#79846 - 03/30/09 07:34 PM
Anau Dive Site
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Gary & Cath
Expert Advisor
Registered: 04/01/06
Posts: 1243
Loc: Wollongong, Australia
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Has anyone recently dived the site called Anau? It is a flat reef site located between Le Meridien and the township of Anau. I dived there in 2000 and it was teaming with Mantas and Eagle Rays, but was not even mentioned once the construction of IC Thalasso, St Regis and 4 Seasons began. I was just wondering if the sea life had returned?
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#79915 - 04/05/09 01:48 PM
Re: Anau Dive Site
[Re: Gary & Cath]
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Poehere
Expert Advisor
Registered: 08/18/07
Posts: 2340
Loc: FP
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The Anau site is still very much there and much of the life has returned but as FS, Thalasso and St Regis cross right over with their staff shuttles boat traffic has intensified a lot and the experience is no longer the same. A count of the manta rays in June last year showed 42 manta's present in the lagoon at different sites
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#79927 - 04/06/09 11:35 PM
Re: Anau Dive Site
[Re: Poehere]
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Gary & Cath
Expert Advisor
Registered: 04/01/06
Posts: 1243
Loc: Wollongong, Australia
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Thanks P. I think I'll still take a look when we're there.
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#81653 - 07/22/09 03:32 PM
Re: Anau Dive Site
[Re: Gary & Cath]
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DiverJenn
Junior Member
Registered: 07/15/09
Posts: 9
Loc: Washington DC
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We dove Anau at the beginning of last week and were disappointed that we didn't spot any mantas! The visibility was not great the morning that we dove there and even though our dive master thought there was a good chance that we would find the mantas, we didn't get any sightings. We did get to follow a turtle around for awhile, which was fun. But, unfortunately, no mantas!
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#81661 - 07/22/09 08:29 PM
Re: Anau Dive Site
[Re: DiverJenn]
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Gary & Cath
Expert Advisor
Registered: 04/01/06
Posts: 1243
Loc: Wollongong, Australia
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Thanks, Jenn. What was the weather like when you were in the water? Were Nemo a good operator? I understand that their operation is up for sale at the moment. Want to go halves? (I wish!!)
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#81679 - 07/23/09 07:49 PM
Re: Anau Dive Site
[Re: Gary & Cath]
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DiverJenn
Junior Member
Registered: 07/15/09
Posts: 9
Loc: Washington DC
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The weather was fairly good when we dove Anau. Partly cloudly and there were a few brief showers in the morning, but it was our 2nd dive of the morning (probably entered the water around 10:30am or so). Visibility wasn't that great.
We were fairly impressed with the Nemo operation. The staff were also extremely friendly and very chatty on the dive boat. They happened to spot a pod of dolphins swimming around in the lagoon right near Vaitape, so they brought the boat around and we hung out with the dolphins for awhile. It was amazing - they were swimming along with the boat and even jumping out of the water spinning and flipping! The equipment was OK. We had brought our basics with us from the states and just used their tanks, BCs, and regulators. All of it worked fine. I had a bit of extra air in both my tanks, so got nice long dives out there that morning. There was about 8 people diving and they had a ton of staff helping out and assisting, including a father-son duo from Germany who were really struggling with communication and needed a lot of assistance with their equipment. More than anything, it was really convenient for us since we were staying right there at the Sofitel. They didn't push anything on anyone, like the Nitrox or buying the video, which I definitely noticed at another operation.
Sign me up for buying the operation. I'll just need to sell off everything we own and I'm there!! :)
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#81872 - 08/02/09 05:43 PM
Re: Anau Dive Site
[Re: DiverJenn]
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Kath
Member
Registered: 05/15/06
Posts: 166
Loc: Oregon
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We were there last in August 2006 and didn't see even one manta. Bummed! It was 2001 (I think) we were there and had 48 straight hours of rain. I was not really very excited about my dives one of those very rainy mornings but went anyway. It was just me, the guide and one other guy--our kids were really little, so my husband was watching them. The early dive was inside at Anau. Gosh we coundn't see 10 feet! Our guide was great. He would have the guy and I wait near the bottom while he surfaced and figured out where we were every so often. We didn't really see anything until a huge manta came drifting by---witin about four feet of us! That was pretty cool. The second dive was outside the reef and the water was clear as could be. It seems like it was the month of November, and the next several days were nice and sunny.
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#81916 - 08/06/09 02:23 PM
Re: Anau Dive Site
[Re: Kath]
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Gary & Cath
Expert Advisor
Registered: 04/01/06
Posts: 1243
Loc: Wollongong, Australia
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I'm with you Jenn. We had a ticket for the $80 Million Oz dollar Powerball last week, but we didn't win. You could buy a few dive operations with that!! I think Bora Dive is now merged with Nemo, so I'll post what they're like when we get back in December. When we were there in 2007, they had a couple of Marquesan dive masters on their boats (I was diving with Blue Nui), so it will be interesting to compare the operations, but the Bora Dive Centre boats always seemed to be either laughing or smiling - so I'm going with them this time.
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#82021 - 08/13/09 09:34 PM
Re: Anau Dive Site
[Re: Gary & Cath]
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Kath
Member
Registered: 05/15/06
Posts: 166
Loc: Oregon
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We'll post about Bora Dive Center when we get back, too. We have been diving with both shops and had good luck with both, but Bora Dive is close to Chez Nono, so we'll probably just walk down that way. Do they still operate as separate shops, or do they have the same name now? Only 49 days to go!
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#83725 - 12/28/09 02:12 AM
Re: Anau Dive Site
[Re: Kath]
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Gary & Cath
Expert Advisor
Registered: 04/01/06
Posts: 1243
Loc: Wollongong, Australia
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Good to see that the Manta's have returned to Anau. You need to dive at the right time because the water gets a bit murky in the afternoon, but the Manta's are back in droves!!
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