Swimming with Whales in Moorea

I participated in a recent “Swim with Whales” activity. First off, many of the photos are misleading in the Moorea Expedition’s description of this activity. You will not free dive below the surface near the junior humpback whales. That is a marketing gimmick. But most importantly the RAVA 4 boat team behaved unprofessionally during our experience. The young lady who was our guide briefed to stay in a tight group in the water, but once we got in the water left a swimmer behind and had the groups of swimmers strung out over 20 yards which violated a cardinal rule in diving - never leave your dive buddy behind. This was inexcusable! To make matters worse on the return trip to the port one participant was forced to stay in a location on the boat being constantly hit with gallons of salt water spray in the head and told “you cannot move” even when the tour guide herself moved to get away from the heavy spray. My recommendation: There are many operators offering this experience, avoid Moorea Expeditions and RAVA 4 as unsafe. I am a PADI Certified Open Water Diver and would never recommend this organization to anyone.

First, we watched for 30 minutes while another group got really close to a whale and dolphins while we had to wait our turn which was when the whale swam away. Second, the tour guide gave a safety briefing prior to stopping but then disregarded them as she told everyone to get off the boat at a specific location and then swam off without everyone. I was last getting off and had one leg out but the driver told me I took too long and to sit down and take off my fins and wetsuit because apparently that was the only chance to get in the water. I understand I was far from the group by then but that wasn’t my fault. Was I supposed to shove others out of my way? I would if I had a second chance. Lol. I would not recommend them to anyone!

It was an incredibly unbelievable experience! The guides prepare you well for going into the water. However, you should have a certain level of basic stamina, as it may be that you have to swim a bit further. We saw pilot whales and three humpback whales at once! We jumped into the water twice, the third time they didn't want to take any risks, because there were five sharks with the whales - but we had already seen the highlight of the day :)

It was a great whale swimming experience :’) a huge thanks to Luia, he made us feel very comfortable and safe, I’d definitely do it again!

I did 3 whale swims with the Moorea Expedition team (Guides Johnny & Louis, Capt Herman & Manu) and the team was amazing!!! They work VERY hard to find us the whales, and they are SO good at spotting them in the water as well as reading their behaviour. In the end, we got to see whales on all 3 expeditions. 2 trips out of the 3 were just downright insane. On one of them we found 4 whales just playing with each other, diving down and then going back up to the surface over and over. We just swam like crazy with to stay with them the whole time so we got to watch them up close for over 30min. On the second one we found two adults and got to watch a female twirling around the surface and briefly playing with seaweed for a long time as well. Absolutely surreal experiences that I will remember forever. Our guides go all out to try to get us to see the whales but I think many customers do not fully understand what the whale swim is going to be like, which sets them up for disappointment. You need to know that how well your whale swim goes depends on two factors: the nature of the whales, and how well and fast YOU swim. It was pretty easy for the team to find whales when we visited in Sept. But all whales move insanely fast through the water. The team will try to pick whales that aren't always on the move but they can't possibly guarantee you one that isn't moving which you can see at the surface. We had one difficult day where the whales repeatedly remained very elusive but in the end Louis still kept trying until we finally found two sleeping ones, and then we just waited for them come up. So we still got to see them very briefly as they came up and then left. Next, even if the whales are at the surface and interactive, it is up to YOU on whether you can catch up to the whales. IF you are lucky, maybe you find a very stationary whale where you only have to swim 100m to it and you can do it at a leisurely pace, but to me this is a near impossible expectation. Your guide CANNOT help you to swim. The boats will try to drop you off as close as they can: the legal limit is that they have to stay 100m away from the whales. However this doesn't mean you only have to swim 100m... Because the whales are also moving!!! And most of our swims were in VERY choppy waters with huge waves so you also need to be familiar with how to use snorkel gear. Your finning technique also cannot cause too much splashes or it will scare away the whales. It is NOT a leisurely swim if you want to spend time with them in the water-- you have to go fast and maintain the pace for a fairly long amount of time until you get to the whales. And then you likely have to keep going if you want to stay with them as they move. I am a freediver and avid snorkeller and even I found it very challenging because of the intensity required to swim so fast and for so long. Safety is also important: the whales are massive and again, they move so fast that if they change direction suddenly, they could easily hit you and you won't even be able to dodge it in time. Our guides set rules that you have to stay close to them for safety, but there's another perk for doing this: I learned very quickly that if I'm right next to the guide I get the best photo and video angles. THANK YOU to the Moorea Expedition team for making my dreams come true. It was an exhausting holiday but it was SO WORTH IT 😂

