French Polynesia: It's Closer Than You Think

North American divers tend to overlook French Polynesia as a diving destination, a major reason being that they fail to understand how close it is compared to other South Pacific destinations. A non-stop flight from Los Angeles to the Philippines takes 14.5 hours, to Fiji it's 11 hours, while a flight to Tahiti is 8.5 hours.

Of course, to reach the good diving you'll have to hop to another island, but that's true in both the Philippines and Fiji, where either you island hop or spend two or more hours in a van ride from the airport.

There are five distinct island groups - the Society Islands, with Tahiti including the capital Papeete (pron: Pape?et?), Moorea, and Bora Bora, and the Tua Motus more than 220 miles from Tahiti with Rangiroa, Fakarava, Apataki, and Tikihau, all spectacular diving destinations. There are also the Marqesas, the Australs, and Gambier archipelagos, in all stretching 1300 miles across the Pacific.

In our February issue, we covered Moorea and Fakarava. To complete our coverage of the best dive destinations there, in this issue it's Bora Bora.

Each has unique diving, so plan to take 10 days to two weeks and visit the two you think suit you best.