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I just returned from a week of scuba diving at Fakarava Atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago. It was a highly anticipated trip that did not disappoint.

I booked my Hawaiian Airlines flights online. Flights to Tahiti operate once a week out of Honolulu and are treated much the same as mainland flights, with heavily discounted, non-refundable First Class if you book early enough.

Arrived in plenty of time to relax in the microscopic (seriously small) Hawaiian Premier Club lounge at Kona Airport. The room is about 20 x 30 and has seating for possibly 10 pax.



First leg: HA237 KOA-HNL. Boeing B717, N494HA, Seats 2A/C
Block time is 49 minutes, actual time was 30 minutes.



We took off to the south, Runway 17, made a sharp turn towards Honolulu, and climbed to 20,000 ft before starting our descent into HNL, landing on runway 8L.

After a short taxi to gate A19, we made our way to the considerably larger Premier Club lounge just opposite our gate. Unfortunately the nicer Pualani First Class lounge is only available to those traveling to Asia, Australia and New Zealand.



After a 2 hour wait, we made our way to gate A12 in the new Mauka Terminal to board our flight to Papeete.

(to be continued due limitation of attached images)

Second leg: HA481 HNL-PPT. Airbus A330-200. N380HA, Seats 2A/C



Hawaiian offers full lie-flat seats with an unusal rocker switch that controls the seat back. The cabin is very pleasant, and the seat was generously proportioned and quite comfortable.



We had a 45 minute delay after boarding to change a tire due to a bald spot. The captain expressed his frustration that maintenance waited until after boarding to change the tire.

Once airborne, they started meal service as soon as we were above 10,000 ft. A signature Mai Tai, followed by a hot meal. The starter was an Asparagus salad with arugula, radish, crumbled hard-boiled egg, and a miso honey dressing, followed by a choice of either Braised Beef Bourguignon with Daikon, Walnut and Ali'i mushroom Coucous, or Roasted Kabocha and Garbanzo Beans with a Curry Farfalle Pasta. I had the beef and it was suprizingly good.

Service on board was typical gracious Hawaiian hospitality.

Interesting note: Hawaiian operates the route once a week. The cockpit crew operates the southbound flight, while a deadhead crew for the return leg sits in blocked-off first-class seats. The cabin crew operate 3 hour on/off shifts and work roundtrip, which makes for a very long duty day. They don't seem to mind it.

Despite the delay on departure, we made up some time en route and arrived in Papeete only 20 minutes late, at 9:50 PM.

We had a brief overnight stay at the Papeete Airport Motel located 5 minutes from the terminal. Nothing fancy, but cheap and convenient.

The following day, we had a leisurely morning with panoramic views of the airport and the island of Moorea just beyond.



That afternoon, we returned to the airport for our Air Tahiti flight to Fakarava via Rangiroa.



Third leg: VT539 PPT-RGI ATR-72 F-ORVX. Open Seating (Seats 15A/B)
We took off midfield on Runway 04.

The flying time is just over an hour, and there was just a beverage service with snacks available for purchase. After a brief stop in Rangiroa, we continued to Fakarava, arriving 45 minutes later.

Fakarava Atoll is located in the Tuamotu Archipelago, northeast of Tahiti and the Society Island group. It is a narrow strip of land encircling a lagoon that spans 30km across and 70km long. It is famous for shark diving due to the narrow north (Garuae) and south (Tumakohua) passes that flush the lagoon twice a day.

Our accommodation was the simple yet beautiful Havaiki Lodge, located just outside the town of Rotoava in the north end of the island.



We dove with Top Dive Tahiti, which has offices in Bora Bora, Moorea, Rangiroa and Fakarava.

The diving was challenging at times due to the strong currents flushing in and out of the lagoon, but the scenery was amazing. Healthy reefs and fish populations, and of course, the sharks!



We had the opportunity to dive the South Pass and the famed "mur des requins" (Wall of sharks). There were literally hundreds of sharks. We stopped at a cavern around 98 feet deep for 5 minutes to just sit and observe the sharks cruising the currents. It was very impressive.

Our surface interval between dives at the South Pass was spent at a pink sand beach in an idyllic setting.



My other half shot 4K video on the new GoPro 11 Black, and is still processing them.

It was an excellent week, with amazing sunsets every night.

The time passed all too quickly and soon it was time to fly home. The flight back to Papeete was nonstop, this time on an ATR72 leased from French Aviation Group, Amelia.



After a brief and uneventful flight, we arrived back in Papeete, and had to wait for check-in to open for our onward Hawaiian flight back to Honolulu.

Once checked-in, we made our way through immigration and waited for our departure. In the lounge we ran into Mick Fleetwood, who was traveling back with us to Hawaii. He lives on Maui and apparently travels to Tahiti several times a year.

The other surprise on return leg was that our captain was Kai Kahele, former US Senator from Hawaii. He left the Senate to run unsuccessfully for Governor, which in hindsight might have been a foolish move. As native Hawaiian, he was homesick and hated living in DC. While serving as US Senator, he would regularly pick up flights to stay current.

Great report...awesome photos! Tahiti has been a bucket list item for me for a long time.

Nice report. Neat photos. Looked like an awesome trip.

Other than the restrooms, is there any other enclosed room at Kona airport? I don't remember any.

DXing wrote:Other than the restrooms, is there any other enclosed room at Kona airport? I don't remember any.

Gate 11 (Hawaiian Airlines) is an enclosed room, but there's no jet bridge. You still have to walk on the ramp to board.

Also, they've now built an international arrivals building with customs and immigration. It is currently used for a single Japan Airlines nonstop flight between Kona and Narita.

Excellent read my friend. Followed you guys on FB on this trip. Trish still won't get in the ocean, no matter how awesome it is.

Looks like HA's front cabin service is quite decent on their long haul. I've done them, long haul, once. In 2003, ANC-HNL-ANC on a 767. It was passable then (did get to sit next to Wally Hickel and his lovely wife Ermalee, at that time the former three term (yes, three term) Governor of Alaska).

Great trip. Glad you both enjoyed it immensely.

That looks fantastic! Bonus pints for getting on a 717 while they're still about too.