Humpback Whales, Sharks & Magnificent Marine Life: The Ultimate Diving Adventure Island Hopping in French Polynesia

Once you have arrived on the island you will be transferred to your hotel, which takes around 20 minutes.

Take your time to settle into your room and shake off any jet lag, then enjoy a relaxing evening and a delicious meal, toasting the first night of your adventure island hopping in French Polynesia.

In 2002, French Polynesia was declared a Marine Mammal Sanctuary and offers protection to 16 different species of whales and dolphins who live here. Pull on your fins and don your mask, ready for some incredible ocean encounters. The waters surrounding Moorea are warm and have excellent visibility, making it an ideal place to swim with these beautiful animals in their natural habitat. There are only a few spots on earth where it is possible to snorkel with humpback whales, so this is truly a once in a lifetime experience.

Please note: the season is between July and early November.

You'll land in Tahiti in time to catch your connecting to your flight to Tikehau, which will take around an hour, depending on which islands the plane it stops at. On arrival in Tikehau, you will be driven a couple of minutes to the dock, where a speedboat will whisk you off to the tiny pink-sand island that will be your home for the next few nights.

Two of the diving highlights in this atoll include the marine-rich Tuheiava Pass, and a manta cleaning station, which can be found close to the resort and located beside an old derelict pearl farm. Jacques Cousteau highlighted this area as having the highest concentration of fish life of any lagoon in French Polynesia, and it is easy to see why once you dive into the flurry of glittering fish hiding just beneath the surface.

Your diving days in Tikehau will consist of a two-tank morning dive in the Tuheiva Pass, which is a 20 minute boat ride from the resort. This pass is incredibly fishy, with huge schools of paddle-snapper, barracuda and grey reef sharks gliding through the waters. Home to beautiful hard corals, the reefs here are bursting with fish.

Whilst the manta cleaning station can be a dive site in its own right, it is on the way to the pass, so your guide will always swing by to check if the mantas are there before heading onto the pass.

After a morning visiting the island, it's time for a motu picnic on a pink sand beach, before an afternoon of snorkelling on the pristine reefs.

On arrival into Rangiroa, you will be met by your driver and transferred to the resort which takes around five minutes. Take in the views as you speed along this tiny slither of land, which makes up part of the largest atoll in French Polynesia and second largest atoll in the world. Watch the shimmering waters of bright turquoise lagoon to your right and the ocean's crashing waves to the other.

Once you have settled in at your hotel, head to the Top Dive centre to plan your schedule for the next few days, which will be very dependent on the tides.

The Tiputa is often named one of the best dive sites in the world and it is easy to see why. On almost every dive, you can expect common bottlenose dolphins and as if the sheer sight (and size) of this species wasn't enough, there are three individuals in a resident pod of around 20, that are incredibly inquisitive and interactive with divers. When in a playful mood, these dolphins will come into the dive group and demand all the attention from divers.

Add to this schooling grey reef sharks, at deeper depths, schools of eagle rays, great hammerheads; between November and February, white tip, black tip, tiger, silky and silvertip sharks, and you soon realise why this site has earned its title as one of the best dive sites in the world.

Spend your days diving with dolphins, sharks and other marine life and your evenings back on the island, enjoying dreamy island sunsets, whilst chatting about your adventures diving in French Polynesia.

This location feels more remote than anywhere else in French Polynesia. Soak up every moment in this far-flung paradise as you are whisked away to the south.

Once again the diving takes place in just one pass, so your two diving days will be spent here, but even two days may not be enough to explore the magnificent marine life in this area. With very little current at play and excellent visibility, you will descend into the pass where you can observe a jaw-dropping spectacle of over 200 grey reef sharks, circling majestically against the incoming current. Huge Napolean wrasse cruise behind, whilst yellow-margin triggerfish crunch away at the reef. The fish here are larger than ever, a true testament to the health of the ecosystem. Dives will finish in the shallows, amongst a perfect hard coral garden with black tip sharks patrolling.

Once you have arrived, settle into your new pension and line up your dives with the dive centre for the next few days. Then sit back and relax, enjoying a calm evening before another exciting day of diving tomorrow.

Fakarava North Pass is one of the largest passes in the area and with seven currents at play, diving here is challenging but extremely rewarding. As with the other sites in French Polynesia, this pass can be dived in a multitude of different ways so it never feels like you are doing the same dive twice. Dive times are dependent on the tides but generally involve two tank morning dives and single tank afternoon dives.

Grey reef sharks hover effortlessly in the strong current and the canyon of 'Ali Baba' is a particular highlight, with schools of fish and grey, white and black tip sharks darting in and out. Hook into a rock and watch sharks coming from all angles passing close by to divers, all amongst clouds of paddle snapper.

You will have a few hours to wait, we recommend heading to the Intercontinental for dinner, before catching your overnight flight back to Los Angles which will take around eight hours.

The flight takes around 11 hours, so you have plenty of time to go over photos from your trip and to reminisce over your bucket-list diving adventure in French Polynesia!