French Polynesia Snorkeling Trip Report May 2025

By Sylvia Heerens

Here is my French Polynesia Snorkeling Trip Report from May 2025. Three friends and I stayed on two islands, Tikehau in the Tuamotu Archipelago and Moorea in the Society Islands Archipelago. Then, we took a 12 day cruise on the Aranui 5, a combination passenger and cargo ship, to six of the Marquesas Islands in the Marquesas Archipelago, Fakarava and Rangiroa in the Tuamotus, and Bora Bora in the Society Islands.

Snorkeling in Tikehau

To get there was a long journey. We first flew to Papeete, Tahiti. Then after an overnight stay, we took a plane to Tikehau, then a boat to a resort on a private island for a three day stay. It was Le Tikehau by Pearl Resorts, a beautiful and luxurious place with good snorkeling right next to the beach bungalows and under the overwater bungalows.

We were amazed how much sea life was right around us snorkeling the resort’s house reef. We saw many black-tip reef sharks, sergeant majors, a nurse shark, pipefish, saddle butterflyfish and many other Pacific reef fish and clams in many colors. We also visited an octopus we had spotted roaming during the day again during a snorkel at dawn. A three hour snorkel tour we went on was not really worth it, only in one area called the pass did we see larger numbers of rays, reef sharks, nurse sharks, and other larger fish.

Snorkeling in Moorea

The second island we stayed at for three days was Moorea. Just like other posts on this site had described it, the snorkeling was wonderful at the Sofitel Kia Ora Moorea Beach Resort, on the left side of the overwater bungalows. The hotel had aged a little since I had been there about 15 years ago, having occasional problems with air-conditioning for example. But the snorkeling, even though the underwater scenery had changed, was lovely with much staghorn and other coral and bannerfish, blue chromis, a yellow pufferfish, and many other reef fish. We also did a picturesque and interesting land tour.

We chose Tikehau and Moorea based on recommendations I got on a question I asked on this site.

Aranui 5 Cruise and Snorkeling

The Marquesas Islands cruise aboard the Aranui 5, was mostly about amazing scenery, sightseeing and culture, they did not offer much snorkeling.

Once we got to the Tuamotus, we snorkeled in Fakarava, right on the coast of the settlement of Rotoava. We saw some nice fish and coral heads.

The last two stops of the cruise, Rangiroa and Bora Bora were all about snorkeling for us. On Rangiroa we snorkeled first at a spot called the Aquarium, where we were surrounded by countless fish, black and light colored forms of short nosed unicornfish, humpback red snappers and many other kinds swirling around us. There were many other snorkel boats, but enough fish to be enjoyed for everybody.

Then we went to the Green Lagoon where the water had really the most stunning color. It was very shallow and the underwater scene not very active but between the coral mounds, my friend spotted a moray eel and we saw several rays hiding themselves in the sand and a few other fish.

The highlight of the trip for me was the snorkeling on Bora Bora on a snorkel boat excursion with several stops. We saw a large manta ray, a school of eagle rays were rushing along below us in changing formations, in a shallow area were stingrays in the sand, being cleaned by other fish and many black tip reef sharks.

The last stop was my most favorite place, it was called the Coral Gardens, it was a paradise with a large variety of small and medium-sized fish and corals and clams of all shapes and colors imaginable. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of it but being there, in this world of underwater wonder is hard to capture anyhow.

Exploring Papeete

On our way back home we spent a day in Papeete, enjoyed the French influenced Tahitian cuisine for example, delicious mussels. We also browsed through the gigantic market, where everything under the sun was available, but in particular endless supplies of pearls of all shapes and sizes in chains or in beautiful settings.

All four of us really enjoyed our snorkeling and had a wonderful time on this trip.

All the underwater pictures are from my friends.