Tahiti & Teahupo'o

Dives start from marinas, where the boats tie up beside the centres: divers kit up and step aboard. A typical outing is a morning of 1 or 2 dives in a small group, each lasting 45 to 60 minutes, with the sites picked on the day for the weather and the group's level. On the peninsula, boats mostly work about ten sites around Papeari, Toahotu and Vairao, plus two on the east coast. Once a month, when conditions allow, they run south of Teahupo'o to Fer à Cheval and the Grotto. The peninsula boats also run night dives on the reef in calm weather.

Underwater, Tahiti is a mix of drop-offs, faults, springs, peaks, canyons and wrecks, in the ocean and in the lagoon. The peninsula's walls fall with a dizzying verticality, so every site there is multilevel. Sharks set the tone: grey, lemon and blacktip reef sharks at La Vallée Blanche, whitetips at La Source, with eagle rays, schools of jacks and barracuda, humphead Maori wrasse, turtles, angelfish, clownfish, morays and nudibranchs. Every shark species has been protected here since 2012, and the waters became a marine mammal sanctuary in 2002.

Tahiti suits Open Water divers and FFESSM Level 1 divers: most sites are open to them, and the Aquarium near Papeete is a gentle first dive. Experienced divers can go deeper on the sites that reach 50 m. Divers drawn by the name Teahupo'o should expect to dive the peninsula's regular sites, since the trips south of it depend on the sea. Choosing an established centre matters too: some outfits do not go far past the marina, and their safety standards have been questioned.