spotlight from them. Enjoy also the marvelous coral gardens serving as a pantry for many species and do not miss the site of Fa’a’apu, which rightly means, orchard! A very well-stocked coral garden and a real nursery for the species of this area.

The Society Islands, for All Your Immersion Desires