The Miyakojima paradox
For my third trip to Okinawa, it was time to explore the last of the main islands I hadn’t visited yet: Miyako Island or Miyakojima in Japanese. Miyako is known for the Irabu Bridge, the longest toll-free bridge in Japan, and famous for cavern diving among Japanese scuba divers. To my greatest surprise, it was where I had the most fun of all the …
Marquesas Islands: 5 awesome things to do on a short visit
There was something familiar in the air. Were these green mountains plunging into the Pacific Ocean the only reason I fell for the Marquesas Islands? It could be the Mana Polynesian people often refer to when explaining the strong connection they have with their islands. It translates to force or spirit. Whatever its true nature, the Mana of the Marquesas Islands gave me a …
Diving in Fakarava shark paradise, French Polynesia
Before setting foot for the first time on Tahiti and its islands, diving in Fakarava sounded to me like the ultimate shark experience in Polynesia. I was then initially concerned if it wouldn’t be too crowded. Located in the Tuamotu Islands, Fakarava is the second-largest atoll of French Polynesia after Rangiroa, measuring 60 km long by 21 km wide. However, I soon discovered Rangiroa …
My top 10 dives of 2019
The best way to lead meaningful projects in the coming year is to acknowledge the wonderful things we achieved in the year that just passed. I decided this year again to keep doing this interesting exercise of narrowing it down to 10 dives that were a bit more extraordinary than the others. 2019 was my first year in full nomad mode, but I kept …
Manihi, diving off the beaten track in the Tuamotu Islands
The Tuamotu Archipelago is one of the 5 main archipelagos of French Polynesia. It covers a gigantic area of 800,000 km² while having a total land surface which hardly exceeds 850 km². The 76 atolls of the Tuamotu are ancient volcanoes that collapsed millions of years ago leaving only behind a ring of sand with a lagoon in the middle. The Tuamotu could be …
Diving in Tahiti & Moorea: my 1-week road trip in French Polynesia
While French Polynesia is the ultimate destination for island hopping, travelling around Tahiti and its hundred islands is like going around Europe distance wise. For a first trip to French Polynesia, I warmly recommend avoiding visiting too many islands and focus on a few areas only. I made the surprising discovery that it is possible and worthy to go on a road trip and …
DEMA Show : 5 things to know before you go
The DEMA Show may be the most famous of all the scuba diving shows in the world. This scuba diving trade show, organised by the Diving Equipment & Marketing Association in the United States, sets the trends in the scuba diving industry for the coming year. The DEMA show is usually the place where scuba diving innovations are introduced first. It changes locations between …