+6

Unsafe and poor treatment of guests for whale swim. We’ve done plenty of ocean swims with whales and sea creatures and have never felt so poorly treated by a guide. There are plenty of other operators who value customers and know how to treat them with kindness. The minute we got on board, our briefing felt like an angry teacher yelling at his students. I understand safety is number one, but there are other ways to go about briefing your clients than threatening them to end the tour multiple times. Ironically, our guide made the first swim in the water felt extremely UNSAFE for everyone. Constantly yelling at us to swim faster and to not kick so hard. We don’t live by the ocean or swim daily. Our stamina for our first swim will not be like yours. I’m a competent swimmer and very comfortable in the ocean, but this pressure made it so that I, along with the rest of the swimmers, were practically hyperventilating…not a good situation when you are breathing through a snorkel in the open ocean. Very unsafe. And not an enjoyable experience whatsoever. There’s more but I don’t need to keep complaining. We did see whales. But our guide unfortunately brought the experience down. I love the ocean and am grateful for the time out there, but I would not recommend this tour guide.

Our 7:00 AM tour with Pai and Manu was phenomenal! Don’t let the swimming warnings intimidate you. While you definitely cover some distance, I’m not a particularly strong swimmer and handled it with zero issues. Hearing a whale sing underwater for 55 minutes while we tracked it was pure magic. The water was warm in the provided shorty wetsuits. The provided fins worked well, though the masks and snorkels are fairly basic, so bring your own gear if you have a favorite set. We were lucky enough to encounter three juvenile whales (two active and one resting). Absolutely worth every penny! Tip: Morning tours spend a fair amount of time locating the pods. If you want a potentially faster payoff, an afternoon tour might be worth considering since the morning boats have already mapped out where the whales are hanging out for the day. It was a thought I’d had though not sure I’m on to anything here.

We had an incredible experience with Moorea Expeditions swimming with humpback whales! The crew was knowledgeable and made us feel safe and comfortable throughout the excursion. Seeing these magnificent whales up close in the water was truly unforgettable and easily one of the highlights of our trip. We had an amazing time and highly recommend Moorea Expeditions!

Beware: our active whale swim was cut short to go to the lagoon :( ** I never normally write negative reviews, but unfortunately I feel this needs to be said, particularly for anyone booking this tour specifically to swim with whales. Firstly, I cannot fault the crew personally. Johnny in particular tried his best and was lovely. However, we had a really disappointing and quite baffling experience with how the tour itself was handled. We initially struggled to locate a whale, which of course is completely understandable with wild animals. Eventually, a whale was spotted and we attempted a swim. At this point, there were still approximately 40 minutes of the tour remaining. For reasons we still don’t understand, rather than using that remaining time to continue trying to swim with the whale, we were told we were leaving the area to go to the lagoon. We specifically said that we did not want to leave and wanted to use the remaining time to continue the whale swim we had booked and paid for. However, we were outnumbered by non-swimming paying guests who wanted to go to the lagoon, and the decision was made to leave the whale. What made this particularly frustrating was that a lagoon tour/swim was never mentioned in the advertised itinerary when we booked. Had we known that part of the whale-swimming tour could be spent visiting the lagoon, particularly at the expense of time with an active whale, we would never have booked with this company and would have chosen a dedicated whale-swimming tour instead. It was honestly so upsetting to be driving away from an active whale while watching other tour boats remain with it, particularly knowing that there was still approximately 40 minutes remaining and that we had explicitly asked to stay and continue trying to swim. We ended up paying to book another whale-swimming tour with a different company, and the experience was completely different. They went above and beyond to give everyone the best possible opportunity while still respecting the whale. We had three separate attempts rather than just one, and everyone ultimately had the opportunity to see an exceptional whale underwater. I completely appreciate that wildlife sightings can never be guaranteed, and I would never leave a negative review simply because we hadn’t seen a whale. That isn’t what happened here. We had found an active whale, we still had time remaining, and we wanted to continue. Instead, the whale-swimming portion was cut short because non-swimming paying guests wanted to go to a lagoon stop that had not been mentioned in the itinerary when we booked. Again, this is not a criticism of Johnny personally, as he genuinely tried his best. However, if you are booking this tour specifically because your priority is swimming with whales, I think this is something you should be aware of.

Our guide Louis and captain Manu, made us feel comfortable and safe from the beginning. We were warned right at the start: they can't guarantee whale encounters or sightings and there would be no crazy chasing of the whales. This really proved they have a serious respect for the whales and ocean life. We felt safe, even very close to whales. One breached very close, one was a real "singer"! Amazing!!! The 2 staff's(Louis and Manu) enthusiasm and information made this such a positive experience! Mom stayed on the boat and enjoyed the expedition of whale watching as well. We highly recommend Moorea Expedition.