Travel: Aquabike Adventures Bora Bora #aquabike

The more we looked into excursions around the island of Bora Bora, the more thie small, family run operation, Aquabike Adventures, appealed to us. Mainly because snorkeling, paddle boarding, kayaking, and tropical fish dinners are pretty normal around the equator, regardless of what island you're on. But a mini submarine--that's harder to come by! According to our guide there are three other sites in the world using the same two-person sub model he guided us on, one in the Maldives and one in the Mediterranean.  There are other versions of the sub, some one-seater, some variations on design, but I have to agree that for a married couple the dual-seat, bubble dome is the way to go because you can chat with each other the whole time. There is a 360 degree view of the ocean floor, and from your shoulders down you're exposed to the water and can touch and feel as much or as little as you want.  In short, this was a way, WAY cool experience.

There are two contact methods, via TripAdvisor and their own webpage.  However, once you find their email address that is the best way, so let's just cut to the chase:

aquabikadventure@mail.pf

Due to our travel plans that day, we arranged pick up at the Le Moana resort, sister the to the Thalasso (and quite a step down in luxury, although still quaint).  A very nice French woman arrived at 1:30 and took us by van to the ferry dock in Vaitape, where we met another couple and hopped on a boat out to the sub area. The van ride was only 5 to 10 minutes, and the boat ride another 10 to 15 minutes. We left our water shoes and flip flops on the boat at their request and just went into the subs barefoot. We choose the wife-driving, husband-providing-rear-protection arrangement.  There was an introduction of what to expect, how long we'd be down, what to do if you wanted out or up, basic hand signals, how to pop your ears, etc.  Two guys (father and son I think) in scuba suits escorted the subs around underwater the whole time, showing us various forms of sea life (they hand you things, but if you don't want to touch them you don't have to: sea cucumbers, star fish, bread to feed the fish from your palm, etc.).

The main guy was funny and informative, although some of his jokes missed the mark. The whole crew was super nice. We were submerged for about 45 minutes. We used a Lumix TS25 digital waterproof camera to film it, but forgot to clear the memory and ran out of space after 11 minutes, so HEADS UP: prep your waterproof camera beforehand!). They took our camera and snapped photos of us before, during, and after.  In no way were we rushed since there is no line. Groups max out at 6 people as there are only 3 subs. Once we were done cruising around underwater there were bananas and oranges to snack on, plus juice and water.  The guide showed us pictures with names of the fish we'd just been playing with and answered lots of questions we all had.

Then the icing on the cake: on the boat ride back we stopped to snorkel for another 20 minutes. Just for grins.

The total cost was 230,000 xpf (about $230 USD) for the both of us and we paid in cash, which was arranged via email beforehand. We gave our money to the van driver right before she took us back to Le Moana. Roundtrip it was 2.5 hours, from pick up to drop off.

If we did it again, I would definitely bring a quick dry towel or regular beach towel. It's sunny and breezy, but after being submerged, all four of us were kinda cold. It would have been nice to towel off a bit rather than drip dry, plus you can then wrap yourself up in it.

Same reasoning goes for a rash guard shirt. We were both wearing ours, and the other husband had one on, but his wife just went in her bikini and she looked positively frigid afterward. And of course, you're out in the tropical sun. It pays to be protected.

One last thing to note, there's a small market near the ferry dock. While waiting for the other couple, we strolled through the booths looking at touristy souvenirs. Prices were better than the resorts!


Disclaimer: As always, our reviews are own own, honest opinions and may differ from yours. No compensation has been given for this review.