Experiences · Snorkelling
Snorkelling.
No certificate, no schedule. Lagoons that reward anyone who can float. The skill is in choosing the water and respecting it.
Moorea lagoon
Lagoons are alive, not pools. The water drains toward the passes, coral cuts, and standing on a reef kills decades of growth. Fins off the bottom, feet never on coral, and a guide wherever there is current.
01 · Three kinds of snorkelling
Shore, boat,
or drift.
Shore snorkelling, wading out to coral heads from a beach, suits families and first-timers: Temae and Ta'ahiamanu on Moorea, Matira on Bora Bora, the village beaches on Tikehau. Boat trips reach the gardens, the ray sandbanks and the motu: the standard lagoon tour on Moorea or Bora Bora, the Blue Lagoon on Rangiroa, the Lagon Bleu on Fakarava. Drift snorkels ride a gentle current along a channel: the coral garden between the motu off Taha'a is the best known.
The wildlife comes without effort: butterflyfish and parrotfish over every garden, blacktip reef sharks patrolling, rays on sand flats, turtles over seagrass, and with a guide, manta rays at the cleaning stations of Maupiti and Tikehau and the shark wall at Fakarava's south pass on an incoming tide. Match the water to the weakest swimmer in the party, not the strongest.
02 · Reliable sites
Where to go.
Moorea's north shore
The ray and blacktip sandbank off Les Tipaniers by kayak or boat; the coral garden at Tiahura; the underwater tikis off Papetoai. Family water.
Moorea guide
Taha'a coral garden
Walk to the end of Motu Maharare, enter the channel, drift back over dense coral. No fins; booties. A second garden at Oromahana has more current.
Taha'a guide
Maupiti and Tikehau mantas
Reef mantas at cleaning stations in under ten metres. Maupiti: July to November, pension boats, 7,000 XPF. Tikehau: four-hour tour 10,500 XPF, from age six.
Maupiti guide
Fakarava south pass
On an incoming tide the pass is shallow enough to watch the shark wall from the surface. With Tetamanu Village's safety boat, never on your own.
Fakarava guide
Bora Bora
Matira's shallows from the beach; the lagoon tour's ray, shark and coral stops; mantas at Anau on a calm day.
Bora Bora guide
Rangiroa's Aquarium
Calm, clear water just inside Tiputa pass for all levels; drift snorkels through the pass for confident swimmers.
Rangiroa guide03 · Doing it well
The rules.
- Buoyancy
- Float horizontal. Never stand on coral; sand patches only.One kick can erase decades
- Current
- Lagoon water drains toward the passes. Ask where it runs before entering. When in doubt, go guided.
- Distance
- Two metres from turtles and rays; never block a manta's station or dive down onto it.The animals set the terms
- Sun
- A rash vest beats sunscreen underwater; reef-safe lotion for the rest. Midday burns fastest.
- Gear
- Bring a mask that fits. Pensions lend the rest almost everywhere; children's sizes are scarcer.Reef shoes for the entries
- Feeding
- Skip tours that bait sharks and rays. Baiting changes the animals' behaviour.
Related
Related pages.
Explained
Why the lagoon is blue
White coral sand, shallow water and the way seawater absorbs red light.
Read the article
Experiences
Diving
The passes, from inside the current.
Read more
Stay
With children
Calm water and short transfers.
Read more
Tuamotu
Tikehau
A small atoll with pink sand, one village, one pass and a manta cleaning station inside the lagoon.
Open the island guide