Aqua Tiki II

Aqua Tiki II is a Fountaine Pajot Eleuthera 60 sailing catamaran, launched at La Rochelle in 2011 and sailed to Tahiti under her own power. She belongs to Aqua Polynésie, a local company that runs two catamarans in the Tuamotu. The other one, Aqua Tiki III, is bigger — over 20 metres, five cabins — and is sold only as a whole-boat charter for a group of up to ten divers. Aqua Tiki II is the one where you can buy a single berth, and in French Polynesia that is rare: the usual choice here is between day boats from a shore centre and chartering a yacht outright.

She is a small sailing boat, and that shapes everything else. Eighteen metres long, eight and a half wide, 140 m² of sail and two 38 hp engines. Eight guests maximum and a crew of three: a skipper, a hostess who cooks and keeps the boat, and a dive instructor holding the French state BEES diploma. A catamaran does not roll the way a monohull does — two hulls mean a steady ride on passage and an almost motionless deck at anchor. Passages are made early in the morning and usually under sail, and the boat does not move every day: the spare days go to the atolls, the shore and the water.

There are four cabins, each with its own bathroom, hot and cold water, and its own 24-hour 220 V socket. Two are standard doubles — the operator’s own deck plan labels them “honeymoon” — one is a twin with two separate single beds, and one is a VIP double with a TV, hi-fi and DVD. The deck plan also shows a forepeak berth for one person with a bathroom of its own, which is why the specification lists five bathrooms for four guest cabins. The operator claims no air conditioning on this boat: only Aqua Tiki III has it, and there only for three hours in the evening. At night you rely on ventilation and open hatches.

Fresh water comes from a 190 l/h watermaker on top of more than 800 litres of tankage. That is not a luxury but a necessity: the Tuamotu atolls have no mains water. For the same reason the food on board is mostly fresh fish and rice — vegetables and fruit are scarce out here, and the cook makes up for it with bread, brioche, pancakes and yoghurt all baked on board. Drinking water and home-made lemonade are free all day; everything else — soft drinks, mineral water, alcohol — is paid for.

The diving is pass diving. Dives are drifts, the current in the passes can be very strong, and the operator says so in plain words. Two dives a day every day except the arrival and the departure day, when there is no diving at all. Night dives are not part of the programme. The BEES instructor leads the group and a second person stays on the surface watching the bubbles the whole time. The water is warm all year — 25 °C in September, 29 °C in March, with no thermocline and consistently excellent visibility.

The entry bar is set in writing, in the terms of sale: CMAS level 2 or equivalent and at least 50 logged dives at boarding. A beginner will be taken on board — there is always an instructor — but Open Water and CMAS level 1 divers will be kept off some sites because of current and depth, and the instructor decides that on the spot. Dives you miss, whether through your level or the weather, are not refunded. Bring your certification card, your logbook and a medical certificate.

Gear is lent free of charge, and that is a line in the price rather than marketing: masks, fins, snorkels, regulators with gauge and octopus, BCDs, SMBs, dive alerts and 3 mm shorties for eight divers. In the southern winter (July to September, 25 °C at forty metres) bring your own full 3 mm suit. Tanks are steel with DIN and INT valves; each buddy pair gets one 12-litre and one 15-litre filled to 230 bar. There are no dive lights on board — the operator considers them all but unnecessary here. The one regular underwater surcharge is Nitrox 50 for the safety stop: 50 € for a 7-litre tank, paid on board. The nearest chamber is the hospital in Papeete, which is why the operator recommends the option strongly.

The money is transparent. A berth is priced at a flat nightly rate, so the cost of a trip follows its length: on the 2026 grid a standard cabin is 4,960 € for eight nights in high season and 4,560 € in low, a VIP cabin 5,360 € and 4,960 €. High season means July, August, September, the grouper spawning dates and Christmas and New Year; the rest of the year is low. A non-diver on the same trip pays 400 € less. The whole boat can be bought out: 34,200 € in high season and 31,200 € in low for eight nights and eight guests, with separate rates for groups of six and seven. Payment comes in two parts — 30 % at booking and the remaining 70 % sixty days before departure. Cancelling more than 60 days out costs 30 % of the price; later than that, the whole of it.

Things worth knowing in advance. You get yourself to Fakarava: Air Tahiti flies from Papeete five times a week (65 minutes) and there are direct flights from Rangiroa (20 minutes). Your flight numbers go on the booking form and boarding is timed to the plane; the transfer from the airstrip to the boat by dinghy is already included. Arriving more than 12 hours late means no boarding and no refund, so travel insurance is not a formality here. And one more clause: the terms of sale allow the operator, exceptionally, to move a trip from Aqua Tiki II to Aqua Tiki III and back — a different boat with different cabins. The operator publishes no compulsory on-board charges at all: no port fee, no park fee, no tourist tax.