The Six Passengers - Rangiroa, French Polynesia
While on Rangiroa in French Polynesia, we chose to dive with The Six Passengers.
First, let me just say that Rangiroa is a must dive destination! I have over 85 dives and this was one of my favorite islands for huge schools, dolphins, and sharks.
Each person in our family has different experience. I started scuba diving when I was 14 years old, and our kids have only been diving a couple years, but we chose to dive together and still had truly mind-blowing experiences. Dolphin encounters, sharks, and so many schools of fish such as wrasse and tuna but also ones I’ve never seen in bunches, such as barracudas.
It was truly a breathtaking moment to descend into the deep blue ocean and suddenly spot dolphins swimming towards us! They were like big dogs coming to say hello.
I should mention that we are all very comfortable and calm in the water, and have no trouble with our ears or buoyancy. Our first dive was shallow and in the lagoon for our dive guide to check our skills. We all passed the test! The next day we were off to the pass!
Everyone on the island and most tourists mainly speak French, but our dive guide spoke fairly good English so that was helpful. Even though we rode out to sites with another group in our small boat, our actual diving group was only 5 people. And each person added to our group was an advanced diver, giving our kids more access to the dive guide.
Like most dive shops, they will pick you up and bring you to their shop. We were lucky that we could walk along the rocky beach in our booties to the shop since we were staying only a few minutes away at Le Coconut Lodge (HIGHLY recommend! Check out my post HERE about our stay).
PROS
Underwater groups no bigger than 6.
English speaking dive guide.
Dive briefings and surface intervals are back at their dive shop with lots of comfy chairs and shade.
Could pre-order a delicious lunch, waiting for you upon return from second dive.
CONS
You may ride out to sites with another group. But honestly, boats are so small and the sites are 5-10 minutes away that you never felt overly crowded.
The lagoon is very calm, but out in the pass or open ocean the waves can be huge. You are never bouncing around for long, but if you’re prone to seasickness, be prepared.