Hi Shawna! The diving was amazing...beyond amazing, really. Every time I'd return from a dive, I'd be freaking out over all the astonishing things I'd just seen! People took to calling me "Hammerhead" because I saw an enormous hammerhead shark on my first dive, and couldn't stop talking about it. I was all stoked because Estelle, the Cousteau Society lecturer, gave a lecture on sharks in the region that morning and mentioned she'd never been lucky enough to see a hammerhead herself...and then I went out that day and saw one! ;)

While every dive was amazing, Rangiroa was my favorite. That's because I did the Tiputa Pass, which is a drift dive. We went in outside the reef and hung out there for about 25 min. checking out all the critters -- it was there that I saw the hammerhead, along with sea turtles, eels, reef sharks, schools of baracudas and all manner of brightly colored tropical fish. Then we turned the corner into the pass and...WHOOSH! Off we went like a shot, pushed along at lightning speed by the current flowing into the lagoon. There's not a whole lot to see in the pass other than some fish who are also caught in the current, swooping along just like you. But it was so much FUN -- I just put my arms out in front of me and whooshed along like Superman. The current then dropped us in a shallow area near where the glass-bottom boat tours were hanging out.

Bora Bora and Moorea were great too -- lemon sharks, grey-tipped reef sharks, lion fish -- I should go back and look at my pics to remember all that I saw.

Anyway, as for the gear -- I brought my own mask and snorkel, which I'm glad I did because theirs were okay but nuthin great -- and I prefer my own. I WISH I'd brought my own fins, because theirs were pretty bad -- the shoe kind, not straps, and they gave me blisters. The BC's are your basic rental jacket style, and they were perfectly fine. I did wish I'd brought a computer because their equipment came only with a depth guage. Don't bother bringing a wetsuit -- you only need a shorty, and they have plenty of them in all sizes.

The dive crew was the best part of the cruise for me (well, almost best!). They are fun, very friendly, knowledgeable and dedicated to you having the BEST time! They had the utmost patience with the diving newbies, and left the rest of us pretty much alone to do our thing (while keeping a watchful eye).

(Some of you who've known me for a while on this board might be surprised to hear me refer to myself as among "the rest of us," but when I told y'all I wanted to learn to dive, I meant it! I've plunged into it with both feet -- I got certified in August, then went on to get my Advanced Open Water certification, joined a dive club and I go out diving usually at least a couple times a week, and I now have 55 dives under my belt!)